In our unending search for fairness, and in the absence of finding fairness in man-made legal structure, humans around the world have sought a common sense of universal, even cosmic, justice.
This search has manifested itself in varying religious philosophies.
For believers in far eastern religions, such as Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism, the concept of karma applies.
Karma is closely associated with the idea of rebirth. The quality of life in the here and now will be reflected in the quality of one’s rebirth following death. Further, the quality of how one lives his life will affect how his life unfolds while still in the here and now.
For Christians, the concepts of heaven and hell serve to offer divine justice.
Simply speaking, regardless of how equitable our lives seem in this earthly realm, for those who live a virtuous life, heaven will be our reward, eternity in a place free of oppression, illness, pain, and anguish.
For those who live less than virtuously, hell will be our eternal home. Depending on one’s religious upbringing, hell will be blazing hot or unbearably cold. Regardless, hell will be a place of constant disquiet, torture, and misery.
If justice wasn’t meted out to us on earth, God will surely mete it out after we are dead and gone.
In the United States, it might be fair to generalize that Newton’s Third Law acts as a metaphor for either of the above standards. “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” The physics of the cosmos demands justice.
I think that in the United States we have a good handle on the heaven and hell thing.
The karma thing, though, I think we oversimplify.
If you remember the TV sitcom My Name Is Earl from 2005-2009, karma was treated more as something that happened within a tight time frame (22 minutes of TV time, but within a few days or weeks regular time.) If you acted badly against another person, you could undo that “bad karma” by quickly committing and act of goodness. Or you could erase recent bad behavior by changing your actions and attitude.
Even better, you could buy karma insurance by doing good deeds now to “trade” for good fortune later.
Maybe that’s a reflection of our modern need for instant gratification, or of our inability to instill the good behavior and acts as part of our ongoing, everyday lifestyle (which the philosophy of karma is in far eastern religions).
I have been dwelling on these two concepts (and Newton’s Third Law) for a while now.
I have had to, because I had to be intentional giving up my frustrations regarding the president, his administration, and the constant state of chaos in which we’re living, what with COVID-19, hurricanes and wildfires thrown into the mix.
Where is the justice when an enormous portion of our nation has experienced the deaths of 200,000 of its family members, and then, after burying its dead and grieving their loss, the homes of the living are blown away by 150 mph winds or burned to mere ashes by 2,000 degree flames?
Why, in the words of conservative Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, do bad things happen to good people? (Kushner wrote a bestseller of the same name in 1981.)
And why, on the other hand, do no bad things happen to bad people?
Let me take this from the viewpoint of one who believes that Donald Trump, and many if not most of his appointees and cronies, are bad people. (Yes, one or more among you readers will ascribe this to TDS, which is a cop-out on your parts. Also, please note that I have used the less extreme word “bad” instead of the more judgmental “evil” to describe Trump, et al.)
During the administration of Donald Trump, we have witnessed both mismanagement and outright atrocity.
Mismanagement of our current pandemic, and the atrocities of white supremacists in American cities and the separation of immigrant families and the caging of their children at the America/Mexico border.
Further, we have seen serious, dangerous undermining of the American Constitution through the abuse of executive power and corrupt cabinet officials.
From my point of view, Trump and his cabal have been involved in a continuing stream of bad acts, yet there has been little to no accountability so far.
Sure, Trump was impeached, but what does that mean to a man who has faced charges of illicit behavior in the past, only to get away with murder (as my Pop would say)?
Trump says crass things to and about people all the time.
He lies every hour of every day.
He stretches the boundaries of ethical and moral actions more easily than he coifs his hair.
Yet he always seems to escape “justice” for his bad acts.
It has been disconcerting for many Americans, not getting the satisfaction of “justice.”
But are we confusing justice with revenge?
If so, the question shouldn’t be “why don’t bad things happen to bad people?”
The question should be “why haven’t there been consequences for people who behave badly?”
Well, it’s my opinion that there will be consequences in the case of Trump and his henchmen and women.
Cosmic justice – consequences – is not a short game. We have to be patient and realize that the handing down of consequences is a marathon and not a sprint.
Do you recall how long and dragged out the impeachment proceedings seemed?
In the legal system, justice can take months or even years.
In the fairness game of the universe, justice can take eons.
For me, I have finally been able to come to the place where the news can announce yet another Trump-caused disaster, and I just take a deep breath and move on.
He disses every US veteran who wore a uniform? Sigh. He coerces the CDC to adjust their reports to align with his views on COVID-19? Oh, well.
One of these days karma will take care of it all.
Or has it already?
Imagine, if you can, what is daily life like for an old man, isolated within a historic landmark he feels is “a dump,” surrounded by people among whom none can be called a true friend?
His wife exhibits scorn for him in public. His relationships with his children seem light years apart from what you and I would consider normal.
He doesn’t trust the food prepared within the White House (if reports are true about his preference for fast food).
His very security depends upon people in the justice system whom he regards with disdain.
If he allowed himself to really discern the thoughts and feelings of those he believes are loyal and devoted, he would see some people who live in fear of him, not in admiration of him. (How many have left his inner circle voluntarily? How many has he driven out because they didn’t toady to him? Look to the Republican Party which has now become the Cult of Trump, not the party of the likes of John McCain.)
I, for one, would not want to trade places with Donald Trump for all the gold toilets in the world.
If he is not now, he will eventually be reaping the seeds of what he has sown his entire life. And by eventually I mean before he dies.
Some people whose Christian faith is strong and sure are already “letting go and letting God.”
Some who have found the peace of true meditation have risen above the frailty of the flesh.
Me? I’m learning to flow with the tide, to rise and fall in the swells.
Eventually, I will be washed up on calmer shores.
[Be sure to VOTE!]
How in the world did Bill and Hillary make it through the system virtually untouched? Why will no one stand up for the 600,000 babies aborted every year in America?
Cheers!!
The Christian tradition spouts the concept that there is a loving, all powerful, all knowing non-human (some kind of magical god) in charge. I’m not buying it. I do like the idea of karma, but don’t see a lot of evidence for that, either.
Mr. Basura, maybe you think you are God? Or is there no belief in anything for Mr. Basura? When you said you were wounded in Vietnam, did you consider yourself a Christian then, or were you always a non-believer?
And if you are God, why don’t you right all the wrongs and bring comfort to all?
Thank you for your service.
Odd question, Don’t. If I’m not buying it, why would I think I was a deity? You won’t hear me quoting much scripture, but 1 Corinthians 13:22 does come to mind; “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (NIV). To answer the question, I was not religious in Vietnam. Some of us were. Some of us weren’t.
Basura
Unless you were “In Country” and constantly in action most do not understand your statement about not being religious while in Vietnam.
I may stand corrected. I do believe we think alot alike on this subject….even though way not agree on other subjects
So Christianity is a childish thing, only to be believed by the weak-minded? Strange, since you came up with the quote, or did it take some time to research?
Good Day!
DOTM, I don’t understand your defensiveness toward Basura and his dismissal of Christian faith. Whether he, and other non-believers, accepts or denies a Christian concept of the relationship between mankind and a divine creator/redeemer should have no impact on your own faith at all.
It appears that Basura used the 1 Corinthians 13:22 citation (which might be a typo, because in my Good News Bible the citation is 13:11) to make his own point that to him Christian faith is childish. (Please correct me, Basura, if I am wrong.) But for you, as a Christian, if you read before and further, the message is that even those things learned as a man are only temporal when viewed from God’s aspect. That all those temporal things of man are transitory. 1 Corinthians 13:12-13: “What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete – as complete as God’s knowledge of me. Meanwhile these three remain: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.”
In short, in my humble opinion, whatever that quoted scripture means to Basura, you should not be offended. If your own faith is strong and bounded by scriptural teaching, your reaction should be accepting, knowing that faith, hope, and love are the greatest aspects of that faith, and should be extended to everyone, regardless of their own philosophies.
Christian love is unconditional. It is offered to all, even those for whom life’s experiences don’t appear to give evidence of an omnipotent, anthropomorphized God.
If, indeed, you consider Basura to be flawed because of his lack of Christian faith, your faith demands that you accept him as he is and love him, as Christ has taught.
I am not a Biblical scholar, but years and years of lay study have brought me to this understanding of Christ’s basic teachings.
Ms Mandeville,
I am not offended in the least nor hope I have offended Mr. Basura. I questioned his veracity about being either being an agnostic or complete non-believer. We are all sinners and are weak in God’s eyes. I think he is somewhat disingenuous, whether he admits it or not. Nobody deep down wants to be apart from God’s love and acceptance.
You mentioned in your post the “Republican party is not the like of John McCain”. THANK GOD! John was a good man, but not a leader, he was happy to go along to get along – we have had and continue to have too many like McCain. We needed someone like Trump to kick this country in gear and get it moving again. Democrats weren’t ever going to do it and the Neocon Republicans were happy to get Democrat crumbs – go along to get along. The country is far better off with Trump. Biden is feeble and dementia afflicted and Harris is a Communist activist. If they gain power, we will be in a downward spiral, and you and Basura know it.
Don’t know if it’s Karma but I believe you reap what you sow. Act like a jackass, don’t be shocked, play the victim or go all Dog in The Manger when people treat you in kind.
One of the major shifts in public behavior I’ve seen is our current President has made being self centered and acting like an ass redeeming qualities. That is seen by some of the commenters here. It’s okay be a bully so long as you support a President Trump but have a differing opinion then you don’t love God, your country, respect the flag or the military.
Toughen up butter cup and other demeaning name calling is followed up about being a Christian, talk about the unborn and questioning Roe v Wade. Any politician who’s held office as a Republican but disagrees with Donald J Trump is a Rino.
Then there’s old reliable omnipresent “But what about Clinton?!!!!!” response. Have either Clinton been on a ballot after 2016. Bang your head on the table. Wake up! It’s 2020. Brag about how President Trump was shrinking the deficit BC (before COVID-19). Brag about the success of the North Korean Summit and how Kim Jong Un is no longer a despotic leader with a nuclear arsenal. Brag about all the improvements President Trump has made for his promised better healthcare plan to replace the ACA. Brag about President Trump as the 21st Century Dwight Eisenhower with his major transportation infrastructure plan that was promised while he had GOP majorities in the House and Senate. Brag about voluntary citizen militias who show up, aren’t sworn in by law enforcement but have loaded weapons to intimidate and the President making excuses for the 17 year old from Antioch IL who showed up in Kenosha to be a in the citizen militia. Even brag how the President’s been so busy over the last 46 months he hasn’t had time to golf.
But please don’t drag your humanitarian bs then support this President. In March the President bragged about keeping Coronavirus numbers low when he was blocking the cruise ship Grand Princess from docking in Oakland CA with infected Americans. That was after he had been briefed on how serious a threat the virus was to humans and how it had the potential to kill ten’s of thousands of people living in the US.
What was President Trump’s response? Deny responsibility, obfuscate, pass the buck, promote dubious “cures” later shot down by the FDA and took the advice of son-in-law Jared Kushner to pass prevention and treatment responsibilities to states. The President also okayed the procedure where states were required to participate in bidding wars between themselves, private industry and the Federal government driving up prices for medical supplies and devices.
As of September 15, 2020 the US has over 6.5 MILLION confirmed cases of COVID-19 and just over 194,700 deaths from COVID-19 or maladies brought on or exacerbated after being infected. Don’t play the morality card or attempt to muddy the waters with your ability to play “Christian” and quote the Bible trying to deflect from this President’s appalling record and his concern about the lives of living Americans.
The terror attacks on 9-11-2001 killed 2977 people on US soil. In the course of the military action in Korea the US had 36,500 killed. Vietnam Nam the US had 58,200 killed. We are on the way to over 200,000 dead from COVID-19 before the end of 2020. Don’t try to blame governors. This is our allegedly ProLife President more concerned about ducking responsibility than leading. Karma or not.
Try blaming the source of the lab created virus on where it belongs – China! We have experienced the first biological attack on our country and it came from CHINA.
When are you dipshits going to get it through your head China is not and never has been our friend, we are the host and they are the parasite!
Thank God President Trump shut down travel to and from China when he did or there would be 2,000,000 – 3,000,000 dead instead of 200,000!
That indeed was a typo. Thank you Lynn, for pointing that out and steering those that are interested. I apologize for the error. The correct citation is 1 Corinthians 13:11.
I was very flip to throw that out there. I also apologize to Don’t and whomever else I offended by my callous disregard for other’s beliefs. I will try to be more tender henceforth.
Couchman
Wow
What a wonderful summation of the Trump presidency and the Kool-Aid drinkers who ignor the facts
Bob,
You anti Trump folks were quick to impeachment and what grounds? Facts? The fabricated Steele dossier paid for by the Clinton foundation. Or the latest that CNN and NPR jumped on made by the “Atlantic ” rag by anonymous sources? I know some on here hate history however those “pesky little facts” keep getting in the way………..Try another news source……..
Cheers!!