# Do you believe in Karma? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 16, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215 "2011-07-16T03:19:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/1 "2011-07-16T03:19:34Z")
The title pretty much sums it up. How many here believe in the concept of Karma? Now there are several differing definitions of “Karma”, depending on the source. I am referring simply to the universal law of cause and effect that says every thought, word and act carries energy into the world and affects our present reality. This is the concept behind “good karma” and “bad karma”, where things happen that one might feel are the result of past good or bad deeds, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/2 "2011-07-16T03:22:34Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/3 "2011-07-16T03:24:21Z")
No. What goes around does not, if fact, come around. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/4 "2011-07-16T03:28:47Z")
Sure, why not? [QUOTE=Todd R.] \*You know we all got this habit We like to talk too much And that always tends to slow you down But we never change direction We just keep going round and round and round and round And let us off this wheel of karma Let us stop the hands of time…\* [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/5 "2011-07-16T04:31:31Z")
Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/6 "2011-07-16T04:33:01Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > No. What goes around does not, if fact, come around. Couldn’t have said it better myself. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/7 "2011-07-16T04:40:14Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/8 "2011-07-16T04:44:03Z")
No, not in the cause and effect sense. Yes, in the ironic sense. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/9 "2011-07-16T04:57:35Z")
Well, yeah. Sometimes shes good, sometimes she’s bad. She’s always funny and affectionate, and gives sloppy kisses. She enjoys spending time outside, chasing birds, but prefers being inside curled up at my feet with a good rawhide. Oh… wait. That’s KHARMA… my dog. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/10 "2011-07-16T05:06:59Z")
If you believe in the woo of karma where do you draw the line? No. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/11 "2011-07-16T05:07:55Z")
I believe in Karma more than Dogma… My Karma ran over your Dogma. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/12 "2011-07-16T06:06:09Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/13 "2011-07-16T06:50:48Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > Well, yeah. Sometimes shes good, sometimes she’s bad. She’s always funny and affectionate, and gives sloppy kisses. She enjoys spending time outside, chasing birds, but prefers being inside curled up at my feet with a good rawhide. > > Oh… wait. That’s KHARMA… my dog. > Never mind. Karma used to come and visit me when she was bored. She would bang on the door and make silly faces in the effort to get me to let her in. I’d always put the leash on her collar and take her home. The look she gave me was “why are you being such a bitch to Karma”. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/14 "2011-07-16T07:01:04Z")
jamie, sorry for being so flip with the answer. If you want my honest opinon…bad things happen to good people for no reason. Good things happen to bad people for the same random reasons. As much as I’d like to make things even out, they won’t. I try to live my life as a good person, but that’s because that’s how I am, not because I’m afraid that I will be smited by Thor or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/15 "2011-07-16T07:06:00Z")
We have a legal system for a reason. The universe does not sort everything out hunky dory, and make bad things happen to bad people. The only justice in the universe is either by coincidence, or enforced by human beings, not karma. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/16 "2011-07-16T07:08:48Z")
There are enough jerks who never get their just deserts, and enough good people who are repeatedly knocked down, to ever believe there’s some sort of cosmic balance sheet. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/17 "2011-07-16T07:11:47Z")
Justice is something we must create for ourselves. So, no. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/18 "2011-07-16T07:15:05Z")
No. I don’t do good things for others in the hopes that they will do good things for me. I do good things because they are the right things to do. So I believe in ethics and morality, rather than karma. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/19 "2011-07-16T11:42:27Z")
Not in the sense that the word is normally used. I believe God will settle all accounts eventually, either in this life or on judgment day. I suspect it’s moreso the latter given there are some pretty rotten people still walking the earth and there are a lot of good people that never catch a break. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/20 "2011-07-16T11:43:57Z")
Since this is a poll, I’ll move it to IMHO. **twickster** , MPSIMS moderator [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215.md?page=2)