Is Karma Real?

THE LAW OF KARMA PROVIDES A GOOD DEAL OF COMFORT. IT ASSUMES THAT THE UNIVERSE IS A FAIR PLACE. IT TELLS US THAT EVIL PEOPLE AND GOOD PEOPLE WILL EVENTUALLY GET WHAT THEY DESERVE. HOWEVER I FIND TWO FLAWS.
1)THE GOAL OF LIFE ACCORDING TO THIS ANCIENT BELIEF IS TO ESCAPE SAMSARA WHICH MEANS REBIRTH. THIS MEANS THAT WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF PAST EVIL DOINGS THEREFORE WE MUST SUFFER TO PAY FOR THOSE EVIL DOINGS. NO MATTER WHAT THIS STRIPS US OF FREE WILL AND WITHOUT FREE WILL HOW CAN WE CHOOSE TO DO GOOD OR EVIL.
2)I BELIEVE TO MAINTAIN THE BALANCE OF THE UNIVERSE IF WE MUST RETURN TO ENDURE PAST EVIL DOINGS WE MUST ALSO RETURN TO BE REWARDED FOR DOING GOOD. SO I ASK IF WE DO EVIL WE MUST RETURN AND IF WE DO GOOD WE MUST STILL RETURN, THEN HOW CAN WE POSSIBLY ESCAPE REBIRTH?

Karma, is a BITCH. I am a big believer in it, and so far, in what I've been put through, what I've seen other people doing, in my experience in life so far, karma is very, very real. And like I said earlier, its a bitch.

I have a couple of questions?

1. If we have no clue about what our past sins are, what is the incentive to get better in each life? Also how do I know I am improving each life? Surely it would lead to existenialism (Live for the moment, the now is all that counts).

2. If karma was real, wouldnt we expect to see the world getting better and better. Correct me if I am wrong but countries that believe in karma are suffering from serious poverty (I may be completely wrong here so dont shoot me down for that statement too much).

I don't believe in Karma at all. I mean,I see bad things happen to 'good' people, and good things happen to 'bad' people. Now if everyone got what they deserved accroding to their actions and so on, and therefore we're trying to be better to get a better life, just like how PeteSmith asked, why arn't everyone getting better?

I believe in karma, but in a more of single lifetime, smaller scale sort of way... if I make any sense. I've seen good people do bad things, and have bad things done to them, and I've seen bad people do good things (even if their motives were a little off) and have good things happen to them. And maybe it's not an exact science, but it all comes back to getting what you give. I feel that believing in karma helps me to push to be a better person, so why not believe?

Karma cannot be real, based on the fact that you'd have to know what right and wrong are. Animals are a good example to disprove karma because animals do not know what right or wrong is, only humans develop this "right or wrong" concept and in the religions where Karma is an important concept, there is also rebirth and if you are reborn as something other than a human, you're fucked. Karma is supposedly supposed to apply to all living things, and if humans are the only ones able to grasp right and wrong, it's obviously false.

I was told by someone that "samsara" (or rebirth) is the natural state of human existence for those who have not attained higher consciousness. "Evil doings" only become "disruptive" in life when we have begun to recognize the reality of karma, when it becomes something irrefutable and inescapable in our lives, the moment we begin understanding the real possibilties of higher consciousness, and then, from the point on, all our actions become our responsibilty and are now "counted" for or against us.

My karma ran over your dogma!

Karma is as real as breathing. Instant karma is even more real. Watch the order of things in your life the next time you kick a dog or cat. or step on a butterfly, if you bully someone, kill someone, rob some one, steal something. If your life involves hurting others then your karma has led you exactly where you deserve to be. Karma surrounds our good and bad deeds and wether or not you take notice of it is another story. But the more crappy things you do the further your life turns crappy, and vice versa. The more love you give the more you find... Scorpions...China White.. Blackout album..

aloha rdm

Spirits incarnate into the Earth realm for one reason and one reason alone...to raise their levels of conciousness. As Spirits incarnated, humans live a life motivated by choices, activated by experiences and while ascending or decending in levels of consciousness. Each incarnation presents oportunities for each and every incarnated Spirit to raise their levels of conciousness higher than their present level of conciousness. The higher the level of consciousness the closer to the perfection of All that IS and the closer to the Truth of All that IS. All Spirit incarnated are given the same starting point with their first incarnation, the same chances, no one is better, or has a better shot, or given better circumstances. The initial incarnation is the starting point, what choices are made in such incarnation will depend on whether the incarnated spirit will ascend to the Celestial realms or inhabit the realms that preclude incarnation. It is through subjectivety that a human experience an illusionary existence. It is through the teachings, the religions, and social interaction that a human is presented with choices, these choices will either enhance or hinder the level of conciousness of such human. As the human continues the present existence the level of conciousness will either go up or down. The lower the level of conciousness the bigger the karmic propensities of such human and the likelyhood of reincarnating. As I said before, humans incarnate with a set level of conciousness such that if the original level of consciousness is not maintained or transcended to a higher level the Spirit must incarnate over and over again until a level of consciousness has been reached that will allow the Spirit Self steadily be in an attractor field that of the Celestial Realm. All Spirits originate from the Celestial Reams and they are given the same oportunity to return to such realm. The choices are simple, live a life that is Love based as the context of All...in such forgiveness, lovingness, and compassion are the dominant factors. Human exercising such simple existence will reach a level of awareness that will transcend the need to depend so emotionally with the ego/self. As such, the awareness will lead to a willingness to surrender the ego/self/will to the Divine Father/God/Godhead. This surrendering is motivated by Love and only Love.
If the condition of Love does not exist in one self it can not be a condition that the self can experience in others. If the condition of forgiveness does not exist in one self it can not be a condition that the self can experience towards others. If compassion for one self does not exist it can not exist towards others. In so with the just said, Love, forgive and be compassionate with your(self) as in doing so will create an impetus in others including your conciousness level.
You are here, in this incarnation, to raise your level of conciousness, you will be in your next incarnation to raise your level of conciousness and your next incarnation will be approached for the same reason. Incarnation after incarnation until the level of conciousness has been reached enough to meet the minimum allowable to actually have a choice of whether to incarnate or not. Frankly, not very many Spirits in the Celestial Realms would be compelled to incarnate again given the illusion that humans live in. It is an illusionary perception that the ego/self creates for the mere purpose of survival, an almost animal instint survival. The ego/self does not live in the Lovingness, forgiving and compassionate states...it threatens its survival. Therefore, one needs to transcend the ego/self first.
Simple, very very simple. Live this existence in the eternal now...in lovingness, forgiveness and compassion, pray to the Divine God for guidance, seek only the Truth. God is perfection

Forgiveness, you already posted that. I understand you want people to read it. I think it's a good message but do you think throwing it in someone's face repeatedly is the best way to go about it? It makes you look like a robot.

I dont believe in karma. and heres why- say in one life your a corrupt billionaire and you've done all these horrible things to people. in your next life your a beggar on the side of the street. And say i go walking by this beggar, and he begs me for change, and i feel aversion and dont give him any. I get bad karma now. but that beggar deserves what hes getting. i think that karma is too simple to be applied to such a confusing, overlapping world.

People have definite opinions about what is Karma and the question of reincarnation is a favorite area for argument. All religions, however, agree that the energy body, after physical death, goes on to a fate determined by one's actions during the physical lifetime. Therefore, the fate is determined primarily by the spiritual decisions and actions that were made, with great importance given to intention, responsibility and the assent of the Will.
One's fate, obviously, will either be for the better or for the worse, depending on the choices made by the person's "free" will. It is more important to understand the factors that determine the fate of the soul/energy body and its destiny after physical death. One's ultimate fate is the automatic and impersonal consequence of the choices one were presented with and the decisions made with the choices.. One's fate after physical death is merely the inevitable, consequence of one's own choice and not a reward or a punishment meted out arbitrarily by some external figure, energy or power. This is the absolute justice of God that guarantees absolute fairness and impartiality. Judgment is therefore merely a semantic invention that serves as an explanation from the presumption of the human mind.
One's spiritual destiny is sealed and determined by one's own hand and its actions, each person, with absolute fairness, determines their own fate. Thus, God's justice is indeed perfectly self fulfilling. Mankind then needs to take responsibility for its own fate and stop blaming God, who has been much maligned. In reality, the Love of God, like the sun, shines equally on all.

So what then of the people that do good their entire lives and get crapped on everytime they think that they are getting ahead? I know people like this. Are they paying their debt from a previous life? If that is so, then how do you know that you are paying it back?

I think Karma is just another word for your own conscience. I believe conscience itself is the big state of mind that sends us all searching for truth.

Have you noticed how the word ends in 'science'. Perhaps we should make it a science to understand ones sense of right and wrong - oh hang on a minute we have already with 'psychology.'