The Beatles sang about it in the ’70s, and “Instant Karma! (We all Shine On)” became an overnight sensation right after John Lennon wrote it. So, in theory, Instant Karma could be a thing. But unfortunately, Instant Karma isn’t going to get you. But maybe the slower version of karma will. Stay with me here.
I know that the idea behind karma is that one will pay for indiscretions in this life and the next and will be rewarded for good deeds. But why wait? What if the next time you ignore a living being that needs help, you changed places immediately? I don’t know too many people who want to be cold, hungry, or hurting. What if the next time you eat a steak, you feel the animal’s terror and pain at slaughter? What if the next time you criticize someone, you really walk in his or her shoes? What if you felt the sting of the bullet or the ripping of flesh when you shot or killed a living being?
I am certain that if we could feel the immediate consequences of our actions or inactions, our behavior would change very quickly. It seems that if we could forgo our instant gratification and self-entitlement, even for fear of repercussions, the world would be a nicer place. There probably wouldn’t be a great need for an intricate legal system. I have your attention now, don’t I? I am sure there would still be some soulless people who just don’t care, but at least the rest of us wouldn’t have to worry about their punishment.
What if you destroyed a portion of rain forest and became one of the hapless creatures that were displaced by your actions? What if you were greedy and unwilling to share and became someone entrenched in poverty as the result of your greed? I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Every action has a reaction, and pretending that it’s not the case won’t make it go away. Unfortunately, self-entitlement and instant gratification get in the way.
We want stuff, and we want it now. Amazon has built an entire business on quick delivery service, because they know that most of us aren’t patient enough to wait for weeks. We want the good stuff now but will deal with repercussions later. The philosophy of most religions is based on reaping benefits or rewards after death, which for most of us seems like a distant event. Therefore, we feel entitled to take what we want when we can get it and worry about the consequences some other time.
I have many religious friends who are good people. They are kind to others and work hard to help those less fortunate. I hope God will reward them in the afterlife. But what if he doesn’t? Or what if there isn’t an afterlife? Some are already enjoying the rewards of knowing that they are helping others in need. Maybe that’s Instant Karma. Inversely, if you kill someone and go to prison for life, maybe that’s Instant Karma too. But most of the time, it’s not all that instant.
Our actions will have repercussions for all the generations behind us that manage to survive. To me, it’s unethical to refuse to act — or worse, to act maliciously because you won’t experience the outcome immediately. I was raised Catholic and knew that if I was truly sorry I could confess my sins and be forgiven. That helps, because I believe in forgiveness. But if I had been able to immediately experience the consequences of my actions, I may have acted differently.
There will always be those who just don’t care about what kind of havoc they wreak on the world, like suicide bombers, for instance. For those people, I hope there is punishment in the afterlife. I’ve always thought that it would be poetic justice for them to be reincarnated as one of their victims. The same goes for those that abuse and eat animals. If you eat a cow, you return as one. Yep, you reap what you sow. So maybe karma will get us. I just wish it could be instant. Karma is a bitch. Just saying.
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Ok, take this in a humorous way… “Instant Karma” was recorded by the Plastic Ono band, not the Beatles. Yoko and John wrote the song. On that note, the gist of what you say has truth no doubt, but as we often see in many “reply” responses in the Independent regarding religious oriented articles, (i.e. people commenting on an article relating to the LDS religion as an example), there are always counter replies to rectify generalized notions, specific details, oversights, or errors for that matter. KARMA in the West is highly misunderstood and often misinterpreted as a simplistic notion. Karma is best defined metaphorically and symbolically as a WHEEL. A simplistic way of defining it, is to see it as action leading or begetting action in a causative line, like dominoes hitting one another in succession. This view, although elegant, is not as simplistic as it seems. It is much more complex once you delve deeper. Regardless of many religious definitions, across many Eastern religions, from Buddhism, Hinduism, to Taoism, Karma is truly beyond anthropomorphic definition. We see it through our human lens, which is limited at best. Although this is a vast subject, and not enough space herein to cover, one way is to see it in truth, is to understand what it is NOT in human terms. So here it goes – one sentence. One who no longer is subject to KARMA, or for that matter, no longer creating KARMA, or redundantly above the laws of KARMA …. IS LIBERATED. Sincerely The Karma Police – (my favorite RADIOHEAD song of all time) ps. Don’t get me started about chakras… they don’t exist, except as metaphors. 🙂
Thank you for the response and the insight. I really appreciate you taking the time to clarify. I am not offended at all. It’s just nice to know someone read the column! I have a pretty limited knowledge of Eastern religion and karma, but it intrigues me. Now I’m motivated to delve a little deeper.