Karma is funny because it's really just common sense packaged in a whole shitload of woo.

Of course good things are more likely to come your way if you act good. That's because people like and appreciate others who are kind, generous, and helpful, and will provide that person with a myriad opportunities to succeed in a myriad of ways in return, often. "You know who should get the raise? Johnson. He's always on time, does good work, and is liked by his peers."

Conversely, if you act badly, you 'invite' bad things to happen by slowly ostracizing yourself from mainstream society and being forced to interact with other assholes, who may be cheats, or violent, or whatever.

Karma, in terms of thinking things or watching things (like that movie) doesn't exist. The only energy one's body contains are:

Electricity, generated by...
Chemical reactions, which cause...
Mechanical responses.
And, I guess potential energy.

That's it.

And as others said, the universe really doesn't give a shit if you watch a gory movie, have hot sex, get into a heated argument, help someone, hurt someone, watch Duck Dynasty (although I will ridicule anyone for that ), win the lottery, kill your spouse, rescue an animal, join a cult, etc.....

(June 17, 2015 at 4:25 pm)Neimenovic Wrote: The idea of karma isn't exclusive to Buddhism apparently

I was watching a movie with this chick
There were a couple of scenes showing violence and gore. She insisted on skipping them and the way she looked at me made me ask why....she looked like she really really didn't want to watch them no matter what

So she responds with 'I don't like them....and I don't want it to come back to me in any way'

I realized she sounded just like my mother....with this paranoid fear that thinking about something causes it to happen

There's some leftover magical thinking in my head and I noticed that I actually believe it to be true....that makes me fucking furious.

It ultimately boils down to wish thinking, the idea that thoughts have an effect on reality. I KNOW it's fucking ridiculous, but I can't BELIEVE it is. Yet another thing I was coerced into believing, and now I'm having a hard time getting it out of my brain.

This will sound weird, but can somebody please tear that shit apart for me? I'll pay you in cookies hugs and monopoly money

Since all acts begin with a thought once you become comfortable with thinking certain kinds of thoughts it becomes easier to actually carry them out.  People can be brainwashed into doing what other people want them to do.  That's what advertising is based upon.  If your girlfriend was carefully and deliberately manipulated through certain images and media she could easily kill you for ticking her off for doing the things she was exposed to in the images and media.  So if she doesn't want to see those types of films it might be a good thing.

(June 17, 2015 at 5:03 pm)Neimenovic Wrote:

(June 17, 2015 at 4:35 pm)Alex K Wrote: Your thoughts are a part of reality and indeed do have a profound effect on reality outside your head: through your actions. When you think about raising your arm and then do it, your thought will have caused an electrical impulse coming out of your brain. Pretty cool. So can you spell out what exactly it is you want reassurance about that it does not exist:

snarky physisisicists, grumble grumble

the general idea is that whatever 'energy' you 'send out' to 'the universe' (the new agey wooist denotation of the words in quotes in mind) comes back to you
so if let's say I've been sitting around for x hours thinking about murderers, the probability of being murdered becomes higher somehow

IOW, what you focus your thoughts on comes to you in reality...if that makes any sense ._.

Imagine....if that were true...what Steven Kings life would be like..............he sits around all day everyday (guys a workaholic) imagining horrible ways to kill people with -monsters-. And yet he lives, hasn't even been assaulted by a single zombie cat.....

(June 17, 2015 at 7:13 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: Like in A Clockwork Orange, the violence is necessary to what the film is about, and isn't simply a gore-fest.  And, of course, by today's standards, it may seem rather tame.

The violence may be tame compared to some of today's films, but you'll be hard pressed to find a modern film with a premise that's more disturbing than "A Clockwork Orange."

Neimenovic, you're definitely watching films with the wrong girl.

Sorry to hear the magic thinking is still bugging you

The human mind seems very prone to superstition, I feel it creeping in sometimes and I have to police it and stamp it out.

There's no evidence that thinking about something will have any effect on its likelihood to happen, unless the thoughts lead you to actions which then facilitate it. And clearly no action you could do would facilitate random acts of carnage around the world to the degree that your companion was suggesting.

This kind of "just in case" thinking is another classic case of unfalsifiable claims. I can watch a horror movie, then at some time in the future I hear about a murder, and I can claim I caused it by thinking about murder. Trying to definitely prove me wrong would be impossible. However, there is absolutely no evidence to back up the claim so it amounts to an argument from ignorance.

Logic is God and logic permits you to think whatever you like If thinking affected reality directly, how would that even work? If someone is thinking the opposite to you, does reality do some sort of net calculation like with opposing forces? Woo is woo, and all woo is poo.

On the other hand, actual bad acts like kicking someone in the balls and running away often will indeed "come back to you" for obvious reasons. But just thinking about it will not.

(June 20, 2015 at 1:35 am)Rhythm Wrote: Imagine....if that were true...what Steven Kings life would be like..............he sits around all day everyday (guys a workaholic) imagining horrible ways to kill people with -monsters-. And yet he lives, hasn't even been assaulted by a single zombie cat.....

lol, yea! or a clown that turns out to be a spider
that's a good way to think about it....

the myth has it the average male thinks about sex every 7 seconds.... Why isn't everybody getting laid?

(June 17, 2015 at 7:21 pm)KevinM1 Wrote: Karma is funny because it's really just common sense packaged in a whole shitload of woo.

Of course good things are more likely to come your way if you act good.  That's because people like and appreciate others who are kind, generous, and helpful, and will provide that person with a myriad opportunities to succeed in a myriad of ways in return, often.  "You know who should get the raise?  Johnson.  He's always on time, does good work, and is liked by his peers."  

Conversely, if you act badly, you 'invite' bad things to happen by slowly ostracizing yourself from mainstream society and being forced to interact with other assholes, who may be cheats, or violent, or whatever.

Karma, in terms of thinking things or watching things (like that movie) doesn't exist.  The only energy one's body contains are:

Electricity, generated by...
Chemical reactions, which cause...
Mechanical responses.
And, I guess potential energy.

That's it.

And as others said, the universe really doesn't give a shit if you watch a gory movie, have hot sex, get into a heated argument, help someone, hurt someone, watch Duck Dynasty (although I will ridicule anyone for that ), win the lottery, kill your spouse, rescue an animal, join a cult, etc.....

I agree, karma is just another made up, superstitious way of getting people to act a certain way, or to please a certain twisted mind that something bad will happen to someone, if they harmed you.

(June 20, 2015 at 3:56 am)Neimenovic Wrote:

(June 20, 2015 at 1:35 am)Rhythm Wrote: Imagine....if that were true...what Steven Kings life would be like..............he sits around all day everyday (guys a workaholic) imagining horrible ways to kill people with -monsters-. And yet he lives, hasn't even been assaulted by a single zombie cat.....

lol, yea! or a clown that turns out to be a spider
that's a good way to think about it....

the myth has it the average male thinks about sex every 7 seconds.... Why isn't everybody getting laid?

Lol holy shit yes, good point! If my thoughts had any impact on reality, I'd have personally taken over the whole of the gene pool by now. Lucky for me, my wife isn't into thought crime like a certain guy you can't trust with the price of ham.

"Karma" has been wooified a lot. As per the original texts of sanatan dharma, it simply states, your actions determine your present and future, and the word "karma" means "actions".

Anyway, thoughts do effect our world through our actions, but not in a magical way, cause if it were true, we'd all be billionaires.

(June 20, 2015 at 3:56 am)Neimenovic Wrote: Why isn't everybody getting laid?

Speak for youself!