K-Bone wrote:
I don't accept that because you don't need to believe in karma to be a good person.

If a kid gets shot and killed or a baby animal gets ate in the jungle it does not revolve around karma.

To even think about past lives might be a distraction from the reality we have each morning we get up.

The idea of karma could be just fear put in us by the wealthy to keep us in line.

Both good & bad people suffer and both good & bad people enjoy life.

It's really something to think about.

irrepressible wrote:
An easier example that might actually mean something to most Brits, irre, might be celebrating the Jubilee. For example, it could be interpreted that through taking part in the celebrations and waving a flag, what you're actually doing is giving consent for the current monarch to continue to rule over you, be that literally or symbolically.

Though to the majority, it was just an excuse to get pissed and wear silly hats. See how it works?

Again, literally, you could extend the same meaning to the recently corporate sponsored games. Symbolically however, it's a whole different kettle of fish!! A kettle of fish I currently know far too little about to comment on.



The way I look at it, if you've been brought up, like me, to just partake in these things and not really question them, WHY? That's what really pisses me off and its what got me started on actually looking into possible alternative 'meanings' and motives.

Well it's certainly intriguing Ab, it's a subject that would involve many years of research I reckon...research isn't my particular strong point

Random designs that the events organisers think look cool, or something far more complex and sinister?

The whole torch thing might not really mean anything. It's now a tradition, but traditions can be just things people have done for a really long time so it becomes ingrained.

RealAmerican wrote:
I was kinda being facetious. I don't necessarily believe in karma but I'm agnostic; no faith in anything. Isn't karma a Buddhist concept? Funny thing, though, I always hear pseudo-Christians referring to Karma. It always pisses me off when I hear some immoral asshole talking about how "so&so" got karma just because something bad happened to someone they didn't like. I know far too many really good people who get shit on by life and it's not bad karma. Hell, usually it's just the opposite: I often see assholes do evil things who continue to have good fortune showered upon them while the do-gooders I know are stuck in a cycle of misfortune. Life isn't fair.

K-Bone wrote:
Yea, I think along those same lines.

Does that mean that life is random?

Survival of the fittest, or a battle of the top genes?

Witches & the like wouldn't refer to it as Karma I suppose - maybe the three-fold (or 7-fold, depending on which stuff you read) law that dictates the quality of energy you put out will bounce at you X 3 (or X 7). Again though, that sounds like it might be the kind of controlling mechanism that's needed for people who don't have the conscience to sort out their behaviour for themselves without some threat.

RealAmerican wrote:
Hard to say, really...I hate to think it is random and unfair but it does seem that way sometimes. Actually, it almost seems deliberately unfair...at least from my observations. I just don't know. I like to think that things "happen for a reason" but maybe that's what I tell myself to feel better and accept the "unfair" shit that happens.

K-Bone wrote:
The older I get the more I think this way.

Now I believe we are a creation of our parents egg & sperm just like the rest of the animal kingdom.

When I was younger I believed in religion and karma but that seems very unrealistic now.

Matter of fact the idea of karma seem's ridiculous when I watch the nature channel on TV.

Nothing like watching a lion eat a hyena or a shark kill a seal for a reality check.

I think parents should highly educate their kids so they can enjoy life and live for the present-day.

But if people can find comfort in Karma or religion who am I to judge them.

Problem is that these people seem to suffer alot.