razzledazzleem
New member
Steve McNair was a former NFL star who fooled around on his wife and eventually ended up dead as a result of his affair. It is common knowledge that many men stray, but why was the karma in his case bad enough to lead to his untimely death? His *action* of finding a troubled, unstable woman led to his *consequence” of getting killed. Is there a reason that karma punished him so severely for his transgression? The principle of karma can only go so far as to show us that one course of action is categorically better than another; it cannot show us the severity of each decision.
Let’s say you have just been egregiously insulted by a woman with whom you were on a date. You’ve also realized that she’s a horrible, presumptuous person who is also causing a scene. In your indignation, you decide to give her cab fare and tell her you do not wish to drive her back home. If she were to get attacked by the cab driver, or perhaps even murdered while waiting for the bus, would that be something that would result in bad karma for you? Even if she got home totally fine, is it bad karma for you since you did not show the best etiquette and returned her hatred toward you for a lack of civility toward her? Is karma basically blind as to ‘why’ you did something, simply considering whether the *action* you chose was the lesser or greater of two evils?
This is somewhat related to the question I’ve posed. I was just reading about a high school girl who sent a text message to another high school student mocking his dead brother. Apparently, the boy she sent it to was either mentally ill to begin with or maybe her message riled him so much so that he showed up at her school and beat her to within an inch of her life. If karma believers consider that McNair died due to his bad karma, then is this girl’s tragedy a direct result of her bad karma as well? Are the situations parallel if you look at them through the eyes of a Buddhist? Karma *set the stage* for both events to happen, didn’t it?
Most of us have said a mean thing or two throughout the course of our lives, but I think it’s fair to say that we weren’t put in a hospital over them. Why her? Why that day? I think the reason that I can’t grasp the idea of karma is because it makes so much sense on various levels, but so little on others. It’s basically cause and effect. But if we are all practically blind as to what effects our causes will have on the universe, what’s the point in trying to guess? We can’t predict the future. It seems to me that only karma can.
Let’s say you have just been egregiously insulted by a woman with whom you were on a date. You’ve also realized that she’s a horrible, presumptuous person who is also causing a scene. In your indignation, you decide to give her cab fare and tell her you do not wish to drive her back home. If she were to get attacked by the cab driver, or perhaps even murdered while waiting for the bus, would that be something that would result in bad karma for you? Even if she got home totally fine, is it bad karma for you since you did not show the best etiquette and returned her hatred toward you for a lack of civility toward her? Is karma basically blind as to ‘why’ you did something, simply considering whether the *action* you chose was the lesser or greater of two evils?
This is somewhat related to the question I’ve posed. I was just reading about a high school girl who sent a text message to another high school student mocking his dead brother. Apparently, the boy she sent it to was either mentally ill to begin with or maybe her message riled him so much so that he showed up at her school and beat her to within an inch of her life. If karma believers consider that McNair died due to his bad karma, then is this girl’s tragedy a direct result of her bad karma as well? Are the situations parallel if you look at them through the eyes of a Buddhist? Karma *set the stage* for both events to happen, didn’t it?
Most of us have said a mean thing or two throughout the course of our lives, but I think it’s fair to say that we weren’t put in a hospital over them. Why her? Why that day? I think the reason that I can’t grasp the idea of karma is because it makes so much sense on various levels, but so little on others. It’s basically cause and effect. But if we are all practically blind as to what effects our causes will have on the universe, what’s the point in trying to guess? We can’t predict the future. It seems to me that only karma can.