Theos-Talk Archives (December 1996 Message tl00404)

Tom Robertson:
1) If karma means that justice is inevitable, does that mean that it is
never good to act against injustice?  Doesn't not acting against
injustice
sanction it, and therefore encourage it, and therefore deserve it, so
that,
to the one who did not act against it, it is no longer injustice?

I'd say that acting against injustice relieves pain for the party you're
helping, thereby you will be rewarded for your action in the next life.
Also, the fact that your motivation is to relieve pain will help develop
your character, which will be reborned with stronger faculties in
helping you get rid of your karmic causes.  It seems to me that not
acting against injustice if it is right in front of you means that you
have wasted any opportunities you may have to help others, therefore you
have passed by the opportunity to get rid of some of your limitations of
character, and a chance to gain stronger life tools.

2) If karma means that we can never hope to get any more or less than we
have paid for, is there any ultimate gain or loss in anything?  Does it
then
even matter what we do?

IMO, we get what we put into it.  If we are consciously aware that our
actions in this life will affect in how quickly we will get rid of our
karmic causes and build stronger a character for future lifetimes, we
can try whatever we can in this lifetime to get rid of any of our
limitations.  We start from where we are.  For example, if one has a
tendency to be unfaithful, one can work on not being unfaithful in this
lifetime.  Consciously acting to control your own evolution will speed
it up.

3) Is there good and bad karma, or just karma?
I don't know whether there is good or bad karma.  However, it seems to
me that you can take actions or inactions that will either slow or speed
up your development, or may degrade some of your developments.  As far
as my personal life, all my best friends and lovers have their first
name begin with the letter "M".  I didn't think I choose it.  Shirley
MacLaine said that whereever she travels, there is always construction
happening in front of her hotel room.  What do you make of that?

TTT  S=o)