Karma

‘Karma is real’.
Anon

That was said to me by someone a little while ago.  I thought they were talking ideologically – that as a concept if everyone ascribed to the notion of karma the world would be a better place.  I can see that.  It’s idealistic and grossly naive, but well intentioned none the less.  However this person meant that karma is a force which is happening for real in the past, present and future.

I decided that I might be misunderstanding what people mean by karma.  Beyond that annoying ‘karma will bite you in the arse’ expression people come up with, my appreciation of karma has basically been tree hugger types muttering under their breath when a guy in a suit takes the last pack of organic muesli.  So I looked up a definition.  According to the ever trustworthy Wikipedia, the western understanding of karma is:

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According to karma, performing positive actions results in a good condition in one's experience, whereas a negative action results in a bad effect. The effects may be seen immediately or delayed. Delay can be until later in the present life or in the next. Thus, meritorious acts may mean rebirth into a higher station, such as a superior human or a godlike being, while evil acts result in rebirth as a human living in less desirable circumstances, or as a lower animal.
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So on a basic scale, you do good and good things happen to you and vice versa.  You do really good or really bad and you get promoted or relegated on the grand cycle of life.  Does this not imply that the world is inherently fair?  If you want to improve your lot in life, you simply ‘do good’ and the cosmic forces take care of the rest.  I don’t think so.

Let’s see if we can find some examples of ethical behaviour and relative success not being in exactly perfect alignment.  What’s deemed to be ‘success’ is obviously subjective, so in this instance I’m considering wealth, health and power/influence:

-          AIDS sufferers.  Presumably everyone who has been unfortunate enough to contract this disease is getting their just deserts for past actions.  Well done karma, you just tacitly endorsed a bunch of multi religious bigotry and homophobia.
-          Karma loves the royal family, the landed gentry and all round good eggs like Rupert Murdoch.  They possess more money, power and influence than 99% of the world and they sure want to keep it that way.  They must be better people than 99% of the world too I guess, and that’s borne out by their actions.  Karma sure likes the status quo the way it is.
-          Children’s hospices up and down the country must be riddled with kids being punished for shitty past lives.  Check your empathy at the door and chalk it up to karma.
-          The gap between rich and poor is as wide as it has ever been, and it’s only getting wider.  Heads up poor people, karma judges you inferior to the rich and no amount of good actions seem to be changing that.

To consider this world fair is patently absurd.  That’s like going to the casino and calling the roulette table fair.  You keep paying your money over to the guy who inherited the casino, makes the rules of the house and can kick you out at any point if you look like beating the odds.  That’s not because the game’s rigged in his favour, he’s led a better life than you.  It’s fair!