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Karma has been coming up a lot. If I tell a little white lie or something I’m told “that’s bad karma.” I’ve really been thinking about it the past few weeks and the more I think about it the more I know that Westerners really don’t even understand what the word means, and second of all, it just can’t exist even if that were the proper definition.

I love religion and reading about it and so I’ve just always known that karma is a Hindu and Buddhist philosophy that a person’s actions in this life or “existence” will effect his or her actions in the next life or “existence”. This isn’t how most Westerners, especially Americans, use the word. They use it more as in, if you do X then Y will happen in the same lifetime. I’m going to ignore the Buddhist and Hindu version in this post because they have an entire explanation of karma and how it works, and it’s not how most American’s use it.

So, let’s just say that the Westerner’s version is the right definition of karma. There is a major problem with this that no one seems to think about:
Who decides karma?

The Heathens

If you are an Atheist, Agnostic, Spiritual, or anything like those, how can you believe in karma? Someone would have to decide morality which is something humans made up. Animals clearly don’t have morals. Morals are completely the fancy work of humans. The entity would have to literally understand morality and humans as well comprehend it and then decide what is good and bad karma. But that’s not even the kicker! The kicker is he’d have to dish up punishments and rewards. This, by definition, is a God. How do truly believe in karma if you don’t believe in a God is what I’m curious about?

The Theists

If you are a theist such as Christian, Jew, Muslim, etc, then although karma is in no way related to these religions and doesn’t exist, you can say that your God decides. I know quite a few monotheists who believe in karma. For me, this is the best explanation because that’s exactly the type of being or entity that would have to make those decisions. It’s not that big of a leap if you already believe in a omnipotent creature.

Me

I want to believe in karma, I really do, but I’m an Atheist and I just can’t force myself to believe in some supreme ruler. The Buddhist and Hindu philosophies are nice, but I also just don’t, and can’t, believe in reincarnation or nirvana. Just stop telling people it’s bad karma if you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. If you’re going open your mouth about such a strong and vital part of a religion and say you believe in it, either know your shit or else make up your own word and definition. With no factual basis don’t expect anyone to believe you though, or maybe you should… Considering that 84% of the world is religious and that also has no factual basis. Maybe making up your own religion might not be a bad idea. It seemed to work well for Ron Hubbard

         

Posted in Atheism, Philosophy