Viti

I too wish karma were a fact. It would be comforting to know that "everyone gets what they deserve"...too bad it doesn't always happen that way.

To agree with the others though, I do believe that some peoples actions put them in situations where those actions are rewarded or punished by others.

For instance, an unethical businessman, usually does business with other unethical people...eventually one of them is going to stab the other in the back as this is their nature. If they luck out or dupe an ethical person into doing business with them, eventually their bad practices will come to light an they will either lose the business or be exposed.

Pseudonymph

Yeah, I see where you all are coming from...but it's really a disheartning thought, that people can get away with whatever they want(in some cases).

I try (try being the key word here) to do the right thing, because it makes ME feel better about myself and those around me. Most people are this way also.
I just wish EVERYONE was that way.

hmm...this idea prompts me to start another thread here in a little bit.

never been there

I like where this is heading - a general agreement that there is no rational basis for belief in Karma per se, but that behaving as if Karma existed is empirically justified by the results.

It's like a rule of thumb. There's quite a few in engineering which were scientific theories which have been disproved as mechanisms, but still give correct results in calculations.

Pomp

never been there,

It's like a rule of thumb. There's quite a few in engineering which were scientific theories which have been disproved as mechanisms, but still give correct results in calculations.

It's important to remember, though, that even if behaving as though karma were real may lead to favorable results in general, there are specific situations in which it will not. Don't confuse the rule of thumb with the actual principle.

DRFseven

But what if there really were a karmic force and it turned out the "right thing" to do is to rip people off to get ahead? Then we'd be bound to rip people off if we wanted to be rewarded, but then, we probably wouldn't last long.