Thought 1: Karma?

What is Karma?

From Google Dictionary:

kar·ma

noun /ˈkärmə/  (in Hinduism and Buddhism) The sum of a person's actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as deciding their fate in future existences Destiny or fate, following as effect from cause

Common Perception

Karma is typically viewed as a supernatural governing body which causes good deeds to be rewarded and bad deeds to be punished.  Karma as a concept has been around in our minds for a long time, but in 2005 a TV show named "My Name Is Earl" slingshot the idea into the hearts of many.  In the show, the main character Earl had the good fortune of winning a $100,000 dollar lottery.  Unfortunately he was struck by a car and lost the ticket.  Lying in a hospital bed under the affects of morphine he hears about karma and decides he needs to make up for the bad things he's done and decides he lost the lottery ticket because of his bad actions in the past.  He makes a list of the bad things and wrong doings he's done in his life.  After making up for the first bad thing on his list, he finds the $100,000 lottery ticket.  Karma had paid him back already it seemed.

My Thoughts

I have a much different view of what karma is.  I don't believe in supernatural forces.  I believe everything in the universe can be understood through governing laws of science.  So then, why is this idea of karma so popular, especially in our Judeo-Christian centered society?

Have you ever heard the saying "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"?  I believe this statement is at the heart of a phenomenon I have begun to call "social karma".  Social karma is the idea that eventually the cumulation of your actions, either good or bad, will eventually catch up to you.  This is the same as the typical karma I described before, however with social karma it catches up to you because society deems your actions either good or bad and responds accordingly.  This is much different than karma because with karma your actions are governed by a 'supernatural force' that somehow knows the difference between right and wrong, moral and immoral.  Society's judgement does not always hold to this standard.  As a society we can make some very stupid decisions over what is moral and what is immoral and hold different people to different standards.

Social karma exists in each of us.  We see or hear about a person's actions and most of the time we immediately judge these actions either positively or negatively.  If we find these actions moral sometime down the road we may be more willing to help this person, whereas if we find these actions immoral we will be less likely to help.  There's obviously layers and layers of complication in the sociology of this concept, however the idea remains simple:

Do good and good will be done unto you.

This isn't to say that nothing bad will happen to good people, it happens all the time.  Our society is seriously flawed, and so to will be the 'karma' that goes with it.

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