i experienced a bit of romance-related drama in the summer of 2006. i wont get too specific, but lets just say that technology can be a bitch. admittedly, i made some decisions that contributed to the situation, but nobody could argue that the actions that occurred in response to my decisions were justified. to make a scale analogy, what happened was akin to someones shoe getting stepped on, and that person responding by taking off the shoe and throwing it in the culprits face.
yet, despite my relative innocence...many would argue that I had it coming.
a decade ago, while the champ was still a college-aged “challenger”, i used technology to intentionally hurt and embarrass someone who i thought had disrespected me. it was mean, vindictive, short-sighted, and immature…easily the moment in my life i’m least proud of (just typing this sh*t made me cringe), and if you believe in romantic karma, a concrete precursor to what happened in 06.
romantic karma in itself is a bit of an enigma, especially when you combine the matrixesque “everything’s connected” mindset behind the concept of karma with the inherent subjectivity synonymous with romantic relationships. are we really eventual recipients of the energy we release? is that karma concept nothing but a self-fulfilling prophesy? is it all just a bunch of bullsh*t?
who knows.
i do know, though, that fully believing in romantic karma has a way of dismissing personal responsibility and accountability. i mean, the stuff that happened in 2006 had absolutely nothing to do with the stunt i pulled my sophomore year in college, and its lazy thinking to even suggest that. yeah, as i alluded to before, i helped to make my own bed, but the decisions that affected the situation were made in ’06, not ’98.
also, it seems as if many of us subscribe to this belief system to replace a missing moral compass. for instance, one of the themes repeatedly brought up in the comments here is the fact that the main reason why many people don’t do more relationship dirt is the fear that it’ll come back to bite them in the ass. forget about whether it’s right or wrong or the possibility of someone getting hurt in the process…a full subscription to the “karmic times” is all about us, or, more specifically, how it’s going to directly affect us.
moral ambivalence is part of being human though, and when you combine this with our desperate need to make things “fair”, believing in romantic karma has its place…for some.
just not me.
—the champ
My spritual side leads me to believe in karma (not that I’m a buddhist ‘Monk’ or anything) – whether in relationship scenarios or otherwise.
Could be because I’ve seen karma in action…could be because ‘karma’ is like an urban legend that’s been branded in my subconscious…I don’t know.
Not to sound cliche’-ish or anything, but I do know that it’s best to treat folks how you wish to be treated.
So, for insurance sakes, keep your moral compass intact.
What you reap you will sow–whether you call it karma or getting the rewards of what you’ve planted or not–if you mistreat people intentionally, it will come back on you and you will regret it. God has a way of bringing things back to our memory.
“God has a way of bringing things back to our memory.”
Amen…He really does…
“God has a way of bringing things back to our memory.”
in the afterlife, yes, but you can’t honestly say that this always happens while youre on earth.
The Champ,
It may or may not happen while here on earth…many times things may happen to you because you sowed some “bad seeds” and you may have forgotten why, but the thing is even if your memory is faulty, you still reap what you sow. Most times it is here on this side. It might not happen a few days, months…it could be years before you see the results of. In fact, as you mentioned, it could be in the afterlife–but the reality is there are consequences for our actions–whether the consequences are good or bad or whether they occur now or later.
“but the reality is there are consequences for our actions–whether the consequences are good or bad or whether they occur now or later.”
i don’t disagree with this.
“Not to sound cliche’-ish or anything, but I do know that it’s best to treat folks how you wish to be treated.”
eh…not always. what if you’re a masochist? i know this is an extreme example, but my point is that its kind of presumptuous to assume that people would like to be treated the same way you’d wish to be
LOL! good point but…what’s your suggestion?
to treat people with kindness and respect. if this is too much to ask, then do what you need to do to avoid people, lol
Well stated, Monk. I 2nd that.
I used to believe in relationship karma, then I realized that I just always felt guilty about how I wronged someone else and I was looking for a way to “wash away my sins”. Saying that I got mine in the end does the trick for some; for me I needed to really make good my those mistakes. Now I sleep better.
Romantic karma is as real and brutal as karma comes…I mean I can literally do something jacked up in one relationship like say, invite an ex-lover over and embarrass him intentionally in front of a full party of guests and then proceed to slam the door in his face just cause I knew I could on one occasion…THEN have his freaking alter ego show up in my next r-ship and seduce me so fully and thoroughly that I’m left sinking in the lowest, most shameful, and EMBARRASSING romantic situation I’ve ever been in in my life. I knew it was coming…I knew I couldn’t continue to be the “bully” in my r-ships for an eternity without ever getting to experience being bullied.
I should have learned this lesson in school. The whole time I was in elementary school I ran sh*t like I was friggin’ Sosa from Belly: “Who wan’ test me???” But when I stepped foot in middle school those kids terrorized me like I was an American and they were Al-Qaeda. They Osama’d me good. By high school, I was as cool and well-balanced as ever. So now that my yin has finally yanged, maybe I’ve finally graduated and can go into r-ship high school now…hopefully. :/
“I knew it was coming…I knew I couldn’t continue to be the “bully” in my r-ships for an eternity without ever getting to experience being bullied. ”
isn’t this just a self-fulfilling prophesy though? the way you describe it, its almost as if you were seeking something/someone to put you in your place.
Hell nah…I just have a great understanding of how karma works…no one is ever really ready to be checked like that! In fact, as soon as I effed with the dupe in my story I was like damn…its coming back to me and felt bad. Sometimes I think my KNOWING karma is real is enough to give me a pass…but it doesn’t work that way. I do see the whole experience as really balancing me out though…something about thesis + antithesis = synthesis or some sh*t. I’m grateful for the completion of the cosmic equation actually, I feel like I’ve been absolved. Now I can go and do other jacked up things and get paid back for it. :/
“Now I can go and do other jacked up things and get paid back for it. :/”
LMAO!!!! I like your attitude…F**k Karma!
“In fact, as soon as I effed with the dupe in my story I was like damn…its coming back to me and felt bad”
how is this not a self-fulfilling prophesy?
Whatever you wanna call it. Karma and self-fulfilling prophecy seem to be pretty interchangeable here. It is what it is. I never really wanted someone to come in and eff with me the way I did with him but hey I called it so I deserve it right? :/
You know when I most believe in karma? when someone screws me over. seriously, the first thing i think to myself is damn…that person is really gonna get it. And you know what? It has bit them in the ass every time. As for my moral compass, I think it’s pretty in tact…i’ve had my moments of wishing harm and saying things that hurt but some how or another (in spite of my ‘relative innocence’) life has served me a couple of ill scenarios. it makes me wonder…what the phuck did i do in my past life to deserve this sh*t??? but then again, it could be God’s way of giving me good writing material. lol
“You know when I most believe in karma? when someone screws me over.”\
you mean, when you most WANT TO believe in karma, right?
“you mean, when you most WANT TO believe in karma, right?”
exactly.
But it works sometimes you say it and whatever they get hit with leaves you like damn and then you go and say your prayers and back to living a good life
To say that karma incites a lack of moral responsibility and accountability is an oxy-moron. The very premise to accepting karma as a reality is in fact embracing the reality that you caused events in your life to happen.
Life is all about karmic energy, eveything you receive is in direct correlation with the energy you put out into the universe. Now I know this theory can and will be disputed by the nonbelievers, but if everyone examines their life with honest eyes, it’s easy to see that the good and the bad are in direct relation to the good and bad choices you make in life.
You reap what you sew…it’s as simple as that.
” it’s easy to see that the good and the bad are in direct relation to the good and bad choices you make in life.”
so when bad things happen to ‘good people’ it’s because you brought it on yourself? what about the person who gets abused, violated, or exploited and never even hurt a fly?
kids aside my answer is yes. i am a firm believer in the energy you put out in the universe to attract certain behavior. and no one is a “good person” by definition that exempts them from bad things happening.
it’s no coincidence that a chic dates 5 guys and they all abuse her, it’s no coincidence that the abused don’t leave until they change the energy in their presence. everyone and everything we attract to our lives are a direct correlation to the energy that we are inherently transmitting.
anyone who knows me will tell you that i stand behind the law of attraction, i do believe that you speak and live things into existence, almost as if you’re looking for it so it’s no surprise when you find it. if you think speaking and thinking that you only attract dawg ass men, then guess what, you will ALWAYS attract dawg ass men.
3 months ago i said i will have a boyfriend by summer’s end…i haven’t been in a relationship in 3 years because i internally didn’t believe that i could find a decent man and i put that energy out there, so i only attracted men who were interested in the short term. since making that statement a few months back and living my life as if it’s already happened i have been drowning in great guys, and 1 in particular may even take the title in the next week or so.
so yes i think that everything that happens(with the exception of kids) we bring on ourselves in our adult lives.
“it’s no coincidence that a chic dates 5 guys and they all abuse her, it’s no coincidence that the abused don’t leave until they change the energy in their presence. everyone and everything we attract to our lives are a direct correlation to the energy that we are inherently transmitting. ”
theres a difference between this (the laws of attraction, which i believe in) and saying that some shit that happen in 1984 is the cause for some completely unrelated current event.
well not really, they’re actually intertwined. karma has several different definitions all underlining to the laws of attraction. i think people misunderstand the meaning of actual karma considering society has linked a very commericialized definition to it to simplify it for the general population.
you’re talking to a philosophy major here so i can go completely left field with this. energy isn’t comprised of just thoughts, it resonnates in actions as well. so yes things that you do in 1984 can inevitably affect current events, but that’s because your thoughts and actions are generally intertwined.
if you live by the theory that what goes around comes around, then you are in fact attracting that energy to yourself. you’re just waiting any second for that ticking time bomb to go off. now some believe that they can break the rift. “i did these things 2 years ago but it will never happen to me,” while subsciously waiting for them to happen, and of course they still happen. you can’t escape karma…it’s your moral compass playing tricks on your mind.
Can somebody please logically explain to me why the energy that you put out into the universe returns to you and not some other unsuspecting mofo?
I think part of my problem here, is the use of scientific words like energy to describe the nuances of metaphysical ideals.
It seems to me like the concept of karma which is in itself a theological concept being debated in scientific terms like how people discuss intelligent design. It all just seems like alot of guessing to me. No one really knows or understands how all this works. Going into a discussion like this you have to preface all talk with that. There is no logical answer for any of this. You are trying to get apple juice from an orange.
“No one really knows or understands how all this works. Going into a discussion like this you have to preface all talk with that. There is no logical answer for any of this.”
in a nutshell. again, sometimes shit just happens, shit that will never be able to comprehend or explain
I guess what I am trying to say is just because we are discussing religion and metaphysics…the explanations and comments should still logically follow. I guess certain questions are best answered by trained philosophers and theologists… but if presented with these questions you don’t expect a philosopher/theologist to rattle of some non-sense and expect people to simply embrace it as truth. You expect explanations that are sound.
I honestly don’t know what my point was but…umm…yeah.
I see what you’re saying. I don’t know what to tell ya. I can’t say I subscribe to these concepts to begin with anyway but I’m always up for discussion.
TEESH… I buy it…but how come offspring doesn’t apply to your karmic map?
LOL okay! I have a very good feeling I’m gonna have a crybaby, temper-tantrum throwing child. Sigh.
And you will…for the very reason you stated above. You think it so you’re already adjusting your actions to be accepting or chastizing of it.
Children pick up on energy more quickly than adults, but they lack the capacity to separate the positive from the negative in framing their lives until they reach adolescence.
“how come offspring doesn’t apply to your karmic map?”
i wanna hear this too
see above response…lol.
the question i’m asking though, is how does the concept of karma affect a newborn who’s born in a shitty situation? if karma is on going and effects everyone, what did the newborn do to deserve it?
it’s hard to explain it in the confines of this topic and you’d have to be a believer to even get partially behind my response…but here goes: in our spirit form(on the other side) we choose to reincarnate in body, we sit down and we plan the lessons(with God in mind) we want to learn through life experience. there are different life themes, some choose finance, others family, other love, others work…and so forth. there are 7 you can choose from. you choose your circumstances beforehand, you make a plan, you have signposts(i.e. dejavu) that lets you know that you’re on the right path.
there are some people who just can’t seem to get their money right no matter who much their given…other’s have problems with people, some with family…some choose mulitple issues to work with. this life experience gives you knowledge and understanding.
all in all, everything we do in this life we do to become closer to God…that’s it. to better understand his love and innate ability and desire to show up. yes there are consequences for sin. the wages of sin is eternal damnation. we know this going in, we risk it because becoming closer to God’s knowledge and understanding is paramount to any other feat on the other side.
….well i can go on and on but i have an appt with my 14′ remi hair…gotta get it done…lol.
i guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree. it sounds like what you’re talking about is more in line with creative visualization or ‘the secret’ and in that case i think the loa applies to everyone. Karma on the other hand is very specific to deeds good or bad that one commits in their life. “Through the law of karma, the effects of all deeds actively create past, present, and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one’s own life, and the pain and joy it brings to him/her and others.” -Buddhist encyclopedia. The concept doesn’t really exclude the young or the innocent. And I have a hard time believing that the 20 something yr old that gets raped or gets killed in a drive by due to mistaken identity brought it on themselves. I have many, many examples of effed up stuff happening to adults who didn’t deserve to be victimized and certainly didn’t bring it onto themselves.
I agree with the Champ in that Karma exists in place of your own moral compass. According to the definition it ‘makes you responsible’, in other words, it’s like the ten commandments. Karma is like having the fear of God in you to make you do right. I believe it influences a person to act within a moral code, yes. But without the fear of karma would that same person willingly act moral? I don’t think so.
***Stations of the Cross after Confession***LOL
btw did you see Batman this weekend? I know not even related
no but I saw The Wackness! luvitmane!
Wasn’t it the best. I braught it up b4 cuz GK quoted Ben Kingsly’s character quoting Biggie ‘bytches I like em brainless guns I like em stainless.’ I totally thaught that he had seen it.
“btw did you see Batman this weekend? I know not even related”
i did.
a few themes discussed in the dark knight actually somewhat influenced this entry
Wow makes me want to see how and what people have to say about it(I mean even more than just e-chillin).
yes! i did see Batman. loved it!
it was a great movie but batman begins spoiled it for me cause it was exponentially better. to be honest i wasnt all that impressed this time cause i expected more than the first one. it was also kind of long.
“it was a great movie but batman begins spoiled it for me cause it was exponentially better.”
word? i actually think “the dark knight” is the best superhero movie ever made. other than casting a better looking actress as rachel (sorry maggie), theres nothing about that movie i would have changed, and i don’t remember the last time i said that about a flick
It was supposed to be Katie Holmes instead of they Gyllenhal chick. She looks somewhat better. I think she needs a few hamhock sandwiches.
“It was supposed to be Katie Holmes instead of they Gyllenhal chick. She looks somewhat better. I think she needs a few hamhock sandwiches.”
i think both suck, lol. well, lemme rephrase that. they dont suck, but a woman who has the two most powerful men in gotham in love with her needs to be a little more attractive for the concept to be completely sellable
True. She has Batman and the future Two-Face gettin at her and she looks plain jane. That may have been the look they were going for. Aint that what was discussed on this blog a few days ago? Maybe she is just really cool to be around. What actress do you think wouldve fit better than those two?
This definition doesn’t have to include children because they are inherently deemed as innocents. They learn over time the consequences of their actions and can not be held accountable for what they are not able to understand.
The point I’m trying to make is that both the loa and karma are intertwined. You do bad things and you think to yourself, this is eventually going to catch up with me, I should probably stop. So now not only are you participating in the good, the bad, and the ugly…you are also transmitting the energy that you should receive your just rewards.
“karma: action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitable results, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation.”
We do carry our pain and scars(i.e. birthmarks) from our previous existences, as well as the knowledge we learn helping to shape the decisions and expectations in our current lives…leading back to the karma and loa theories.
Teesh,
Paragraph 1 says: “This definition doesn’t have to include children because they are inherently deemed as innocents.”
Paragraph 4 says: “We do carry our pain and scars(i.e. birthmarks) from our previous existences, as well as the knowledge we learn helping to shape the decisions and expectations in our current lives”
Aren’t these statements contradictory?
no because children aren’t able to fully understand their subconcious thoughts and behaviors.
“We do carry our pain and scars(i.e. birthmarks) from our previous existences”
so, are you suggesting that even if the baby isn’t consciously aware of whats going on, the state he’s born in is due to his energy from a past life?
“no because children aren’t able to fully understand their subconcious thoughts and behaviors.”
But they are still subject to Karma, no? If they weren’t subjected to karma then they would start off on a clean slate, right?
There is no person who deserves to be abused no matter how many dudes you date. That doesn’t give anyone the right to get abused. I do believe in karma to an extent, but abuse and other types of violence is not deserved by anyone.
Word! I think that this (as others have stated) is more so an issue of the Laws of Attraction. Some people attract these types of people as it is there personality to do so. It is not uncommon for people to be abused as children then find themselves in abusive relationships.
I see what you’re saying. Sometimes innocents get hurt without explanation. All rules have loopholes I guess. There are alot of people out there that get the shaft that don’t deserve it.
“I see what you’re saying. Sometimes innocents get hurt without explanation. All rules have loopholes I guess. There are alot of people out there that get the shaft that don’t deserve it.”
this is what i’m saying. the fact that the loopholes are real and do exist kind of discredits the entire theory
I don’t think so…I think people adopt the victim mentality. I think there are people who live in fear, attracting fear to themselves. Now this of course isn’t directly karma.
I don’t believe in loopholes in life. I can take a biblical turn and say that we all choose our life path as spirits, we all choose our exit points, we’re all here to take something from our experiences and once we have learned enough we exit. Some choose brutal exits, some are just ready to call it quits, but nothing happens without plan.
Well the Hindi version of karma incorporates a notion of reincarnation within its understanding…and they think that you can get paid back for harm you’ve done in previous lifetimes. Hmmmm….???
SMH.
“Well the Hindi version of karma incorporates a notion of reincarnation within its understanding…and they think that you can get paid back for harm you’ve done in previous lifetimes. Hmmmm….??? ”
this is just damage control.
Yeah I think thats it. From what I know its not an immediate payback like we seem to accept but more of if you are a bad person now in your next life you will get back what you dished out. Instead of going to heaven or hell based on your actions you live another life dealing with the decisions and mistakes of the last one in hopes that you will learn your lesson and correct those mistakes to enhance your next go round at life.
thats what I’ve got from what I have read on the subject and from Hindus. You get promoted or demoted based on your deeds.
Thats confusing as hell when you have NO previous memory of the so-call bad ish you did in the previous life. This is why I like my understanding of karma best. Don’t do anything intentionally that will eff up my own chances for leading the best life possible…if random bad sh*t happens then, oh well. Life is unfair and jacked up in that way sometimes.
I think the thought process is if you are dealt a bad or good hand in life it is because of what you did in a previous life. That explains why some people are screwed from jump and why some people just seem to always have good things happen to them. It explains some unexplainable occurences. Thats what religon is for.
but that would only apply to religions that believe in reincarnation. Circa Job.
I was referring to just explaing the unexplainable. every religon does this in its own way.
“I was referring to just explaing the unexplainable. every religon does this in its own way.”
you know, despite my views about karma, i do consider myself a spiritual person, and i do believe in the afterlife. i just think that much of the reaping and sowing occurs there, instead of on earth
But Karma really is part of a religious belief: it exists in both Hinduism and Buddhism. and some religions believe in both Karma and reincarnation. I’m assuming that the reincarnation part is used to explain why the seemingly innocent are dealt pretty sh*tty cards (when they haven’t done crap to deserve it).
And the caste system affects this theory greately. I just left India last month and this was sooo interesting to learn.
“I just left India last month”
yeah? never been that far east before. how was it?
Indeed…then there are those that have supposedly lived enough lifetimes/are ascended enough to “take on” a life to correct those things still out there and/or learn lessons still needed, so to speak…and so their lives are ones of extreme service, pain, suffering, etc.
Your conscious mind has no previous memory but your spirit and subconscious does. It’s the voices in your head that say, “hey don’t do this, it’s really going to turn out bad…trust me, i know what I’m talking about…i’ve been down this road before.”
You know how some situations of other’s grief affect you more than others, sometimes you feel a person’s pain although you think you haven’t directly had this happen to you. You’re remembering the pain you once felt or even caused on another in a different life.
Okay well enough with my pyscho babble for the day.
Teesh!! Why can’t I just look at a person and say “well, damn…it sucks to be in there shoes. I am saddened by the thought of it happening to me.”
Next we’re going to be saying that when you watch a movie and something sad happens (causing you to feel sadness), that it has nothing to do with effective movie-making…instead you are remembering pain you’ve inflicted on someone else. Where does it end?!?!
There is a difference between empathy and sympathy…one requires identity through experience, the other is just an outpouring of compassion at the thought of the experience.
It’s just different…this is one of those skeptical topics, I don’t expect for everyone to jump on board here.
i advise the reading of a nice book by Harold Kushner called “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”!!! its actually a quick and easy read and very insightful!!
“i advise the reading of a nice book by Harold Kushner called “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”!!! its actually a quick and easy read and very insightful!!”
hmm…i’ll check this out!!!!
i actually own this book & read it…’When Bad Things Happen to Good People’. I do remember this book providing some comfort to me during a very difficult time in my life. i should probably reread it since this discussion has reawakened some old questions and thoughts. (good plug Don!)
This right here is the %100 TRUTH. Karma is so very real. I have been on both ends of it myself.
“This right here is the %100 TRUTH. Karma is so very real. I have been on both ends of it myself.”
please expound
@Krush…yes…PLEASE EXPOUND.
But before you do, lemme just ask…h0w do you know that you have been on both sides of karma and it was simply you having good and bad days?
“You reap what you sew…it’s as simple as that.”
Yep.
“To say that karma incites a lack of moral responsibility and accountability is an oxy-moron.”
no it’s not. what a belief in karma does is relieve people of PRESENT responsibility and accountability, because if you truly believe in that concept you believe that what you do today has absolutely no bearing on what happens to you today.
but if you TRULY believe in the concept then you know that it will eventually happen, and at the worst of times.
Champ says, “…if you truly believe in that concept you believe that what you do today has absolutely no bearing on what happens to you today.”
That’s not neccessarily true. Karma can come back on you (good or bad) the years from today, months from today, or Today.
i generally don’t believe in karma. it’s just some shit to make ourselves feel better when we feel we’ve been wronged. and i imagine that by the time someone ‘got theirs’ after doing me wrong, i’d already be so far over them that it wouldn’t give me any satisfaction anyway.
also, people make mistakes. if you hurt someone when you totally didn’t intend to, do you deserve ‘bad karma?’ some people would say they were done wrong simply b/c they got dumped. if you look @ the flip side, the person did you a favor by dumping you rather than stringing you along.
karma is a tool for balance…so there are times when we will never know that someone has gotten what they’ve deserved. karma isn’t there for our vengeful satisfaction, it’s there so people don’t walk around doing the same things without there being consequences.
i will admit that it does make us feel better to know that someone will eventually get their just deserts.
“karma isn’t there for our vengeful satisfaction”
thank you. people think karma is an excuse for revenge or a means to justify rejoicing in another’s misfortunes. if someone does you wrong, write it off and keep it moving; they will get theirs but it wont serve you any better to savor it…
if someone does you wrong, write it off and keep it moving; they will get theirs but it wont serve you any better to savor it…
(high 5) you can’t control what people do to you…you can only control how you handle it…so HANDLE IT! although I will admit…all the drama the new wife is putting the old husnband through…mad eme smile a little… I know, I know… I felt a little bad for it and even felt sorry for him a little…then I got over it! lol
shay: “if someone does you wrong, write it off and keep it moving; they will get theirs but it wont serve you any better to savor it…”
Cosignature
“karma is a tool for balance”
yeah…a man-made tool
like time and theology
Right, a practical way of making sense of some felt phenomenon in the world.
now I can see theology as being man made. But time?
think about it…its a tool of measurement like inches and feet. We have based our calendars on the seasons of the Earth and the revolution of the planet around the sun. Our clocks are based on the Earth’s rotation. Its all relative to the planet we are on. If you are not on earth clocks and calendars dont mean shit. Some guys made it all up one day.
Leap years are based on the distance that light can travel in the same ‘time’ that the earth travels around the sun one time. Yes it is all relative. For that matter you would have to put all scales and dimensions in the man made category. And the guy made it up to help him relate himself to the universe.
I feel so emlightened…this is a GREAT way to start Monday!
“I feel so emlightened…this is a GREAT way to start Monday!”
i’d actually prefer “being between lizz robbins legs” as a way to start a monday, but i guess being enlightened isnt too bad either
“For that matter you would have to put all scales and dimensions in the man made category”
I do. they are man made. Math too. They are just methods men created to relate to the world around us. Just methods of communication like any other language.
i swear Champ we learn more about you and your hip hop video model fantasies everyday. i guess sharing is caring, right? Lizz Robbins? I had to google her too (good thing i wasn’t at work)
“i swear Champ we learn more about you and your hip hop video model fantasies everyday. i guess sharing is caring, right? Lizz Robbins? I had to google her too (good thing i wasn’t at work)”
i’m just picking random chicks from me and p’s “bangingest brown skinned women in pop culture” contest a couple years ago (lol…i know for a fact that monk knows what i’m talking about)
I think it is incorrect to call time man made. Giving a name to a thing doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist without the name. Communication is man-made but the natural things that language and numbers represent are not.
“I think it is incorrect to call time man made. Giving a name to a thing doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist without the name. Communication is man-made but the natural things that language and numbers represent are not.”
i wanted to say this exact same thing, but couldn’t find the right words to articulate it. thanks and shit
point taken. I said time was man made based on some things I have seen in cultures that exist outside of time I guess you can say. When I am not watching Comedy Central or playing video games I watch Discovery cause I like to see animals mauling stupid people in the jungle. They showed this group of people in SE Africa (cant remember what country) that really had no concept of time. They couldn’t even say how old they were. They had been functioning for who knows how long for unknown decades one would assume in the same manner their ancestors did. The host of the show (cant remember the name, thanks Crown) had embedded himself with the tribe to live as they did. They did fashion their lives by the rising and setting of the sun. They did not count says months and years tho. I’m just saying time is a measuring system not a distinct thing. I’m not saying man created what is called time I’m saying we created the concept. It is no different than a mile or a gram. I’m going to do some work now. I’ve been typing way too much.
“i’m just picking random chicks from me and p’s “bangingest brown skinned women in pop culture” contest a couple years ago”
You know October is right around the corner if you guys wanna have another October Madness..LOL!!
agreed!
I agree w/ champ – it’s indeed a man-made tool. Bad and good things happen to bad and good people. That’s just life.
If the only reason that people feel the need to act right is b/c of belief in karma, I weep for the children.
Why? Whatever it takes for them to not stomp on me…shoot. What does it matter the kind of moral compass people use to do the right thing…as long as the right thing is being done?
I think the motivation for doing the right thing matters. There will be those grey area instances where your motivation for doing the right thing is very important.
“I agree w/ champ”
lol, another great t-shirt, btw (IMO at least)
Yeah this view of karma is a very narcissist understanding of karma. Karma is working all the time whether you get to enjoy the justice of it all or not.
Needing the threat of bad karma in order to act right – that’s narcissistic, don’t you think?
“Needing the threat of bad karma in order to act right – that’s narcissistic, don’t you think?”
good point
True…if the results of our actions don’t some how affect our own happiness, safety and pleasure, we will not act right. That’s why they make jails.
“True…if the results of our actions don’t some how affect our own happiness, safety and pleasure, we will not act right. That’s why they make jails”
do you think that humans are inherantly evil?
I think our most basic drive is to survive by any means necessary, and unfortunately quite a few of those means seems to lean towards the immoral, criminal and yes evil.
nope, it doesn’t exist. assholes get away with asshole behavior forever, usually because they know how to target the weak and stupid. “nice” people get dumped on because they’re boring and passive. some folks just don’t know when to quit and eventually end up getting their butts (i figured i had exhausted my expletive quota) handed to them.
really though, karma is kinda ridiculous. there’s really some mystical cosmic system that keeps tabs on billions of people’s actions, designed to dole out rewards and punishments for said actions? uh uh.
just do better, that way you don’t have to worry about imagined wrongs coming back your way.
“…target the weak and stupid. “nice” people get dumped on because they’re boring and passive.”
nice people allow themselves to be dumped…they wear signs that say hey shit on me it’s cool, i’m nice. and that my friend is the law of attraction working in the purest form. if you put out the energy you will receive it.
“nice people allow themselves to be dumped…they wear signs that say hey shit on me it’s cool, i’m nice. and that my friend is the law of attraction working in the purest form. if you put out the energy you will receive it.”
so, in regards to the millions of people born on this planet who are the victims of repeated wrongs from the time of their birth (ie: in places such as darfur or certain parts of india), what energy are they putting out to deserve what happens to them?
some people are just fucked thru no fault of their own. Sometimes there just is no explanation or reason to why shit happens.
“Sometimes there just is no explanation or reason to why shit happens.”
i agree. shit happens
saying some of the things that happen in the world are just random occurences is to hard for some to accept. So reasons are concocted to explain the unexplainable.
“So reasons are concocted to explain the unexplainable.”
Completely agree. It’s always been this way.
honestly, this is why it’s hard for me to fully subscribe to the idea of karma. it’s convenient to say ‘oh yeah that’s karma working’ when an ex receives similar treatment to how they treated me. but when folks are victimized or killed or mistreated just because their oppressor said so this is when the entire karma concept gets thrown out of the window. i’m also unsatisfied with the explanation that ‘shit happens’. i feel like i need a more tangible explanation…esp for things like darfur, the holocaust and the middle passage. not to mention the personal acts of violence that have affected those around me. (grrrrrr)
Thats why we have theology. People could not accept shit just happening. Some folks need to know why. Thing is sometimes there is no why. It just is. The simplest answer is sometimes the correct one.
I think there is a why. And today may not be the day for the why to be revieled. The people that want to know the why are trying to database the universes actions so that they can predict what it will do @ a later date.
Very true. Trouble falls on the just and unjust. It was written.
Amen
that’s what i’m saying. there’s no magical system of checks and balances that determine who gets the celestial yea or nay. people are in control of the mess that comes their way. (former mc here, don’t front on the illness.) if you’re passive and naive, you’re gonna get repeatedly wronged. now, in some cases, bad luck plays a role and that just sucks.
we’d like to believe that eventually that son-of-a-blip who porked our best friend is gonna “get his/hers,” (never happened to me by the way) but they just may not, sorry. the heavens aren’t concerned with you like that.
oops, that should be determineS
gotta keep the s/v agreement in check
F**k s/v agreement. You killed it with this line:
“the heavens aren’t concerned with you like that.”
LMAO!! Word up! That really puts things into perspective.
hells yeah
“just do better, that way you don’t have to worry about imagined wrongs coming back your way.”
I think this is actually my exact understanding of karma. LOL.
lol word.
I’m in agreeance with this.
“just do better, that way you don’t have to worry about imagined wrongs coming back your way.”
it in a nutshell.
i suppose about as ridiculous as the idea that there’s some hippie-looking man chilling up in the sky, keeping a list on billions of us and all our actions, so he can one day decide whether to send us to the clouds or the flames.
oh yeah, he can also decide to strike us down anytime he fancies. makes perfect sense to me. pause.
Puts up finger and walks out of the thread.
“Puts up finger and walks out of the thread.”
damn.
waves goodbye.
*dead*
I like this cat
I definitely believe in karma, not just the romantic variety either.
You put of some foul stankness, that’s definitely what’s coming back to you two-fold.
“foul stankness”
for whatever reason, this just made me think of morgan freeman’s narrative in the shawshank redemption when andy had to crawl through the tunnel of sh*t to escape
I’m trying to remember the exact line…this could be it.
here ya go…
“Andy crawled to freedom through five-hundred yards of shit smelling foulness I can’t even imagine, or maybe I just don’t want too.”
We were close.
Great post Champ…lot’s to think about. I subscribe to the theory that ‘People who hurt, hurt (other) people’ so karma isn’t really this tit for tat thing that most people consider it to be. You hurt me because you’re in some sort of pain and you might not ‘get yours’ the way i’d like to see it, but simply by being miserable you are already ‘getting yours’.
And this quote here “forget about whether it’s right or wrong or the possibility of someone getting hurt in the process…a full subscription to the “karmic times” is all about us, or, more specifically, how it’s going to directly affect us.”
Couldn’t agree more. we (humans) are like this with everything, even the things we try to conivince ourselves are selfless. Example: being a good parent has very little/nothing to do with your child. You are good parent because you feel you should be, it makes you feel good about yourself, it’s what you feel you ‘should’ do, not because of anything specific about your kid. An extreme an example to show that I beleive everything we do is ‘all about us’; a point well worth noting, examining and accepting.
Way to kick off the week
I agree. The idea of karma alone is helpful to my own self-control. Hell, and if it works to get me to do the right thing…then ultimately I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. Thank God it helped me to avoid going there with a married man just a month ago…and hell no, thinking about how it might hurt his wife DID NOT really factor in. I know, I know…but I’m just being real.
“Thank God it helped me to avoid going there with a married man just a month ago”
You’re not alone. This saved me back in May.
Thanks for being real.
“Way to kick off the week”
thanks and shit
Reading this post made me think of “My Name is Earl”. I love that show. I wonder when season 3 will be in DVD?
Me 2. I love that show.
I’m with Teacia for the most part. I’m no diehard karma junkie but I definitely believe in it to an extent. Two examples (one good one bad)
Good: Me and three of my friends were graduating from college, we all wanted to move to Atlanta. Myself and two of them spoke as if we had already gotten jobs in atlanta. Our conversations were filled with things like “When” i move to Atlanta…not “if”. Now one of us wanted to be the “realist” and say things like “well, it might not happen”. Turns out, myself and the other to “when” girls moved to Atlanta…the same weekend…the “if” chic is still in tallahassee.
Bad: I was dating a guy who lived in another state and we were considering getting serious…we both liked each other a lot. I had a dude on the side who was f–ing around with me b/c his girlfriend lived out of town. The guy in the other state decided we shouldn’t date b/c he wasn’t sure he could be monogamous in a long distance relationship. Its interesting that I was messing with a dude who was cheating on his girl b/c they were in a long distance relationship and missed out on a relationship with a guy i really like b/c he didn’t want to cheat on me in a long distance relationship. Sounds like karma to me.
Ooh, one more bad one. I had the PERFECT pregnancy. I never got sick, I only gained about 25 pounds, I was beautiful, my skin was perfect, I was in perfect health…I was even getting offers to model. I kept saying the whole time “my pregnancy has gone so well, i’m definitely going to have a difficult birth” I can’t tell u how many times I said that mess. Low and behold…I almost died giving birth to my daughter. My uterus wouldn’t contract, I lost three pints of blood, had to have emergency surgery and get a blood transfusion the next day…all b/c of karma and my big a$$ mouth!
Your examples are interesting (and i’m glad you made it through giving birth!). I’d say the one with your friends from school is more a ‘self fufiliing prophecy’ type of situation rather than karma. Getting what you expect is different than getting what you ‘deserve’… people often talk about karma when talking about ‘getting yours’.
If anything, i’d say you weren’t a recipient of ‘karma’-if so the long-distance guy you liked would’ve gotten with you but then cheated based on what you were doing with guy on the side, know what I mean?
eh…Karma and self-fulfilling prophecy are overlapping ideals if not one and the same. by word, deed, or thought you put energy into the world. karma is based on the idea that the energy you put out is returned.
and i still think the outta town guy was karma…kinda ironic that he thought he’d cheat on me and i can’t tell him i believe he won’t when i’m sleeping with someone doing the very same thing.
“eh…Karma and self-fulfilling prophecy are overlapping ideals if not one and the same. by word, deed, or thought you put energy into the world. karma is based on the idea that the energy you put out is return”
on the surface they do appear to have some overlap, but while karma suggests that completely unrelated past actions cause current ones, the self fulfilling prophesy is you acting in a certain way to create a situation, just because you predicted it would happen
I agree to an extent…but the one saying “if” was looking for jobs in Atlanta just like the rest of us were.
As for my near death experience…whose to say its karma or coincidence…i’m sure every incidence in karma could be likened to coincidence. Karma is just coincidence explained.
Overall, I believe in Karma to an extent and to another, I believe shit just happens.
“Ooh, one more bad one. I had the PERFECT pregnancy. I never got sick, I only gained about 25 pounds, I was beautiful, my skin was perfect, I was in perfect health…I was even getting offers to model. I kept saying the whole time “my pregnancy has gone so well, i’m definitely going to have a difficult birth” I can’t tell u how many times I said that mess. Low and behold…I almost died giving birth to my daughter. My uterus wouldn’t contract, I lost three pints of blood, had to have emergency surgery and get a blood transfusion the next day…all b/c of karma and my big a$$ mouth!”
is this karma or just coincidence?
BREE.. I think these are great stories…although the first and the last seem like self-fulfilling prophecy…the second story has such a ring of random truth and consequence that ti was definitely a life lesson learning experience…dunno about karma…but definitely irony!
these examples sound more like the law of attraction in work than karma. you’ve watched the secret, right?
haven’t watched the secret, its just too damn self-helpy to me. i keep saying i will though, we’ll see.
Karma is real.
It’s science.
See the first law of thermodynamics and Newton’s third law of motion.
Really D? How would you explain entropy as it exhists in the universe too.
Me personally I subscribe to “sewing and reeping.” Creating and faithfully speaking things into being are laws put into place by God Almighty.
entropy is still held to the first law of thermo. Entropy just deals with spontaneity and randomness. Those things are still cause and effect
I forgot to ask if this title was a take on the movie “A Fish Called Wanda”?
Love that movie.
“I forgot to ask if this title was a take on the movie “A Fish Called Wanda”?
Love that movie. ”
lol…it is
I guess you’re not completely in a cave…lol
@ t-lee he is still in a cave…wasn’t that movie like in the 80′s? …cave theory maintained….but still a good movie! lol
and also filmed in Pittsburgh…so The Champ really hasn’t left his cave at all. LOL!
Cave furlough.
hah!!!
hey…i saw the dark knight this weekend, so shouldn’t i get a “not in the cave” pass for that?
uh, let’s see *consults with west coast chapter prez* …NO.
So this weekend you went to the ‘Bat Cave’? Does that really qualify though?
it depends on the sitch for me, personally… i have been in a number of deadbeat relationships but i cant imagine i am building up any points toward a good one but moreso i was making bad decisions. i agree with everyone saying that people dont think of karma until they are done wrong or they have the potential to benefit from doing someone a favor, but when you honestly never had a good experience with something what can you really blame? in other words, why does karma only build bad points for revenge and not good ones for mercy? i always wondered about that.
just the notion of karma has kept me from doing harmful things intentionally to others (to be honest its really not my style to “get back” at people; i feel like its a waste of energy) but then again its all in what i deem harmful, cause my threshold might be a little different from the average persons…
“But when you honestly never had a good experience with something what can you really blame?”
I think this is where self fulfilling prophecy comes in. Unfortunately, if you have a couple of bad relationships it becomes easy to expect more of the same, so you do and thats what you get. It’s hard, especially if you don’t have concrete reason to believe otherwise, but sometimes you have to flip the whole script and just start expecting and acting as if you have better.
I’d say it’s worth a try for anyone. At worst if it doesn’t work, they are no worse off than they are right now.
“it depends on the sitch for me, personally… i have been in a number of deadbeat relationships but i cant imagine i am building up any points toward a good one but moreso i was making bad decisions. i agree with everyone saying that people dont think of karma until they are done wrong or they have the potential to benefit from doing someone a favor, but when you honestly never had a good experience with something what can you really blame? in other words, why does karma only build bad points for revenge and not good ones for mercy? i always wondered about that.
just the notion of karma has kept me from doing harmful things intentionally to others (to be honest its really not my style to “get back” at people; i feel like its a waste of energy) but then again its all in what i deem harmful, cause my threshold might be a little different from the average persons…”
very insightful comment right here.
Yeah like when does Mother Theresa get to cash out?
I was in a philosophy that Mother Theresa was selfish…because she wanted to help people, it made her happy…and she did what she wanted to do…wo in the strictset definition of “selfish”ness…she was behaving selfishly…dunno how it ties into karma….but I wanted to share that piece of random theory…
But freedom of choice is available to all of us. I never met that lady. So this philosophy lumps her in there w/ philistines who pray in the streets w/ bells on? I was entertaining the thought of karma’s converse being true.
Speaking of Mammy Theresa… would she go to heaven if she stopped believing in God? That would suck for her. Not sure if you guys heard about that scandalous news that she had lost her faith but check this out if you didn’t…
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/222107/Mother_Teresa_and_Her_Years_of_Darkness_
i’m mad you called her mammy. (probably because whenever i hear that word, i think of paul mooneys act where he talks about aretha’s ginormous boobage
You know… I’m glad you brought up Arethas rack. I think that she should be shot for allowing those thangs to get so unruly. Just throwing that out there…
“You know… I’m glad you brought up Arethas rack. I think that she should be shot for allowing those thangs to get so unruly. Just throwing that out there…”
mooney said that he saw her on tv, and they were so big that he could only see one boob, and he had to go to his neighbors house to see another one
LMAO!!!!!!!!! Mooney is a funny f-ing dude!
but seriously though…she looks like hell.
I was always of the opinion that Mother Theresa CHOSE her circumstances. She could have taken the easy way out and spent her life anywhere other than Calcutta…but she didn’t. I read the story a while back about how she might have lost her faith towards the end, and I can understand. She had to have seen, though, that she did so much good there…countless lives were affected by her service.
But honestly, she knew the deal. God wasn’t responsible for the conditions there…man was. And God, in all His infinite goodness, gave us free will…so basically, we all have the CHOICE to do as we see fit. Karma has nothing to do with it in her case. I’ll leave there, cause Monday is not the day to get into metaphysical debates for me.
I like the concept of karma. I think for those that believe it helps keep them somewhat in line, just like religion assists in keeping it’s believers in line (unless you are like a fundamentalist or extremist, then y’all just don’t have lines).
I used to subscribe to the notion of karma. I don’t think I divided it up into “regular” karma and “romantic” karma. What made me change my thoughts on karma where I couldn’t really fully buy into it: 2 main situations, “thingies” if you will.
1. This would fall under “general karma” … I am spoiled freaking rotten. Some folks think they know … but they really only know a smidge. Now while I am spoiled … I am very appreciative. I recognize and understand that my position is unique. For every wonderful thing that has happened in my life, I don’t see me throwing something equally as wonderful out there.
2. This falls under “romantic karma” … The break-up with DJ Jesus Freak. Now, if I have ever caused anyone that amount of pain and hurt – then I damn well deserved getting it back. 3 major relationships in my life and I was dumped 2 of the 3 and the one where I wasn’t dumped ended very amicably and we are still great friends.
I think its just sometimes really great shit happens to really average people … and really bad shit sometimes happens to really great people. Chaos theory or some shit.
“Chaos theory or some shit.”
I might have to steal this…
“I like the concept of karma. I think for those that believe it helps keep them somewhat in line, just like religion assists in keeping it’s believers in line”
I cant front, this always bothers me. Do we really need random rules to keep us from beating others to a bloody pulp or peeing on people’s pizzas or “fraternizing” with other people’s SOs? If religion and such didn’t exist, we’d go ape shit and start throwing the proverbial ish at the fan?
i hope not.
The believers believe we do. The non-believers are proof we don’t.
yeah, i guess you’re right. however, some of those believers just can’t conceive of the idea that they can be (and are) responsible for their own decisions.
let’s bring it back to The Dark Knight. Batman did it, why can’t you? (not you you, but YOU)
Hell yes we would…I love John Locke’s take on the state of man in Nature, versus his state in Society. See Second Trestise on Civil Government. Rules and edicts that we all agree to follow relgiously-motivated or otherwise are the very reason why we don’t cut up on each other more often.
Wow. Please say the baby!
*that means “damn, you are on another intellectual level!”*
“Wow. Please say the baby!
*that means “damn, you are on another intellectual level!”*”
lol…dont humor her
Sadly I think only the fear of God is what keeps some people from just doing whatever. Obviously some act up regardless.
On the bright side there are those that do the right thing without threat of being damned. I would like to think this group is the majority of humans.
whether or not i believe in karma generally depends on what day you ask me. i believe in coincidences. but i also believe in chaos theory, and more nuanced even, the butterfly effect.
i’m a gemini. sue me.
the concept of karma is an interesting one though. for one, for another person’s bad-karma-repayment-in-relation-to-you to happen, you actually have to KNOW it occurred right? you can’t just assume some bad sh*t is going to happen to them based on how they treat you and then find out they died 20 years later and say “gotcha!”
so if a tree falls in the forest and nobody’s around to hear it, does it make a sound? or is the person that’s near enough to the fall just helen keller?
but at the same time i also think that the way you enter into a relationship is going to largely determine how it ends (or continues forever). if you get into a relationship b/c the dude you wanted finally stopped cheating on his girl and got with you, chances are, that relationship isn’t going to last eons. but then again, maybe it will.
i guess all that’s to say…sometimes…just sometimes, sh*t happens.
who really knows why.
“i guess all that’s to say…sometimes…just sometimes, sh*t happens.”
and that’s what it really boils down to.
A Gemini…should have known lol.
***Noon day prayer meting***
“if you get into a relationship b/c the dude you wanted finally stopped cheating on his girl and got with you, chances are, that relationship isn’t going to last eons.”
yeah..this is more about personal choice than any mystic karmic factors. if it fails, its not because you’re getting repaid for being with a cheater…it fails because you’re entering a flawed relationship
yea word. you cant rely on karma for everything, just like you cant rely on optimism to guarantee a good experience. if your homegirl came home with tarnell from the group home like “yea, girl, he just got out of jail and he got a couple teeth missing, but he got a good heart, and we can work it out” you wouldnt even stick around to find out. sometimes perceptions are flawed and so the whoel situation is knocked out of whack, karma be damned.
“if your homegirl came home with tarnell from the group home …”
tarnell jenkins or tarnell washington?
tarnell jones iii
**Sorry in advance for the long post**
I believe in karma…I guess since I’m a Christian, I’d probably say it in terms of “You reap what you sow”. But I find that this belief actually does help me keep on the “straight and narrow”, if you will. I now actually stop and consider how my actions will affect others…it’s not about me, me, me anymore. I’m very big on personal responsibility, and owning up to your actions, good, bad, or otherwise. Part of working through and past “karma” is by acknowledging you contributed to the situation.
I also agree with the notion, as others have expressed above, of “your thoughts dictate your circumstances”. I will use an example from the Bible to illustrate how “good” people can have devastating things happen to them. Many of you are familiar with the story of Job. Well, very early on the story, it talks about how blessed Job was, but later, after he’s lost everything , he says “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.” That indicates that as good as he was, as blessed as he was by God, he clearly feared losing that favor. And eventually, he did. Can it then be said that his thoughts manifested this?
Let me use another example from my own life. For years I was, to put it mildly, a bit of a dilettante in the realm of romance. In a couple of situations, I’d believed I’d found “the one”, but in the back of my mind, say “When they f*ck up, it’s a wrap”. I had dudes on “standby” ready to take their place. And eventually, they would, because I was LOOKING for it. So, after the last time this happened (calling off a wedding in the process) and me moving to the next “standby” dude…I had to stop. I realized had indeed “reaped what I sowed” and my thoughts had manifested themselves into my reality. I would never get what I wanted-true unconditional love-until I was able to give the same in return. If I believed that no one was able to give me what I wanted, then yep, I’d keep attracting folks like that.
With that said…to break the cycle…you MUST take responsibility, acknowledge your part, and do the hard work to get to where you want to be.
“With that said…to break the cycle…you MUST take responsibility, acknowledge your part, and do the hard work to get to where you want to be.”
Holy Ghost is that you??? Let the church say amen!
LMAO!!!
Amen!!
“I’m very big on personal responsibility, and owning up to your actions”
i’ve contested this entire notion on the strength that sometimes someone elses actions motivate you to take certain actions in response. in that respect, i feel like “personal responsibility” only goes as far as actions that arent responses or reactions… in other words, is socking you in the mouth a matter of personal responsibility when you just stomped on my toe? sure i could have “turned the other cheek” but had i not gotten my toe crushed i wouldnt have even had a reason to swing…
Then the responsbility would be on the other person…to apologize and make sure you’re okay. If they don’t…then your response, and what happens after that…is on you. It would be about owning up to your part in the matter, just like they’d need to own up to theirs.
AMEN AMEN AMEN…………..pass your offerings to the right and please watch it until it gets in the offering plate.
I’m with Cheryl. I want to believe in Karma…just as I’d like to believe in Justice, Religion and Truth. Unfortunately, I think that Karma (AND Religion for that matter) is simply a manifestation of man’s need to explain the things that stand outside of our comprehension. At the end of the day, we have no idea why bad things happen to anyone. And to simply chalk them up to karma sounds like an intellectual cop out.
It would also seem to me that once you have embraced the idea of Karma. You have also embraced the idea of Universal Truth. Which would mean that you believe that there is one moral code that should dictate human behavior. There is a Good and a Bad. If in fact you choose to act in a way that is universally Bad, you put the Karmic wheels in motion and you will ultimately receive your cosmic punishment. And the same would be said for good behavior.
I don’t think I’m ready to accept that just yet. In my opinion Good and Bad should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. There are times when lying is good/necessary. There are times when stealing is good/necessary. There are times when killing is good/necessary. I could go on but I think you get my drift.
I’m with Cheryl. I want to believe in Karma…just as I’d like to believe in Justice, Religion and Truth. Unfortunately, I think that Karma (AND Religion for that matter) is simply a manifestation of man’s need to explain the things that stand outside of our comprehension. At the end of the day, we have no idea why bad things happen to anyone. And to simply chalk them up to karma sounds like an intellectual cop out.
I personally think that truth and justice are also “manifestation of man’s need to explain the things that stand outside of our comprehension” they are universally subjective, and their definitions are drawn for conditioning, experience, mores, and persepective…I’m just saying…
I feel you. Go ‘head Goodie! Get metaphysical on that @ss!
“Get metaphysical on that @ss!”
probably the only t-shirt quote of the day
“probably the only t-shirt quote of the day”
LMAO! I don’t know why this is always so validating but something about it feels so damn good! Thanks!
“I don’t know why this is always so validating but something about it feels so damn good!”
ive heard this a few dozen times before, but this is the first time it’s come from a guy, lol. thanks and shit
vsb.com: where being secure in your heterosexuality happens
“this is the first time it’s come from a guy, lol”
LOL! Yeah…well, I’m not really a tough @ss n*gga (believe it or not–lol) … And I firmly believe that us brothas should take more time to uplift each other through compliments and gestures. So for that I applaud you for finding a great way to give props.
The other thing is…it’s not easy to get props on VSB…this crowd can be ruthless. LOL!
“It would also seem to me that once you have embraced the idea of Karma. You have also embraced the idea of Universal Truth. Which would mean that you believe that there is one moral code that should dictate human behavior. There is a Good and a Bad.”
I agree humans are much more complex than this. No one is absolutely good or bad, we’re all walking around with a little angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other.
“No one is absolutely good or bad, we’re all walking around with a little angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other.”
Yup…sums up human nature to a tee for me.
“At the end of the day, we have no idea why bad things happen to anyone. And to simply chalk them up to karma sounds like an intellectual cop out.”
***t.d. jakes***
I wonder if under Karmic law…if person A cheats on person B, (which is the universe’s way of repaying person B for a past offense)…would person A get punished for being the universe’s messenger?
Imagine trying to use that as an excuse:
“Girl, I cheated on you because you cheated on your last man! This is the universe’s way of telling you that your indescretions didn’t go unnoticed!”
I’d imagine person A would neither know nor care about being the messenger…the Universe is funny that way…and they may be working out their own karma via their interaction with person B…but I think I’d laugh my arse off at that excuse if it were used.
ctfu walking away fromt he computer crying laughing.
“Girl, I cheated on you because you cheated on your last man! This is the universe’s way of telling you that your indescretions didn’t go unnoticed!”
lol…see, this is part of what i meant about the dismissed accountability
& this is what I ment about entropy. The second law of thermodynamics was needed because there are some losses (due to friction). Therefore someone get’s done wrong and has a bad attitude which rubbs their co-worker the wrong way and they get dealt down something undeservingly and so on and so on. Did Karma get dished out but not back to the person it needed to be dealt to? Or is the universe satisfied w/ the diminished saddness ripple sent out throughout the community (or system)?
“& this is what I ment about entropy. The second law of thermodynamics was needed because there are some losses (due to friction). Therefore someone get’s done wrong and has a bad attitude which rubbs their co-worker the wrong way and they get dealt down something undeservingly and so on and so on. Did Karma get dished out but not back to the person it needed to be dealt to? Or is the universe satisfied w/ the diminished saddness ripple sent out throughout the community (or system)?”
you had me at entropy
“you had me at entropy”
That’s where the n*gga lost me! LOL!
what about heat transfer and enthalpy? is work negligent?
Deviant you have to look directly @ our defined system. Karma, the ill dealt deeds, and the resulting feelings. Now these things have to be related to the enthalpy temperature pressures ……. and so on. Apples get their box and oranges theirs and so on.
LMAO but good point.
Don’t shoot me, I’m just the messenger!
Oh yeah…Am I the only one who thinks its f-ed up that Champ didn’t provide the details of his college romance-related digital drama? I mean damn, how you gon’ draw muhfuggas in and not provide details?!
Champ, what’s really hood? We want to know what you did, homes?
Apparently it affected him so that he doesn’t want to rehash…which is cool. I’ll take his word that it was not kosher…I know I did a few things back then that make me cringe even now thinking about them.
***pleading the fif***
this would be the equivalent of finding out that Santa isn’t real. The diplomat, hood? he simply mustn’t!!! lol. And D*stroy don’t you go sharing your dirt either, you’re our resident good ol’ fashioned married guy. So, on behalf of all the vsb women here, just leave our idealizations alone!
LMAO!
Santa isn’t real?
I second that emotion!
(but you can hit me on the backline with the juicy details) <–um just sayin..
OK, y’all smarty-arty @ss mofos…I got something fo’ that @ss…
If Karma does exist, doesn’t it mean that there is no free will? Let me explain: under the tenets of karma, if you expell energy (negative or positive) into the universe, it will eventually return to you. We don’t know when it will arrive but it’s course is set. If in fact it’s course is set doesn’t that mean that it’s arrival could be foretold. If in fact future events can be foretold, then our life paths can be predicted…meaning that our decisions and actions are already plotted prior to our existence. Meaning that we only believe that we are making decisions when in actuality our decisions were established long before we were confronted with the scenario(s).
Recap: Karma=Humanity without free will
preface: i don’t believe in karma
however, karma doesn’t have to mean the elimination of free will. presumably, karma is the system that responds to people’s actions (those that they freely choose to perform). so, if anything, it means that each person’s free will constantly changes karma to align with the actions they’ve performed. by extension, this also means that “fate” (better referred to as the future) is constantly changed by the actions of the billions of free will-wielding humans on this planet.
Atrack, I feel where you are going with that. I guess the pivotal piece of my argument is whether or not the course of Karma is fixed once it is set into motion. Can one change there Karma? If the course is not set then I think you are right but if the course is set then my theory would still follow? (at least as far as I can tell)
and that’s where the karma argument starts to get too persnickety to actually make sense. does karma work on a case-by-case basis and respond in kind to each action? or is it more holistic and respond, instead, to a general set of behaviors? if the former, maybe it does follow a set path for each action. the things is, though, that it still responds to things you did, not things you were fated to do; and, when it does arrive, you still have a choice to react a certain way to it.
one would assume, though, that if karma is smart enough to follow billions of people around for lifetimes, it’s smart enough to know when to eliminate punishments or rewards off the list, like a live action choose-your-own-adventure book.
Two of my ex boyfriends have experienced romantic karma when it came to me. Usually my relationships ended because they guy wasn’t stepping up to the plate or he took me for granted. Karma comes into play when they go back out in the dating world, interact with other women, and realize that they truely had an awesome girlfriend who thrived to make them happy. Sadly by the time they figure out what a value I was to them, it’s too late; I’ve moved on with my life and usually dating someone else. To this very to day two of my exes admitted that they regret breaking up with me and are trying to get back in my good graces. Although I’m very cordial with these men, inside I’m happy that I might be the one that got away. Sounds arrogant but perhaps men should learn to appreciate when they have a good thing and hold on to it.
“Karma comes into play when they go back out in the dating world, interact with other women, and realize that they truely had an awesome girlfriend who thrived to make them happy”
is this karma or just “growing up”?
i second the latter
Ughh…my head is hurting…is this Philosophy 101? Let’s get back to talking about sex and stuff. LOL.
“Ughh…my head is hurting…is this Philosophy 101? Let’s get back to talking about sex and stuff. LOL.”
Life is about people. It’s about connections. It’s not all about cocks, and ass, and tits. And butthole pleasures.
I have a funny story re: butthole pleasures but I’m not gonna share it.
Cheryl…You better share that sh*t! (no pun intended)
Oh f*ck it…the pun was intended…ya get it? … sh*t and butthole pleasures?!?!
I didn’t read the previous posts, but let me just say this:
Karma is real. The only thing that can usurp it is Favor. And Favor is bestowed upon those who are obedient to the laws of the land and the bible/koran. And if you are being obedient, you will attract good things (ie. good karma) Its all the same thing.
‘Favor’
whats favor?
http://www.charismamag.com/display.php?id=11294 – read this, it might give you an idea of it. I am not exceedingly religious but these concepts make sense to me.
I thought Karma was a Hindu concept..what does it have to do with the Bible or Koran? Neither text mentions Karma. I think people out there are just making stuff up on the fly and people are just buying it cause it sounds like it could make sense.
If you study religion, you will find that many concepts are similar because they all stem from the same creator in my opinon. Good will towards men (with is basis in the Koran or Bible) is a similar concept to Karma. Didnt mean to offend you.
you didnt offend. I have just come across alot of people that pull stuff out of their ass so I tend to questionn things. youre right tho. All this stuff is the same thing said different ways.
All day long the Brothas ponder the ins-and-outs of karmic retribution. Tonight I watch Sex and the City on the CW and the episode is all about relationship karma too. Carrie spends an entire episode (gasp) getting her just deserts for cheating with a married man.
Her bling is snatched, her Manolos are thieved, someone gives her a withering stare in a resturant, then she falls down the steps and skins her knee at a college party.
If karma is so light for indiscretions that major, I think I may be in the clear for that pack of gum I stole from Walgreens back in ’96.
I’ll keep you updated…