Hmmm just a thoughht!

perhaps the universe is a perfect machine, and in time

all things will fall into place

 

Sure things happen for a reason. Sometimes the reason is pure dumb luck or coincidence.

 

There is a large percentage of people on this planet that believe that every action creates a reaction. And in this lifetime we are dealing with actions we created in the past. Makes more sense than some kingly figure sitting on a throne up in the sky and all that accompanying B.S.

 

Karma.

 

I couldn't say that I believe wholeheartedly in the reincarnation/karma thing, but it does make a lot more logical sense for that to be the case, than for there to be any god.

It's also the only reasonable answer to why some on this planet suffer a great deal, while others don't suffer at all, or very little. It would be highly unfair, if that just boiled down to luck of the draw. So while I would say reincarnation isn't my belief, I do think it makes the most sense out of all the afterlife theories.

 

I'm not now:/ but I hope your toe gets better :2thumbsup:

 

it was explained to me that some people are always doing good things, but bad things happen to them. some people are always doing bad things, but good things happen to them.

eventually though, your karma catches up to you

so any bad things that happen to you are not necessarily the result of misdeeds

so I guess that if you just do some good things and don't do so many bad things, eventually things will be good for you.

I don't know if the lag time for karma can take more than one life time though

hope things get better sister!

 

We can only measure ourselves against our own measure of what is good, or bad, etc.

We all need to live by our own set of morals. When we do, we'll always be whatever it is that we think we are.

If I'm living by my own measure of what is good, than I am good, no matter what any person or church tells me. And that's all that really matters.

 

does this logic apply if you are a serial killer?

 

Of course it does. Most killers are justified in their own minds.

How many killers have you heard say they genuinely thought that they didn't do anything wrong? I've heard many say this. To them, murder is genuinely not wrong. Therefore, by their own standards they're not bad people.

 

I like your sig very much. :2thumbsup:

 

I do not think that's the correct way to live, but if it is I feel jipped by not taking out a few a holes out yet.

 

It isn't the correct way to live according to you, so you needn't feel jipped.

 

So the correct way to live all boils down to perception, modeling our lives of say the best aspects of Buddha, Martin Luther King, Jesus, etc. is not something worth striving for? Just do what you want, when you want is a better and more correct way to live?

 

In my opinion yes. If someone thinks that I've insulted them (when I think that I haven't) and they punch me in the face, who is right?

I say both of us would be right.

Of course, our laws don't work this way, they have to go along with the popular, majority morality, not individual morality.

If those aspects of those people you want to emulate is your definition of good, then yes it will be worth striving for according to you. This would precisely explain Christians and Buddhists.

That doesn't mean those aspects are good for all life. Just the lives of those who decide they are good.

Yes. Why not? Who is really in charge of you? Who decides what is right or wrong for you? Did you come with an owner? Do you have a free will?

The only reason we have laws is to protect the majority of people who agree with those laws, as well as to protect corporate interests, but that's another thread.

They are no measure of what is right and wrong for everyone. There is no universal morality.

 

If you want to get all abstract and free with definitions, this is a bold assumption to make.

 

How so?

Look at evidence of this fact- Child molesters who feel there is nothing wrong with doing things to a child, murderers who feel there's nothing wrong with killing someone who according to the voice in their head was working for the devil.

You may think it's no big deal to hit animals, I do. You may think it's no big deal to have sex with your wife against her will, I do.

Really man, there's evidence all around us that suggests there's no universal morality. It's really not even an abstract thought. It's pretty common, and pretty easy to point out. I'm not free with the definition, morality is simply what is right or wrong.

It's different for many people.

 

One could argue (and I guess I am now) that there is evidence all around us for evidence there is universal morality as well. Just because some bad seeds ignore morality does not necessarily mean it does not exist.

 

Example?

 

There is ~7 billion of us on the planet, which is an extremely high population number for mammals, so life must be something we hold pretty dear. Our morality towards life takes precedence over death (killing and violence).

Hospitals, medicine, assistance, emergency evacuations, volunteers, food rationing, etc.