Karma?

Well said - both of you. Sometimes life's tragedies are hammerblows to make us stronger.

Wel said Shanti. In the words of Nietsche: "That that doesn't destroy us will strengthen us".

Regards.

Originally Posted by Wilomn

The last thing I'll say on Karma is that the more you think about it the less it works.

I think I interfered with my own Karma then, by starting this thread: the last box containing the glass never arrived. Next time I'll be quieter and more circumspect.
Then again, knowing myself, maybe I am doomed.....

Just found this on a bumper-sticker:

"The popular definition for karma is "action that has consequences." I believe that ALL action leads to karma. When the consequences of your karma lead to circumstances that are out of control, we go spinning into a rage and resort to blame rather than looking at how we spend our lives".

Things that make you go, "hmmmmm".

Originally Posted by Golden Gate Geckos

Just found this on a bumper-sticker:

"The popular definition for karma is "action that has consequences." I believe that ALL action leads to karma. When the consequences of your karma lead to circumstances that are out of control, we go spinning into a rage and resort to blame rather than looking at how we spend our lives".

Things that make you go, "hmmmmm".

That one requires a big bumper. LOL

Or the eyesight of an eagle to read the small letters.

Of course it's real. I know this for sure.

Done enough wrongful things in my youth, and paid prices later on for it. Took a while to add the two together, but when I became more concience of myself, and the wrong I was doing, and put myself in check, the bad things eventually quit happening.

Works the other way too. When I got involved with wildlife rescue, and started helping people, and animals, that actually needed the help, regardless of the financial bind it puts Me in, it seems that good things actually happen more frequently these days.

This has led me to believe in Karma quite a bit. Now I "try" to follow the adage, "do unto your neihbor, as you would have him do unto you" . Not that I'm all that religeous, just that when I was young, it was more like, "before he does unto you"

While reading this thread and everyone’s ideas on karma and purposes in live I thought I would share one of my own experiences.


When I was about 25 weeks along in my first pregnancy I woke up one night in pain. I realized very quickly that the pains were 5 min apart and that I was in labor. Once I got to the hospital the Doctor said they could not stop the labor and I would have my son that night. They took my husband and mother out of the room to let them know they had to help me proceed but that the baby was to early and wouldn’t be born alive or if he was would probably not make it more then a few minutes. The whole of labor took about 10 minutes after arriving at the hospital and my son Robert was born.

Due to a major storm they could not get the med evac helicopter for him so a special ambulance was sent to pick him up from a hospital over an hour away. My son survived 4 and half hours with minimal help until the ambulance got there and he was taken to a hospital with a nicu (ICU for babies).

The Doctor who took care of him did not leave the hospital for the first 3 days after he arrived and was very honest in the fact that he had little hope for survival but as time passed and Robert became stronger the Doctor finally told me that we had passed the rough time and now it was only a matter of getting him off the ventilator and getting his weight up. This was the first night I decided not to sit with him at the hospital but take a night to get some sleep, which would be the first time I had done so in the two months sense his birth.

That night I got the call, that my son had passed away.


The Doctor who had taken care of my son had been a nicu Doc for well over 20 years and was just as devastated by the loss of my son as any family member. He left nicu a short time later to go into research stating “any child who fights so hard for life should have all the help he can get”. Years passed before I would realize how anything good could or would ever come from this horrible tragedy but it did.

Many years later I became pregnant again and because of my past history I was considered a high-risk pregnancy. One of my first Doctor visits I was informed of a new medication that would help a baby while it was still in the womb. I took home the pamphlets on the medication to decide if I would be willing to take it or not.

Inside the pamphlet I found the Doctor who had taken care of Robert was one of the leading researchers. It hit me right then that then that my son’s death had helped ensure this drug would be found and put into use and save countless premature babies. This was his contribution to the world and to me.

My second son was born (after the use of this medication and others) healthy and happy. He came home from the hospital three days after birth. I don’t know if this would be called an unusual karma or just a case of something good coming from something horrible but I know that from my son’s death many other babies (including one of my own) will have the chance for life. In his short life he did more good for the world then most people will achieve in a long lifetime.

Sorry the post got so long and thanks for letting my share my story.

I think that Karma is a state of mind as much as anything else. If you want to see the bad in everything you will. If you want to see the good in everything you will. A couple stories

Last year one of my very good friends who was in my wedding decided to quit his job and build spec homes. Months later he invited my wife and I to buy in on a piece of property to build a second spec. In the end he didn't want to work and completely changed. We lost a substantial amount of money when he fled the state and filed for bankruptcy. Meanwhile he tried to send me a virus threatened many other things (tried to blackmail etc...) Then due to her job reorganizing and a lot of political bs my wife lost her job in June (this was a big blow because she was an administrator and we had medical insurance through her). A week to the day after that I had a young girl turn in front of me causing a head on accident for me in which I broke my femur. While they were putting a steel rod in my leg the doctor splintered the bone so now instead of one break to heal I had to wait for 3 sections to create bone and join the three broken areas together. I still am not able to completely walk right and will probably not be able to for many more months. At this point we can hate God and everyone on this planet but looking at the benefits my wife was able to take care of me when I got out of the hospital, I had to quit smoking ( the doctor couldn't guarantee my leg healing if I did not) and I know that so called friend will get his in the end. I also know my wife will get a much better job that won't stress her like her old one did and in a way I think God had been telling her to quit for a long time and when she didn't he gave her a nudge.

Another story a year ago we were at a grocery store and when we were leaving my wife made the comment that there had been a young couple with a child at the check out next to us. The guy asked his wife if they had enough money for a movie rental. She I guess kind of rolled her eyes at him and said no he knew that. He just said oh end of story. When my told me this I told her to give them this five we had left over change. She went and caught them walking out of the store and gave it to them. They were gracious and it made us feel warm and fuzzy. A couple weeks later we decided to go to the movie and with funds being tight had to decide if we wanted to go out to eat before hand or have popcorn and pop at the movie. We decided to have Chinese. When we went to the movie a lady approached us and said she had two movie passes that were due that night and they used up all the ones they could use. We ended up with two free movie passes and were able to get popcorn. If that doesn't seem like Karma then I don't know what does and remember this happened only a couple weeks if not a week apart (can't remember for sure). I think you could go to the movies every day for a year and never have someone give you free passes.

Last story was when I got ripped off by Sal with my first online purchase I almost just gave up with reptiles and online purchasing. My sister in law worked with a doctor that was raising hogg island, gila monsters and some other things and would let us go to his house to see them. When we went and looked at his collection (which was very nice) he had some thayeri/ruthveni kingsnakes. I made the comment I had always liked kingsnakes. He told me to take them because he hadn't been able to get them to breed and was bored with them as a project. If it weren't for him and the 1.3 kings I probably would have just quit with reptiles. Needless to say I tried to breed them as well and in the end gave them away for free to another gentleman ( I checked with the Dr. first so he wouldn't be offended).
So I guess I believe things happen for a reason and many times we don't see it right away. I to a degree believe in Karma but also in positive thinking. Bad things happen to good people that is true but sometimes there are reasons they happened that we don't want to acknowledge or don't understand until later.
Mark Westberg

Bad things happen to good people that is true but sometimes there are reasons they happened that we don't want to acknowledge or don't understand until later.

Great post Mark. And those seemingly bad things at that time are probably protecting us from even worse things that could’ve happened. The way we react to those things sometimes will condition the outcome. If we surround ourselves with negative people and we defend them blindly because they are our friends we will see their actions under a different light. We may even start to justify them and become aggressive against other people who view them for what they are. Things will then start going one way for us, the way we chose them to go. One thing I’m certain though there’s nothing such as good or bad outcomes, they are simply that, outcomes.

Regards.