Although the name of Ludacris's daughter, in actuality, Karma is a philosophical idea stemming from ancient India to explain the cycle of cause and effect. How present actions can lead to either good (which are mostly forgotten about when cursing Karma) or bad consequences-- "fruits," as they are referred to, given the name karma-phala. Thus, throughout our life (and even into the next one), depending on how we choose to live, it is these fruits that we will harvest. Ripe or Rotten.
You reap what you sow.
Also basic genetics.
Wait. What?
Genetics?!
Yes, Jen. Eh. Ticks. A person with a rudimentary background in genetics, afforded by, perhaps, a semester in biology, understands that who we are is a result of genes that we inherit from our parents. Traits such as eye color, hair color, nose shape, and thunder thighs are all products of the information found on the 46 chromosomes comprising the human genome. But what most people don't realize is that behavior, as well as physical traits, is a product of inheritance. An individual may exhibit propensities towards dishonesty, anger/abuse, loyalty, lethargy, self-motivation, promiscuity, etc. And, though, some would claim these are solely results of nurture, not nature, I would argue that, if anything, it is a combination of both. An individual may be born with an ability to behave a certain way but, until presented with an opportunity to do so, does not. Thus, behavior is an inherited trait.
But what does this have to do with Karma? Well, let's break it down algebraically. Transitive property style (If A=B and B=C, then A=C).
Karma is a result of action. Behavior influences action. Genetics produces behavior. Thus, Karma is a result of Genetics. (So, really, here A=B, B=C, C=D and A=D).
Still not sold? Here's an example:
Say, for the sake of Eastern ideology, Abraham Lincoln died and was reincarnated as a grey squirrel. Now, he's a pretty nature saavy, being raised in a log cabin, and he understands that the life of a squirrel is pretty harsh. Running from dogs, hiding from hawks, gathering up as many acorns as he can possibly find and caching them--it's not as glamorous as it is chalked up to be. So, he decides he's going to cheat the system. Instead of storing nuts for winter like the other squirrels, he's just going to hide and watch where they put all of their nuts. That way, he doesn't have to do any work and when winter comes, he knows right where to find food. So, he does this, and it works. All winter long he gets fat off of the fruits of others' labor while they freeze and starve. Thus, once spring hits and mating season begins, he is exponentially more fit than any of the other squirrels and able to produce lots of offspring.
This is where Karma comes along. To a certain percent of his children, he passes along the "cheating" gene. And these little Abe's all follow in his footsteps. The next winter, he now has competition, particularly with his son, John Wilkes Booth. And because JWB is younger and more fit, he takes "Dad's" food and poor Abraham Lincoln is left starving and frozen.
Thus, ever to tyrants. With Karma. Because of Genetics.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
2 comments:
Interesting choices for tags. But, I'm still going to disagree with you. We can still choose to cheat or not after all. My father is a big proponent of the "sucker punch", I'm not.
To use the Transitive Property you're assuming logic which, I don't believe can be applied to human behavior.
It's all a big crap shoot.
Cheers.
Karma is a concept and therefore cannot be said to be a result of action. The result of the action is consequence. Furthermore, the karmic consequence of an action is not necessarily a direct physical result of that action.
Consider this: squirrel A steals squirrel B's nuts and then gets hit by a car. A person from a karmic tradition may say that the consequence of the theft is the death of squirrel B by flattening. The events, as anyone can plainly see, are unrelated as the theft of squirrel A's nuts was not the direct cause of squirrel B getting run over. This is an example of non-direct karmic consequence.
If squirrel A had witnessed the theft and then proceeded to attack and kill squirrel B, then the consequence would be both a direct result of squirrel B's action and, from a perspective of a karmic tradition, a karmic consequence of the action.
In your scenario, Abraham Lincoln's mistake was not that he stole the nuts, or even that he was pre-programmed to steal the nuts, but rather that he taught his offspring that stealing nuts is easier than collecting them. John Wilkes Booth's betrayal of his father was not a karmic consequence of Lincoln's theft. It was a direct result of Lincoln's "supported" belief that theft of nuts is beneficial and subsequent teaching of that belief to his offspring.
I feel like karma has little to do with genetics. Karma, and I do believe in Karma to an extent (all of that reincarnation stuff doesn't quite work for me...), is a spiritual concept and as with all spiritual concepts can't be demonstrated or proven. It requires faith in the idea that "What comes around, goes around."
The situation you have put forth demonstrates direct consequence rather than non-direct karmic consequence. Though, it could be perceived as karmic consequence, I think that this is a classic example of a meme passed on to a new generation which causes harm to those who possess the meme and to those who do not. Evolution, therefore, would quickly filter out squirrels like this.
The idea that "propensities towards dishonesty, anger/abuse, loyalty, lethargy, self-motivation, promiscuity, etc" is a result of inheritance is an interesting one. Did you read the study which shows that people are pre-programmed to be conservative or liberal?
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