Karma and Reincarnation

QuietlyLoud thumbnail
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Posted: 10 years ago
#1
What do you think about Karma and Reincarnation ?
Does it make sense to you?

For a while, the whole Gita philosophy intrigued me.Well it still does, but now I think if Karma does work,it is more or less Newton's third law in action.At some point in life,if not always,you will have to bear the consequences of your actions and choices.As simple as that.

All the rest,the existence of soul,reincarnation and all the matters to do with the after life looks like a comforting delusion to me.
Edited by QuietlyLoud - 10 years ago

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Angel-likeDevil thumbnail
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Posted: 10 years ago
#2
I agree with you about karma. Karma is the action of the man and the outcome affecting the man himself emotionally or his material life, in this very life.

I don't believe in reincarnation. It is hard to believe that there'd be an unknown force that would judge a man by his actions and give him a deserving materialistic shape. This does good in storytelling. In the universe, there's nothing 'good' or bad'. Everything is as such .

Lastly, I believe there is a soul. Soul is more real than anything else to me. The underlying consciousness deep inside, that is watching me as I type this, that is watching my mind, that has been... is the soul.
Edited by Angel-likeDevil - 10 years ago
_Angie_ thumbnail
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Posted: 10 years ago
#3

Assuming there is a soul wouldn't it be possible that as it experiences the life events through its physical form it would have some unfulfilled desires or expectations be it of self indulgence or retribution wrt other souls. If soul is indestructible it could always take on another physical form and continue on its journey of action-reaction till it has had its fill and wishes to end the game. God need not figure anywhere in the scheme of its self directed journey. For all we know God may just be a silent witness , full of benevolence available to anyone who wishes to draw upon its energy... something akin to the sunshine that does not discriminate and shines on everything and everyone. The Sun cant be blamed if someone decides to block or stay away from the warmth of its rays :)

-Aarya- thumbnail
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Posted: 10 years ago
#4

Originally posted by: QuietlyLoud

What do you think about Karma and Reincarnation ?
Does it make sense to you?

For a while, the whole Gita philosophy intrigued me.Well it still does, but now I think if Karma does work,it is more or less Newton's third law in action.At some point in life,if not always,you will have to bear the consequences of your actions and choices.As simple as that.

All the rest,the existence of soul,reincarnation and all the matters to do with the after life looks like a comforting delusion to me.



How do you know which action's consequences your bearing?

Karma is tool used as a psychological comfort which comes at great cost cause there is no rational substitutes which work just as well for our psychologically comfort, so we use terms like Karma.
qwertyesque thumbnail
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Posted: 10 years ago
#5

Originally posted by: QuietlyLoud

What do you think about Karma and Reincarnation ?
Does it make sense to you?

For a while, the whole Gita philosophy intrigued me.Well it still does, but now I think if Karma does work,it is more or less Newton's third law in action.At some point in life,if not always,you will have to bear the consequences of your actions and choices.As simple as that.

All the rest,the existence of soul,reincarnation and all the matters to do with the after life looks like a comforting delusion to me.


how else do you think non-human species exists like the animals... etc.. they used to be humans in one of their previous births.. Even Darwin claims only about human evolution.. he is really not sure how the ape evolved 😉 So everyone should be good and try to behave like the animal they would like to be reborn... till emancipation 😊
QuietlyLoud thumbnail
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Posted: 10 years ago
#6

Originally posted by: Angel-likeDevil

I agree with you about karma. Karma is the action of the man and the outcome affecting the man himself emotionally or his material life, in this very life.

I don't believe in reincarnation. It is hard to believe that there'd be an unknown force that would judge a man by his actions and give him a deserving materialistic shape. This does good in storytelling. In the universe, there's nothing 'good' or bad'. Everything is as such .

Lastly, I believe there is a soul. Soul is more real than anything else to me. The underlying consciousness deep inside, that is watching me as I type this, that is watching my mind, that has been... is the soul.



Angel, since you said you didn't believe in reincarnation,I suppose by 'soul' you meant your self consciousness, your psychological being and not as a separate entity which is capable of existing outside the body,right? If that was your interpretation,then I agree with you.I believe soul is just a product of our consciousness.I was only negating the idea of a soul as an indestructible entity passing from one life to another till it attain Moksha/liberation as Hindu philosophy says.

QuietlyLoud thumbnail
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Posted: 10 years ago
#7

Originally posted by: _Angie_

Assuming there is a soul wouldn't it be possible that as it experiences the life events through its physical form it would have some unfulfilled desires or expectations be it of self indulgence or retribution wrt other souls. If soul is indestructible it could always take on another physical form and continue on its journey of action-reaction till it has had its fill and wishes to end the game. God need not figure anywhere in the scheme of its self directed journey. For all we know God may just be a silent witness , full of benevolence available to anyone who wishes to draw upon its energy... something akin to the sunshine that does not discriminate and shines on everything and everyone. The Sun cant be blamed if someone decides to block or stay away from the warmth of its rays :)


I loved that last part about Sun :)

Yes it is indeed fascinating to think about a soul's journey that way.Only it doesn't make much sense.
If, like you said a soul journeys from one life to another to fulfill desires and expectations,shouldn't we all have at least a faintest idea about who we were and what all things we have gone through in our previous lives?
Since we have no memories of our previous existence how is it possible for the soul to finally attain satisfaction and liberate itself if in each life it has to start afresh?Even if the non materialistic part of our consciousness somehow survived the destruction of previous body and got into the present one but still cannot contribute to the materialistic consciousness of our present life,I can't see how the knowledge/ experiences we gained in previous life can be of any use at all.

Since we humans have basically evolved from animals over millions of years, if it does exist ,incarnation cannot be a process all inclusive to humans.If incarnation take place in humans,it should take place in all living things as well from animals to plants to bacteria. The concept of 'Death' is only valid in the case of higher animals, not in single-celled lower organisms like an Amoeba or a bacteria.The only cell they have simply divides into two cells which goes on to become two individuals without either of them ceasing to exist.The same happens in vegetative propagation in plants.So going by that logic, if you were born into such an animal/plant your soul will be split and split and split never to be passed on to another physical form again.That goes against the whole reincarnation theory.

I think the self directed part is the most interesting part about Karma and the very reason why it has a lot of takers.When things-be it good or bad start to happen for no apparent reason Karma often comes to rescue. For example,if you are good person in your and everyone else's eyes and still something tragic happened to you which you think you didn't deserve,you can always blame it on the karmic debts of your previous life .You can hope and reassure yourself that things would get better if you continue to be good.Likewise,if someone has done you wrong ,you can count on karma to make them pay for their act.If they didn't get the punishment you think they deserve while they lived,you still can think 'Oh well.If he didn't screw up in this life,he'll surely screw up in the next. !!' and I bet it would give the person some sort of satisfaction. No wonder why Karma manages to attract people in plenty with such a beyond-life guarantee service.
Edited by QuietlyLoud - 10 years ago
QuietlyLoud thumbnail
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Posted: 10 years ago
#8

Originally posted by: -Aarya-


How do you know which action's consequences your bearing?

Well,using a bit of common sense,I suppose😆 Jokes apart,you may not find many discrete action-reaction pairs in life when dealing with actions and their consequences .Often it is a cumulative effect of many actions that leads to an outcome-be it a favourable or non favourable one.
But of course,it does not always work that way .Sometimes you will be left with neither head nor tail about a particular incident/situation and I,call it randomness. And that's when Karma bows down it head to its believers.

Karma is tool used as a psychological comfort which comes at great cost cause there is no rational substitutes which work just as well for our psychologically comfort, so we use terms like Karma.


Agree :)
QuietlyLoud thumbnail
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Posted: 10 years ago
#9

Originally posted by: qwertyesque


how else do you think non-human species exists like the animals... etc.. they used to be humans in one of their previous births.. Even Darwin claims only about human evolution.. he is really not sure how the ape evolved 😉 So everyone should be good and try to behave like the animal they would like to be reborn... till emancipation 😊


Behave like animals?It cracked me up😆


Summer3 thumbnail
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Posted: 10 years ago
#10
Ah I met quite a few that still remember their past lives.
Anyway it is this life that is most important as the past is like a dream.
The one image never changes but only the reflections do but since we are unable to experience the one image we just have to see how reflection can give up its false identification.
Karma is basically retribution to a large extent, both the negatives and the positives tend to block our path though. But positives will make the journey smoother and more enjoyable.

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