Most people seem to believe that there is some sort of divine retribution (through hell, or through 'karma' for you new-agey types) for horrible acts like murder or what have you... I've been thinking to myself what a load of crap this is. If I decide to go out and kill someone because they piss me off or something, the only real thing I have to fear is getting caught for it....
Does anyone disagree?
This is not to say that I don't believe in God (because I do), but I don't entertain the notion that God (the life force or whatever) really cares that much if I go out and kill someone. In fact I think he (sorry for the gender bias) might get a kick out of it. I know I would.
Thoughts?
Hello, sometimes I think about the same thing. Sometimes I hate people and want them dead. Being angry hurts. I don't think it's wrong. But then I read something about people being nice and helping and giving things to kids. There's a lot of meanness and a lot of unpunished crimes, but it's a nicer feeling inside to put attention on say kids who need help, it's putting your mental energy on something better. It's hard to have a satisfactory conversation about "God" and "Karma" with anyone these days. I don't think it works how most people think it does. Of course if you walk around thinking bad things and plotting to kill people and stuff you are not going to attract the nicest situations to yourself, and that's not an esoteric idea, it's just the look on your face or whatever. That's just a simple idea about something some people call "karma". I think some of the ideas about "karma" are just as illogical as the way people think of "God" and "judgement". I mean, say someone does something bad to you and then someone says "well that must be your karma". But now the person that did something bad to you has some "bad karma" and supposedly they are going to get kicked in the ass at some point for the bad thing they did and deserve whatever bad thing that happens to them as "their karma coming back on them". Ugh I hate that line of reasoning. Plus the people who get victimized are often children, women, people without money and resources, handicapped. It becomes absurd the way people talk about cause and effect. It's not their place to suffer "karma", it's the world's place to fix some things. I don't have a lot of patience with "God" because there are too many children in ungodly awful situations in the world. I don't think that is their "karma" they got "reincarnated" to suffer. Probably most often I can appreciate what I have heard in church and from philosophical religious writings that humans are "co-creators" with "God". That is the truest thing I can see on this planet. People create a lot of bad stuff. It sounds like a sort of obnoxious hippy-ish idea that people should "raise their consciousness", but if people cause or turn away from suffering they let it happen, and they let the world be more like that whereas if by example they care about a thing and save kids from abusive programs they strengthen those kids who can grow up and do more good things with their lives and spread good things and good feelings around. Like pick up your litter and the place looks nicer. So anyways it is about your heart and your mind if you want to be thinking about killing people then worrying if "God" would care or if you want to spend your time and talents on something that puts a better feeling in you and in the people around you. But if you decide you are okay with killing people let me know and I can send you a list to get started on. Ha ha. Thanks. j/k. I don't think it is wrong to be angry or think about things like that, I think a lot of people suffer and feel anger and think about killing people because of their hearts. Like if people are abusing children you might want to kill them but that is because you are the kind of person who can empathize with the children that are getting hurt and you just want it to stop right away. As for "God" noticing or giving a fuck what you do, well I think he is a damn lazy bastard who is sitting on his ass eating bon bons while people suffer, including little children in the worst most horrible ways, so if you get to the pearly gates and "God" says "oh what about this thing you did" you can say "Uhm, excuse me, you were on vacation, apparently, for several thousand years, and we worked it out the best we could. I thought about it and asked for advice on the internet and I didn't hear back from you, so, what, you were lazing on the beach and didn't bother to answer my question?" Then "God" would probably just rush you through the gate so as not to cause a scene and further embarass him.
But in all seriousness, I think _Of Human Bondage_ is a pretty good run-down on life and meaning and stuff. Also _The English Patient_. War is hard on people, on any scale.
