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Originally Posted by SonoranBob  No, I said that karma explains a lot, but in a way that accentuates the impersonal nature of existence. To me it is bad enough that I am born into some random family, in some random socio-economic milieu, into some random belief system. But that I am also saddled with garbage from 'past lives' just gives me all the more to sort out, and without even the courtesy of knowing WTF it is I'm sorting. That is what I find difficult. I find it unkind and disrespectful of me. I have never understood why reincarnation or karma is appealing to people. To me, it's its own built-in hell. It increases, rather than decreases, the "unfairness" of life. It just doesn't seem helpful. I mean, thank god I at least was born into a halfway reasonable family and a rather excellent socio-economic situation, or I don't know WHAT I would have done. |
Ah, let me explain the bright side.
The bright side, dear Bob, is that you're not a pig. The way Buddhism explains it, you're particularly blessed, in this lifetime at least, to be a human being.
The reason is that human beings possess a certain capacity which the other forms of sentient beings lack. That capacity (which nevertheless must be cultivated and developed) is the ability to consciously choose your own thoughts and thereby alter your karma.
Animals possess this ability in very limited form. Therefore if they get reincarnated in some other higher life form, it's pretty much a random process based on those random moments when they made a breakthrough in their own consciousness.
Gods can think but their state is such that their thoughts do not produce new karma (good or bad). Therefore they enjoy bliss, until their positive karma (accumulated in the past lives) runs out. Thereafter they must reincarnate in some "lower" life form.
The hungry ghosts also can think, but they lack the ability to change their thinking, beyond certain limited scopes. That is why, in the descriptions of the Western psychics & mediums, if a place is haunted, say, by the earthbound spirit or "ghost" of an eight-year-old girl, the ghost continues to be that of an eight-year-old girl, even though many years pass. She never gets to evolve into the ghost of a 10-year-old girl or 15-year-old young lady.
Finally, don't be mistaken into thinking that karma is all about past lives etc. It isn't. It's more accurate to think of karma as your thoughts (and your words & actions, which are the results of your thoughts) attracting consequences continually.
So for instance, TODAY you are creating karma and you will experience the consequences. NEXT WEEK you will be creating new karma and you will experience the consequences. On your deathbed, you will also be creating new karma, and you will also experience the consequences. Whatever karma has not expressed itself by then, will simply carry over into your next life.