this is what you get
when you mess with us
So I was reading in on a conversation between several people, some of whom I have actually met. It was about karma. Concerning karma. I do not know a whole lot about karma, other than what Boy George has told me. I mean, I know the general idea, but I do not know the secrets and the tricks and the inner workings of the business as well as my friends seem to. Or seem to think they do.
So when I started getting angry was when he alluded to the idea that you can pin everything on karma, and you can even pin things that happen to you on the karma that your ancestors worked up, and that nothing is ever really your fault, it's just karma. Even though he did mention that if something bad happens to you, it could be karmic retribution for something bad that you did previously. Or that your grandfather did. Whichever.
I have to wonder if it has occured to him that he is not the only person on the planet, currently. That there are a lot of people and a lot of animals and a lot of machines wandering around, doing things. And that, according to his model, everyone gets their own karma. Here is my issue with that. Say, for instance, you have this man. We will call him Scout. Scout is a really good guy. He's generous and kind and he loves his wife and children. He is superdad and superhusband and everyone's best pal. He is a catch. Except that he wasn't always, and isn't really now, what he appears. He, according to karmic theory, has racked up some pretty serious celestial demerits. So, based on this, he does not deserve happiness. So he will not have it. Something will go wrong, whether he does it actively or simply lets it happen, somehow the universe will block his happiness in order to avenge those that he has wronged in the past. So, by way of punishment, the Forces of Karma are going to destroy everything that he has built. His wife, his children, his home, everything. It has to go.
While this is brewing, you have this girl. She tries. She really does. She does what she can to help people and society and raise her children and tread lightly when possible. She is down with living and letting live and tries to make sure that the people around her are happy and healthy. She is good. She's cool. She is married to Scout and is the mother of his children.
So when the whole thing goes down, when the backlash comes and the world falls apart and her husband and home are gone, she could comfort herself with the knowledge that this is the way that things were supposed to be. Because, karmically speaking, this is fair. This is right. This is what he had coming, and it's too bad that you were in the way. Hey, you got some karma stuck to your shirt. You probably should not have been standing there. It is probably your bad karma, for deciding to get in the way of his bad karma, thus it is still fair. Refreshments in the lobby.
I don't like that idea. That you are constantly being punished for sins that you committed in the past or that you do not even realize you committed. I do not like the idea that you can blame bad things on something like that. I like the idea that there is an all knowing force waiting to avenge me, sure. It's comforting. Cause then I can say that karma is going to get Scout for things that he did to me. It seems like a good idea, in those times. I am more fond of the idea that even if you fuck up, when you see that you have done so and try not to do it again, you're cool. You're safe. More of a slow-drip than instant. You work on yourself. You recognize your flaws and you determine to not repeat the mistakes of your past. This, of course, assumes that you will recognize and attempt. But if you do not, if you are callous or clueless enough to not realize that you are doing terrible things, then punishment is probably not going to work for you anyway. If you don't think you're doing anything wrong, you will not understand why you are being punished. But the people around you will be punished right along with you. Scout is a happy man. He is still a happy man. He has moments where he wishes that things were different, but not because he is unhappy. It's because he is not completely stupid. Punishment does not work on those people. They will never learn.
You get good friends. You mess them about and lose them, but you do not care, because you are inherently not a good person. Karma, then, what, punishes you for being an asshole by taking away your friends? Do you care? Of course not, you are an asshole. My cousin is in prison currently. This is his third go around with prison. He will be there forever, this time, because it is his third time. The first time was for armed robbery. The second time was for kidnapping. The third time was because he was in a lumberyard after it closed, and that is trespassing. You could argue that he racked up some bad karma by having a knife in his pocket when he stole that money. Or that he racked up some bad karma by taking his girlfriend to California when she was a minor. Or that he probably should have taken the long way home as opposed to cutting through the lumberyard. So sure, those were his decisions, and now he is paying for them, initially he is punished by the justice system but really, he is punished by karma. The knife did not have to fall out. The concert could have been in this state. It could have not been raining. Things could have been different. But who is suffering, other than him? His wife. His boys. So, her current suffering is the karmic result of her bad decision in marrying this person. That is complete bullshit. It is bullshit. He is in prison. It is not because he does bad things, it is because he does illegal things. His family is suffering not because they did bad things, but because there was a fence and he ignored it.
I thought that the whole principal of the karmic philosophy was universal balance. Fairness. It is not fair for people to suffer for the transgressions of others. It isn't fair. It is not fair to be punished for something that you did when you were a different person. It is not fair. If you are shown your mistake and choose to repeat it, I can see that. If you continue with a way of life that is hurting people or the world around you and right as you are going to kick that baby a runaway bus wipes you out, hey, fine. But forever? And for things that other people did? I do not support that. At all. I think it's a copout, and a big one. And it completely does away with doing good for the sake of doing good. Because now, now you are doing good so that bad things do not happen to you. And that isn't why you do good things. You do good because it is right. Not to rack up points somewhere.
I understand that it is a good idea for evil to not go unpunished. I understand that it is good for people to be shown the error of their ways, so that they can change them if they are willing. I do not understand giving a name and a following to the practice of not taking responsibility for your own actions. That I do not understand. At all.
So I was reading in on a conversation between several people, some of whom I have actually met. It was about karma. Concerning karma. I do not know a whole lot about karma, other than what Boy George has told me. I mean, I know the general idea, but I do not know the secrets and the tricks and the inner workings of the business as well as my friends seem to. Or seem to think they do.
So when I started getting angry was when he alluded to the idea that you can pin everything on karma, and you can even pin things that happen to you on the karma that your ancestors worked up, and that nothing is ever really your fault, it's just karma. Even though he did mention that if something bad happens to you, it could be karmic retribution for something bad that you did previously. Or that your grandfather did. Whichever.
I have to wonder if it has occured to him that he is not the only person on the planet, currently. That there are a lot of people and a lot of animals and a lot of machines wandering around, doing things. And that, according to his model, everyone gets their own karma. Here is my issue with that. Say, for instance, you have this man. We will call him Scout. Scout is a really good guy. He's generous and kind and he loves his wife and children. He is superdad and superhusband and everyone's best pal. He is a catch. Except that he wasn't always, and isn't really now, what he appears. He, according to karmic theory, has racked up some pretty serious celestial demerits. So, based on this, he does not deserve happiness. So he will not have it. Something will go wrong, whether he does it actively or simply lets it happen, somehow the universe will block his happiness in order to avenge those that he has wronged in the past. So, by way of punishment, the Forces of Karma are going to destroy everything that he has built. His wife, his children, his home, everything. It has to go.
While this is brewing, you have this girl. She tries. She really does. She does what she can to help people and society and raise her children and tread lightly when possible. She is down with living and letting live and tries to make sure that the people around her are happy and healthy. She is good. She's cool. She is married to Scout and is the mother of his children.
So when the whole thing goes down, when the backlash comes and the world falls apart and her husband and home are gone, she could comfort herself with the knowledge that this is the way that things were supposed to be. Because, karmically speaking, this is fair. This is right. This is what he had coming, and it's too bad that you were in the way. Hey, you got some karma stuck to your shirt. You probably should not have been standing there. It is probably your bad karma, for deciding to get in the way of his bad karma, thus it is still fair. Refreshments in the lobby.
I don't like that idea. That you are constantly being punished for sins that you committed in the past or that you do not even realize you committed. I do not like the idea that you can blame bad things on something like that. I like the idea that there is an all knowing force waiting to avenge me, sure. It's comforting. Cause then I can say that karma is going to get Scout for things that he did to me. It seems like a good idea, in those times. I am more fond of the idea that even if you fuck up, when you see that you have done so and try not to do it again, you're cool. You're safe. More of a slow-drip than instant. You work on yourself. You recognize your flaws and you determine to not repeat the mistakes of your past. This, of course, assumes that you will recognize and attempt. But if you do not, if you are callous or clueless enough to not realize that you are doing terrible things, then punishment is probably not going to work for you anyway. If you don't think you're doing anything wrong, you will not understand why you are being punished. But the people around you will be punished right along with you. Scout is a happy man. He is still a happy man. He has moments where he wishes that things were different, but not because he is unhappy. It's because he is not completely stupid. Punishment does not work on those people. They will never learn.
You get good friends. You mess them about and lose them, but you do not care, because you are inherently not a good person. Karma, then, what, punishes you for being an asshole by taking away your friends? Do you care? Of course not, you are an asshole. My cousin is in prison currently. This is his third go around with prison. He will be there forever, this time, because it is his third time. The first time was for armed robbery. The second time was for kidnapping. The third time was because he was in a lumberyard after it closed, and that is trespassing. You could argue that he racked up some bad karma by having a knife in his pocket when he stole that money. Or that he racked up some bad karma by taking his girlfriend to California when she was a minor. Or that he probably should have taken the long way home as opposed to cutting through the lumberyard. So sure, those were his decisions, and now he is paying for them, initially he is punished by the justice system but really, he is punished by karma. The knife did not have to fall out. The concert could have been in this state. It could have not been raining. Things could have been different. But who is suffering, other than him? His wife. His boys. So, her current suffering is the karmic result of her bad decision in marrying this person. That is complete bullshit. It is bullshit. He is in prison. It is not because he does bad things, it is because he does illegal things. His family is suffering not because they did bad things, but because there was a fence and he ignored it.
I thought that the whole principal of the karmic philosophy was universal balance. Fairness. It is not fair for people to suffer for the transgressions of others. It isn't fair. It is not fair to be punished for something that you did when you were a different person. It is not fair. If you are shown your mistake and choose to repeat it, I can see that. If you continue with a way of life that is hurting people or the world around you and right as you are going to kick that baby a runaway bus wipes you out, hey, fine. But forever? And for things that other people did? I do not support that. At all. I think it's a copout, and a big one. And it completely does away with doing good for the sake of doing good. Because now, now you are doing good so that bad things do not happen to you. And that isn't why you do good things. You do good because it is right. Not to rack up points somewhere.
I understand that it is a good idea for evil to not go unpunished. I understand that it is good for people to be shown the error of their ways, so that they can change them if they are willing. I do not understand giving a name and a following to the practice of not taking responsibility for your own actions. That I do not understand. At all.
posted by machine central at 3:58 PM
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