# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**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, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/41 "2011-07-16T23:24:10Z")
[http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CEQQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dawndreamer.modern-thinker.co.uk%2F7%2520-%2520dialectics%2520and%2520karma.htm&ei=ZhgiToOYHIvAtgfwr72gAw&usg=AFQjCNHlEHPNlephI\_ErF4HFjl4EMqff4A](http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CEQQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dawndreamer.modern-thinker.co.uk%2F7%2520-%2520dialectics%2520and%2520karma.htm&ei=ZhgiToOYHIvAtgfwr72gAw&usg=AFQjCNHlEHPNlephI_ErF4HFjl4EMqff4A) This is an intriguing take on Karma. Specifically, his views on “dialectical ethics” vs. “linear ethics”. Very interesting reading. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/42 "2011-07-16T23:27:26Z")
Yes. Except when bad things happen to good people. And when good things happen to bad people. So, no. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/43 "2011-07-16T23:32:27Z")
No. I would _like_ to believe in it, but experience has led me to the conclusion that karma doesn’t exist. I think most people simply try to do the right thing because…it’s the right thing. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/44 "2011-07-16T23:39:30Z")
I don’t believe in it, but it believes in me. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/45 "2011-07-16T23:41:14Z")
Well, yes. But not in the way you’re describing it, so, no. ---
**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, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/46 "2011-07-16T23:49:31Z")
> [@Wakinyan](#): > > Well, yes. But not in the way you’re describing it, so, no. Well describe it your way, then. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/47 "2011-07-17T02:08:10Z")
> [@jamiemcgarry](#): > > According to Karma, you may never actually SEE the good things you do get returned to you in kind in this life, but your good deeds DO always work. It may not be in this lifetime but you will see the benefits at some point. What are you hinting at here: the afterlife, or reincarnation? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/48 "2011-07-17T02:45:53Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > What are you hinting at here: the afterlife, or reincarnation? Again, I suppose that depends on the interpretation of Karma. Typically, it’s that of reincarnation. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/49 "2011-07-17T02:52:45Z")
I don’t believe in it so much as I wish it was real. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/50 "2011-07-17T09:22:21Z")
yes. I believe that Karma is the Express-Lane at the great Checkout with the final ka-ching. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/51 "2011-07-17T09:24:47Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/52 "2011-07-17T09:58:02Z")
I’m sometimes able to convince myself that reincarnation is real in which case I believe in karma. Usually I am unable to convince myself that reincarnation is real in which case I don’t believe in karma. For the most part, I want to believe in karma but I just can’t. So I guess the answer is no, I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![pope\_hentai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@pope\_hentai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pope_hentai)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/53 "2011-07-17T18:40:11Z")
As one of those people who is generally a “good” person, but has luck so bad others around me have noticed and mentioned it… if “karma” exists, i’ve decided its on a cosmic type level, so my bad luck helps keep bill gates rich. It all weighs out evenly, just not on a personal level. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/54 "2011-07-17T23:33:39Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > I believe in Karma like I believe in gambling streaks. Gambling streaks are real. Unfortunately, all they are is the statistically inevitable result of random processes. If you have a 1/3 chance, sooner or later you are bound, by the laws of probability, to get a streak of 10 wins. Your chances of winning the 11th? 1/3. With no ultimate meaning. Karma’s like that. Wishful thinking reinforced by confirmation bias. > [@Becky2844](#): > > yes. I believe that Karma is the Express-Lane at the great Checkout with the final ka-ching. So _ **that’s** _ her name. I always wondered. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215/55 "2011-07-18T13:10:51Z")
I believe that most of what we define as good is so defined because, on a grand scale, it causes good things. Same with how we define bad. But I don’t think it has anything to do with any supernatural aspect. In fact, until you described it as energy, which seems like something out of _The Secret_, I would have said I did believe in karma. Now I’m not so sure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-karma/589215.md?page=2)