Karma: The Universal Currency

When I do a favor for someone or participate in a random act of kindness am I making a 'deposit' in a 'universal bank'?

or

Are good deed's just a gamble or will I get something in return. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow or maybe not even in this life time.

Am I making sense?

The intention of this thread isn't to discuss morals or why we should be kind to one another it's just a hypothetical idea I had.

So what do you guys think, is there really such thing as karma and if there is what is it?

This go's for 'negative' karma and bad things you do to.. i guess this would be like 'over drafting' from the 'universal bank'

I'm sure I can explain this a little better if I put more thought into it but I just wanted to get the idea posted while it was fresh in my head.

I believe in karma. I live my life based on good and bad karma. I just hope ive finally tipped the balance in my favor. Wasnt a good boy during the teen years.

I also believe in Karma or the experience of Karmic events.

I don't know what it is or how it operates, maybe some kind of natural law.

I have several examples that speak to me of a universal natural law.

My favorite happened to my daughter. She found she couldn't keep her kitten so she took it to an apartment complex where lots of kids live hoping that it would get taken in (not the best idea, but it is what it is) when she returned home there were two kittens on her doorstep with a food bowl and a box of litter.

Earlier this week I found a twenty dollar bill on the floor at work. I recalled a friend digging in his pocket earlier looking for a key at the place I found the money. I returned the money to him. Then the next night I took my mom out to an expensive restuarant for her birthday and ended up saving $35.00 dollars on the bill because of a small error they made. The next day I was shopping and got an item listed on sale for 15.00 and it rang up for 5.00. Also the clerk couldn't get this toy to ring up on the register and said my granddaughter could just have it.

This same week I also found a $5.00 on the ground at a gas station and gave it to the girl I was with as she barely had any gas money.
.
Silly stories, but in my mind these are good examples of Karma.

[edit on 28-7-2007 by interestedalways]

Meh, I barely had any "obvious" effects from anything that could be seen as a ''good deed".

Maybe my karma gets stored up for my ultimate wish? Like a savings account lol, save up all the good karma so you can finally "buy" that supernatural event that would end up with you being the happiest person in the whole universe

I'd like to believe that, or maybe my "paranormal" experiences were good karma ''rewards'', since they weren't ''evil''.

Maybe you even have a special ''karmic advisor'', based on what you do and how you do in the real world, makes him decide on how to invest your good karma (or bad, maybe that has some value as well)

[edit on 29/7/07 by -0mega-]

what is bad and good? will being good in one area give a good outcome in another or are actions linked by category? and is good determined by a universal constant or by the subjective reasoning of the mind interpreting the events.

"I believe in karma, Therefore i can do bad things to people all day long and assume they deserved it" - Scott Adams.

Originally posted by NuTroll
"I believe in karma, Therefore i can do bad things to people all day long and assume they deserved it" - Scott Adams.

But if you are inflicting harm to someone, whether they deserved it or not, aren't you still doing a "bad" thing?

Just like when in certain countries, if a criminal is outside, and you shoot him in the leg or w/e, you'd still get punished even though you helped them catch the criminal.

Though in the end yes, it's all a matter of perception

The enemy is evil because he is the enemy.

[edit on 29/7/07 by -0mega-]

I too believe in karma in a sense. When I was younger I was a very negative soul, always in trouble and wondered why things went wrong for me...

But now after having changed my life around, I realise how valuable it is too treat others with respect, to avoid judgement and to have positive thoughts... and my life has never been better. I am doing well with my studies, I have a very beautiful girlfriend and some amazing friends. The universe rewarding me?

I cannot explain karma, but I appreciate it...


Peace and love.

x

Karma does not exist, if it did I would not be happy and successful. I have done a lot of bad deeds in my life and have not suffered for one of them and i have also done some good but have not been a receipient of anything good. I am happy and successful because i have worked hard for both.

[edit on 29-7-2007 by soulstealer2099]

Originally posted by -0mega-

Originally posted by NuTroll
"I believe in karma, Therefore i can do bad things to people all day long and assume they deserved it" - Scott Adams.

But if you are inflicting harm to someone, whether they deserved it or not, aren't you still doing a "bad" thing?

Just like when in certain countries, if a criminal is outside, and you shoot him in the leg or w/e, you'd still get punished even though you helped them catch the criminal.

Though in the end yes, it's all a matter of perception

The enemy is evil because he is the enemy.

[edit on 29/7/07 by -0mega-]

But is this not how karma is supposed ( if it was real ) work? Someone does something bad but is repaid in life...is it not safe to assume doing something bad is just you doing karmas work.

i lost my front teeth saving a man's life.

and my timing chain on my old toyota pickup decided to go RIGHT AFTER delivering a bed to someone in need in oakland 2 years ago.

i have mixed feeling about karma.

Originally posted by zooplancton
i lost my front teeth saving a man's life.

and my timing chain on my old toyota pickup decided to go RIGHT AFTER delivering a bed to someone in need in oakland 2 years ago.

i have mixed feeling about karma.

Hmmm, understandable that you would have mixed feelings.

I guess the biblical character of Job might have felt that way, too!

Maybe someday "He will restore all that the locusts have eaten" if you are a good person.

Who really knows. Personal experience is all we have and it is always in the development stages.

Originally posted by zooplancton
i lost my front teeth saving a man's life.

and my timing chain on my old toyota pickup decided to go RIGHT AFTER delivering a bed to someone in need in oakland 2 years ago.

youre making deposits in your karma bank and the negative karma is kinda like interest on it.

i have mixed feeling about karma.

i'm not surprised! i think it will all come back to you though. good things happen to good people

Karma is the law of cause and effect that works from one lifetime to the next... it's not a system of rewards within the current lifetime.

If you want to investigate the law of attraction, read the book "The Secret". It explains how your frame of mind attracts bad or good into your life.

Originally posted by annestacey
Karma is the law of cause and effect that works from one lifetime to the next... it's not a system of rewards within the current lifetime.

If you want to investigate the law of attraction, read the book "The Secret". It explains how your frame of mind attracts bad or good into your life.

Maybe one's experience of Karma works from lifetime to lifetime and another person's experience of it works in a more instantaneus, or current life way.

No one really knows, they simply have an understanding that resonates with thier ideas.

The law of attraction and a persons frame of mind of course have a tremendous effect on their perception/creation of their reality. Who knows the two principles mentioned could work hand in hand.

To my understanding, we all have a great deal of negative karma built up. Once we repay 51% of our negative karma we attain a high degree of enlightenment. This means, we all of a lot of negative debt to pay, saved up over all of our lifetimes.

"Good karma" does not erase negative karma. You still have to repay negative karma that you build up. But it is wrong to think of it as punishment. Rather they are opportunities to learn from the experience, and transform your lives from there. It can wait lifetimes to repay you for something you've done. But when you are eventually in a position to "get what you deserve" it will happen.

The results of our good deeds seem far removed from what we do. This makes us believe that there is no order to it, and there is no karma. But since the picture is so broad, we cannot percieve and make the connection between cause and effect.

cause and effect..Think of karma as the spiritual equivalent of this law. The effect can be far removed from the cause, but there is still a connection.

The only thing that can erase your negative karma without you having to repay it is reaching enlightenment. This can generally only happen after a lifetime(and usually many many) of trying to better oneself and return to your true spiritual nature.

We experience enlightenment in small doses. There was a recent thread entitled "those little moments of clarity." It is during these times that our minds expand, and we become aware of existance at a deeper level.

There is also an upsetting side to enlightment. The pain of compassion. Your compassion can be greatly expanded, and realizing that you are unable to "save others" or bring them along the spiritual path with you becomes very depressing. Or if you look at men as they fight and tear eachother apart, and effectively declare war on the world and her children for food or riches. It can be heartbreaking.

But I lose focus. Karma is the result to our actions. Only when we look at it through the big picture can we begin to make the connections. It is not in my ability to determine what is good or bad. I am not capable of adequately describing the difference. However, generally, when you do things for the betterment of others, it is good. If you do things for yourself AT THE COST OF OTHERS it is bad. It is surfing that grey area which is hard. All we can do is do our best, and hope it works out.

I am striving to be more brief in my posts but fear getting warned for a one-liner.

My newfound desire to be brief stems from:

"The secret to being boring is to say everything" - Voltaire

and "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt" - Abraham Lincoln

Now that I am no longer in fear of short post, I offer this response to this topic.

"Karma is a boomerang" - Handwritten note on tip jar at Starbucks

Need I say more?

regards....kk

fixed typo

[edit on 29-7-2007 by kinda kurious]

I do not think karma exists.

If I'm wrong and karma does exist, I'm certain it works opposite to how everybody thinks it does. Life appears to favor those that commit bad deeds.

Frith I don't believe that to be true. In my opinion, people that commit bad deeds and benefit from it are truly unhappy. That's why they do bad deeds. If someone gets rich off doing bad deeds and has tons of cash i wouldn't necessarily 'he's got the life' cause he probably doesn't. he just has a few nice toys that he can use to mask his unhappiness with

i think that is karma

I have a deep belief in karma. I feel that I am being punished in this life for things that I did in previous lives.

"If it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have...no luck at all."


Jasn

I never really had good karma recently.
A sweet old lady wanted a coffee and she was 5 cents short, so I give
it to her. I buy my coffee and a donut, as I was walking out I ate the
donut and as I got to the car my coffee fell and splashed on my shoes.

Another time I helped an older gentleman. He purchased a heavy mirror
from a store, so I helped him carry it to his vehicle. As I walked in to work
I got fired for being 5 minutes late.

So what I am trying to say is I don't believe in Karma anymore. I will still
help people when they need it, but I will not expect the universe to
allow me to win the lottery or anything.