Wikipedia reveals the definition of karma as “the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect).” In other words, the more good deeds you do, the more good things that happen to you – the more bad deeds you do, the more bad things that happen to you.
I used to wholly subscribe to the notion of karma growing up, believing that if I truly was nice to people and did good deeds, the world would be nice back. Having absorbed everything that has happened to me and other persons of the world in my 28 years of existence I have largely deviated from these beliefs. The more people that hurt me, the more I realize that karma probably isn’t existent. Even in teaching, I quickly realized that being nice was not very effective (I am also quickly learning that in relationships with all people, being nice isn’t necessarily conducive to ensuring long-term success).
If karma exists, what did I do to deserve so many car accidents?! This morning as I was driving to do voluntary community service, my car’s battery died while when I turned off the engine.
Without a good samaritan around, I wouldn’t have been able to jumpstart the car, and get to my community service adventure of the day. Luckily for me, that happened and my car has operated fine since….
A piece of me still holds out that karma does exist, and justice eventually comes around. Having been raised Buddhist – the notions of karma in eastern religion is slightly different, suggesting that it is in one’s future life where they will fully realize the extent of their good deeds. That means, if true, the community service I am doing in this life will ensure I have a better existence in a future life.
Regardless of all these notions, I know who I am as an individual and I hope to continue to try to best benefit all those around me, spreading positively and positive karma to those that do good by me.
