i don't want to be specific to the buddhist idea of karma. i guess by karma i mean uhh getting credit or penalized for the good and bad things you do in this life and maybe past lives, if they exist.

sometimes i want to believe in karma as a justification for some of the things that happen to me. i wonder if there is anything i could do to improve my karma. is it possible for me to have horrible karma because of something i did in a past life? i haven't really done anything horribly bad in uh, this life, but i haven't done too many really great things either. i'll help my friends and close family if they need it, but i'm barely courteous to people i don't know and don't go out of my way to be a charitable person at all. but i'm not mean.

fuck man. fuck.

First off, there are mantras to remove your Karma.

But more importantly, you should seek to be in a state where Karma does not exist.

I suggest you watch this three part series, it is very enlightening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN_86vwM8sE&feature=PlayList&p=F488895D41A1BD42&index=3

Nothing in this universe is ever "good" or "bad", things happen for a reason. Your soul does not make mistakes. When you do something adverse to your highest self, if you want to feel bad about it then feel bad about it. But realize this, Karma (or God or spirit, whichever you prefer, they're all really the same thing) doesn't thrive on handing out punishments as you may have been taught.

Karma simply states that you create your own reality throught thought, word and deed.

i wonder if there is anything i could do to improve my karma. is it possible for me to have horrible karma because of something i did in a past life? i haven't really done anything horribly bad in uh, this life, but i haven't done too many really great things either.

Yes there are many ways to improve your karma, you have already made the most important step, and that is realizing your karma needs improvement, so the acceptance is there, next comes understanding, then acting upon that understanding determined by a certain intention.

You speak about a past life, i have no understanding of what you're talking about.

What makes you think you have to do "great" things?

As long as you have good intentions and put in a little bit effort to act upon them, then that should be fine.

From a religious prospective, you get what you give and you deserve what you reflect.

You speak about a past life, i have no understanding of what you're talking about.

I seriously doubt you've never heard of reincarnation.

I seriously doubt you've never heard of reincarnation.

yes, that is what i meant. though i don't necessarily believe in reincarnation. i'm an agnostic deist, i guess. i'll buy that there's a Creator, but rituals and philosophy assorted with all the religions are too much for me.

sometimes i get the feeling that there is a powerful being or force that is steering my life in a certain direction, whether i like it or not. like dictating to me what i'm supposed to be good at and what i'm not even allowed to attempt to practice at or try, through events that feel like bad karma. (for example, say i decided i wanted to get really good at tennis, so i promised myself i'm going to practice everyday. i get my racket and head outside and then trip and sprain my ankle and drop my racket which then proceeds to skid across the pavement and into a storm drain. this hasn't happened yet, haha, but things like this do seem to happen a bit more often than chance allows. i dunno.)

yes, that is what i meant. though i don't necessarily believe in reincarnation. i'm an agnostic deist, i guess. i'll buy that there's a Creator, but rituals and philosophy assorted with all the religions are too much for me.

sometimes i get the feeling that there is a powerful being or force that is steering my life in a certain direction, whether i like it or not. like dictating to me what i'm supposed to be good at and what i'm not even allowed to attempt to practice at or try, through events that feel like bad karma. (for example, say i decided i wanted to get really good at tennis, so i promised myself i'm going to practice everyday. i get my racket and head outside and then trip and sprain my ankle and drop my racket which then proceeds to skid across the pavement and into a storm drain. this hasn't happened yet, haha, but things like this do seem to happen a bit more often than chance allows. i dunno.)

lolwhut? Are you keybear or are you illiterate? Reread my post.

As for whatever you are talking about, people try to draw associations between events, i.e. they try to draw relationships between objects. Whether or not there is causation is unprovable. Also, it depends on what is 'bad' and what is 'good.' Like Bill Gates has a great life, right? (if you set material success as good) However, he got there by stealing code and other unethical, typically considered bad actions. Does that mean he was really awesome in his last life or is it actually a curse to be super-rich? Who knows? Thus, it's hard to conclude if there is or is not karma. It's reasonable to expect that being a dick will come back to haunt you in this life, but maybe not through random events. Instead you'll be treated like a dick if you act like one. I know plenty of ditzy people who fuck up all the time, but they aren't bad people, so I tend to disbelieve karma, but instead believe in reciprocity from the people you encounter in life.

We want to believe that bad shit happens because we were bad. That rationalization brings guilt and is the same as saying God punishes when we are bad. It's another way to get people to control their impulses. You have to move past that primitive morality and, not say, 'No God? Fuck, let's do anything!' Being good is more than what you'll get for it by some abstract power. Being good makes this world a better place to live, not just for you, but your friends, your family, and your descendents. If we can educate everyone to choose good for good's sake, then we have won the battle against evil.

i didn't misunderstand you at all cuban. i was saying that yes, i was talking about reincarnation, since keybear didn't get it.

[QUOTE=whocares123;9984365] i'm an agnostic deist, i guess.

QUOTE]

I don't think so. By definition, you may be one or the other, but you can't be both.

Then again, most theists and deists agree that God, being infinite, cannot be grokked in fullness by humans, since our minds are finite.

Except that our minds are nonlocal--everywhere in general and nowhere in particular, so maybe we could cobble up a sort of virtual infinity.

Getting back to my original quibble, deists posit that there IS a god; agnostics posit that we cannot know whether or not there is a God.

[QUOTE=whocares123;9984365] i'm an agnostic deist, i guess.

QUOTE]

I don't think so. By definition, you may be one or the other, but you can't be both.

Then again, most theists and deists agree that God, being infinite, cannot be grokked in fullness by humans, since our minds are finite.

Except that our minds are nonlocal--everywhere in general and nowhere in particular, so maybe we could cobble up a sort of virtual infinity.

Getting back to my original quibble, deists posit that there IS a god; agnostics posit that we cannot know whether or not there is a God.

i'm sorry, i was using the agnostic adjective to say i can't know whether or not a specific religion is right. unless you consider "deism" a religion.

whocares123, does it matter if AM doesn't agree with what you call yourself?

whocares123, does it matter if AM doesn't agree with what you call yourself?

i was clarifying to him what i meant?

It was more or less a question to determine whether or not you value his opinion. I like to understand weird shit like that...

It was more or less a question to determine whether or not you value his opinion. I like to understand weird shit like that...

i was just looking at it as a misunderstanding.

The only judgment you receive is the judgment you place on yourself.

Good things don't always happen to good people, everyone experiences good/bad moments. I don't agree with the concept of karma.

karma does not exist in the past or future, it exists only in the present.

when you do something "bad" your karma doesn't wait around for the right time to bite you on the ass. the "bad" thing happens to you right then and there because what you do to yourself you do to the rest of the universe.

the longer it takes for you to realise the repurcussions of your actions, the more out of touch you are with your karma.

of course this is all subjective as to what karma is and how it works, or if it even exists.

Karma is a complex system of balance.

If you do something bad in your last life, you will suffer in this life if you didnt get a chance to suffer in the last. BUT! just because you do some good things in this life.. good things that make you feel warm inside IN THIS LIFE, doesnt mean your bad karma is being removed, because your benefiting from doing good deeds, you'd have to to sacrifice and lose some happyness for the sake of others in order to remove the bad karma. Removing bad karma = living through pain.

But what confuses me more is the beginning of the system. If a being has a "first life", then what determines if it will be good or evil? or 100% neutral like a logical person would expect? Is it pure randomness? pure luck? or does this portion even matter? Surely not everyones first life can be the same as everyone elses first life in regard to karma.

Also I believe karma isnt possible with reincarnation or some after life. If you think it is.. well I suppose Gandhi isnt going to be finding happiness for his actions after his death... because he is dead. With reincarnation, he can.

Karma simply states that you create your own reality

This is what it comes down to