Karma in action

I've been thinking about 'karma' the past few days because I got talking to someone about it recently (as you do). His view was that 'the universe' is in control of all our lives and decides if, when and why we should 'suffer' - from stubbing our toe to being hit by a meteorite. The good news (allegedly) is that this is all for our own good and part of the plan (...mmm hmmmm....). I explained to him that he was getting a few different religious beliefs mixed up for starters. The guy swore he wasn't a 'religious nut' or anything. He said he just believed in the 'ancient wisdom' handed down from 'Tibet' on this topic. (Sigh). I tried to be reasonable with him. But I had to say, if this is all some kind of a plan it doesn't seem to be going too well so far. Surely, after tens of thousands of years of 'suffering' all this 'karma' we should be there by now? Are we really such slow learners? How much longer does 'the universe' plan to take with all this? Seems like a pretty dud deal to me. I'd be sacking the CEO if I was a shareholder in this enterprise... He didn't think it was funny. Oh well.

But it got me thinking about the way that people will kid themselves into thinking that anything and everything is someone else's fault and it's all beyond their control. We have fundamentalists in the USA saying that the conflict in Gaza is not being caused by the aggression of Zionists or greed of land-grabbers and weapons salesmen. It's the work of God, as predicted in Revelations. We have climate change deniers saying that climate science is nothing but human hubris and 'God' is in charge of the weather. It's not just God getting up to mischief though. We have conspiracy nuts who blame EVERYTHING on the mysterious Illuminati and/or the 1% (who may or may not be the same shadowy group depending on who you talk to). Others just mutter darkly about 'the government' tracking our movements with Myki cards, or any number of other fearful things, in order to control everyone, for dark and dangerous reasons of their own.

Marx famously said: "...Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people." Well, I think he was right, as he was about a lot of things. But these days we have way more excuses for taking an apathetic view in terms of our destiny than just religion. We have way more things to feel 'spiritless' and 'heartless' about nowadays than the downtrodden Russian proletariat. Maybe that's just how 'they' like it? 'They' like it if the people aren't causing too much fuss, and are all cowering at home in front of their TVs (buying things for preference). Well, I'm here to tell everyone that you are not helpless. It's not hopeless and there is a LOT you can do to make the world a better place, to alleviate suffering, to change unjust laws, to end violence against the weak and to do something about climate change.

 Now don't get me wrong. Doing something doesn't have to stop you believing in God or the universe or the Illuminati or whatever-you-fancy if it pleases you. But, believing in any of those things does not excuse you from taking action that will make the world a better place either. Action speaks louder than words, so they say.