Do you have a personal experience when karma happened? Personally it happened when the person making fun of me in college started dating a 45-year old. (cringe) She seemed to have gotten shaken up for some reason. What about you?
Shaken up? I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that, and how this relates to the supposed karma you speak off.
it's simple, she must have had some events that happened in life that made her miserable until she turned cuckoo. i didnt help her though.
Hey! Watch out who you're calling cringe-worthy. ;-) Although, I'm not so sure this is a good example of karma -- if the person who made fun of you is happy in the relationship, then it's not necessarily karma. Dating a 45 year old in and of itself (even if one is only 20) is not always necessarily a bad thing (even though it may raise some eyebrows.)
Me being pedantic because I'm a closet Hindu: Karma is an ever present process. It is water in a river. It is always happening, so there can be no one moment or event where one can say, "Aha! See! Karma got you!" because Karma was happening the instant before and the instant after and all points between. Karma is not just some hit-man the universe employs to take care of bad debts. And now for my more Western response: Have a care, oh young person. You've just slighted an entire age group, and presumably all age groups that come after, by calling us (you're talking about me here) cringe worthy. An entire age group! Are you sure you want that kind of karma following you?
As @Wreybies (closet Hindu lol. Is there any more closet you are yet to come out of? )said karma is a continuous process, something so powerful that it can alter ones destiny... fate. So saying 'karma happened' actually doesn't make sense. But yes your bad karma coming back to bite your a$$ can certainly happen. But that is also debatable though because some believe that irrespective of ones karma destiny controls our fate. In that sense your friend going out with a 45 year old has been decided long ago by some Devine force. Btw... 45 is the new 25!
Nope. The only other closet door in my life, I took down when I was 13. But that's another topic for another day.
Don't cringe, one day that 45-year-old will be you And don't be so selfish and narrow as to only see life from your own POV. Not everyone has a problem with dating someone much older. And I don't understand how you came to the conclusion that when something like that happens, it simply MUST be because they couldn't find anyone else. If they're happy, then that's all that matters. Looks like it's not them who deserves karma, but you.
Rivers are not uniform, dude. Sometimes they narrow into streams, other times they hide underground. Even if Karma is always happening, you're only going to notice it at certain times, just like weight gain.
Well, I admit that is a Western way of looking at it. Perception, which is a manifestation of ego, is given priority over the autonomous reality and constancy of the thing itself.
Ah, yes, Eastern vs. Western thinking. I'm just now beginning to realize how different some of the thinking really is. One major example is the idea of using the mind to grasp the mind. In Eastern thinking, that's a ludicrous idea, sort of like a hand trying to grasp itself. In Western thought, however, there's an entire branch of philosophy dedicated to it.
My curiosity is piqued. You guys know of any texts that go into detail regarding east vs west thinking?
I don't think such a book exists. You may just have to read a few of the major philosophical texts from both sides and make comparisons that way. Of course, you could always Google "eastern vs. western thought" or something similar, but I think it's best to read the actual texts.
Not really "Karma" in the "traditional sense", but I think a lot of good things have happened to me. I mean, I'm pretty poor and unpopular and crap keeps happening to me, but overall I have friends and family and food and things like that. People do care. And I always have my fictional characters to keep me company.
Karma is not the cosmic warden doling out punishment. Karma is the gentle teacher who leads you discover your own mistakes and better yourself through them.
From a fairly Western mind: yeah, I've seen karma "happen." I mean individual incidents that have turned out to shape a person's life in a big way, changing their direction completely. There have been two such instances I can recall. One happened to someone who had wronged me. I had nothing to do with it as such, but that life is in ruins now. I do feel sorry about that, but what can you do? The other happened to me, namely meeting my wife (which was pure chance). In Finland we have a saying "if you have no luck with money, you will have it in love." That's pretty much my case, and I wouldn't reverse it for the world. Must've done something right...
I refuse to have children because I know it will be born with every person's characteristics I have ridiculed. Take that Karma!!!
From the not so closeted evidence based person I am: Karma is part myth (the magical part) and mostly better described as, what goes around, comes around. Or, put another way, we reap what we sow (but not always).
I tend to agree with Cogito. In life, shit happens. In fact, according to my personal observation, shit happens more often to good people than to bad ones. Usually, it evens out in the end, everybody getting their share of good and bad. Karma is a lot more subtle than that. Can we keep trying, keep being good people in bad times as well as good? Will we turn bitter and hateful, cruel, unhappy, or will we struggle like bastards not to lose faith in humanity, and be rewarded with feelings of fulfilment and inner peace? The way we feel and see the world is the only way we can attract certain people, events and 'luck' into our lives. That's the essence of Eastern philosophy, and quite difficult to grasp for us westerners, who rested their fate in the hands of a vengeful, almost autistic god for millennia. That's my interpretation of it, anyway.
