Theos-Talk Archives (December 1998 Message tl00097)

Cybercmh@aol.com writes
>In a message dated 11/28/98 12:01:18 AM Eastern Standard Time, theos-
>l@list.vnet.net writes:
>
><< I did not invent the definition of Karma, nor did Mme. Blavatsky.
> It is, she says (and so do the Hindu Pundits) the undeviating law
> that balances all causes with their effects.  No exceptions. >>
>
>Could someone explain why innocents have to suffer from the bad karma set in
>motion by others?  I never cease to be hurt by this, and it is an issue that I
>struggle with emotionally and spiritually.  It makes logical sense, if I look
>at it "scientifically," but it bothers me because it's so unfair!  Is life
>just not fair?  How can we live with that reality?  Not just survive, but
>thrive?

Dear Christine,

HPB and the Hindu Pundits may say this, and in its own way, so does
Newtonian physics. (Apple falls on head, head hurts, apple bruised,
apple maybe gets eaten for obeying natural law and demonstrating
gravity).  The most evil explanation of "Karma" is where it is claimed
that the innocents who suffer do so because of "bad karma" for acts
performed in previous lives.  (There is a Jewish prayer used by Jewish
males which thanks God for not making them women.  The women
don't get a similar prayer).  It seems that life is *not* fair, for even if the
whole karma bit is true, what other law determines that people set evil
acts in motion in the first place?  Closer to home, some kids get bullied
to death, in that they kill themselves.  The bullies get a kick out of seeing
some poor soul suffer as a result of their desire for the pleasure that
power over another person brings them.  Don't "debate" this
intellectually anyone - those of us who've seen it *know* that's how it
is, even more so if we too have been bullied.

>Example:  why innocent Jews were shot in the back of the head and pushed into
>grave pits or gassed to death during WWII, including children.  Why this has
>happened to Bosnians more recently, or Rwandans, or the Chinese at Nanking,
>or
>slavery in the Americas.  Such a massive attack of evil and degradation, over
>and over.  Unimaginable acts - and I wonder, what drove them to commit these
>acts?  Could I also be so driven, given the same experiences or forces at work
>in those cases?  It seems beyond fear - it seems like a wallowing in evil.  I
>just want to smack people who answer that "God never permits evil unless it's
>for a greater good."  The God I believe in would not calculate in this way.

We are asking the same question here - what causes inhumanity among
humans, especially the kind you describe.  No doubt some clever
theosophist will try to tell you that your wanting to smack people who
answer as above is the "first step" on the road to degradation.  I would
say it's the first step n the road to seeking justice.  As for God, well, as I
see it, "God" neither permits nor denies, but people do.
>
>But at the same time, I find this a crisis of my own faith in a way - how can
>an essentially good Universe permit such things?  Where is the good and where
>is God for the victims?  When people thank God or the Universe for their
>blessings - why weren't these other innocents so blessed also?   How can I be
>thankful for blessings knowing that they are not bestowed on other souls at
>least as deserving as I, if not more so?

Jews entering the gas chambers usually knew what was going on, at
least later in the war they did - word gets around.  Millions of them
went in chanting the *Shema* - "Hear O Israel, the Lord (y)our God is
One."  That was (and is) *their* faith at work, faith (trust) in (divine)
Unity.  [The Hebrew word we translate as "One" in this prayer is
*Achad," which means "One" in the sense of Unity].  Such blessings as
we have in *this* world are there for *all* people, but not all people
get them, because other people don't want them to have any - the
pursuit of health, wealth and happiness at others' expense.  So don't
thank God for blessings, curse *people* for their lack.  What to do
with the $20 million?  Feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the
sick, etc., etc., etc.
>
>And then I see a sunset over the ocean, or note a heroic or loving act, and I
>feel at those times deep down that the Universe is good at the core.  I feel
>encouraged and inspired.

So do I, and living by the ocean, I get to see plenty of sunsets.  Heroic
and loving acts inspire me, too, but the goodness I see only in the
hero(ine) or loving person.
>
For me (as with the putative Mahatmas in their letter ten, Barker
edition) there is no place for a "personal" God, and even more so if this
"God" is addressed as "He."
>
>Y'know, when I think about this late at night, it's probably my greatest
>spiritual thorn - and this is the first time I have put it in writing, now
>that I think about it.  I've been so afraid even to acknowledge such a large
>issue that threatens to bowl me over, along with the rest of humankind.  I
>could believe so many wonderful things if I could solve this in my mind
>somehow.  Or is it unsolvable? is that the perennial question of humankind -
>why does evil exist??  How can people be so heartless and cruel toward their
>fellow human beings??

Horrid, isn't it?  People can be like this because this is how so many
people *are.*  This is the evidence, and no amount of praying or
wishing makes it otherwise.  On the plus side, it seems that while evil is,
like beauty, something in the eye of the beholder (up to a point), the
very fact that some people worry about it shows that some people
*care* - and caring is the beginning of wisdom.  Maybe "God" says to
us, "It bothers you, huh?  Then *do* something about it.

Start with the $20 million, perhaps .....

Alan
---------
Simply Occult ..........
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