KARMA

To understand karma you can spend years studying philosophy and seek spiritual guidance and go to a lot of trouble. If you are basically bone idle, don't like reading, not real good at understanding esoteric concepts and get lost on the first syllable of the phrase "fundamental spiritual guidance"- lay on the lounge for a while and watch the TV programme My Name is Earl and you will get the basic idea (and a good laugh as well.) Even those who do understand esoteric concepts need a laugh. Earl is basically an arsehole who after being hit by a truck is inspired not to be an arsehole wins the lottery and then pays back for all the nasty stuff he did before (some people think about changing their ways when something less subtle happens but if the universe is handing out lessons some people who are thick as bricks do not respond to anything less subtle than being  hit by a truck.) It's a nice idea that if you do good work and your actions are positive good things will come back to you. If you do evil things bad things will happen to you. It is of course a soothing and spiritual thing to believe that those who do you wrong will be paid back. Stops a lot of bitterness really - although I have wondered if nasty people get what they deserve not because of some spiritual divine intervention but because they are stupid and piss off lots of people who quite simply want revenge and just do it quietly and underhandedly. Either way does it matter as long as the vile get what they deserve.  This is an interesting concept and I will leave you to decide which way you think it goes. Is it divine and spiritual intervention or just simply after you have pissed off enough people you finally do it to some-one whose need for revenge is not only strong but they are prepared to put revenge into action or their sense of justice is so strong they feel the need to payback. A friend of mine has a theory that arseholes get away with their behaviour for a long time and then "God" sends them to some-one with the moral courage and strength of character to make them "pay" of course the "good" person has to be convinced that this person needs a lesson the arsehole of course provides them with this evidence and justice prevails or "God" sends them to someone even more ruthless than themselves cause the good people are all be busy.	Karma is an interesting concept. The understanding attributed to Buddha was actually part of Indian philosophy and spirituality long before Buddha- he however explained it and spread the word- so to speak.  you reap what sow- what goes around comes around- live by the sword die by the sword. What you send out comes back- this concept is part of what people who specialise in human behaviour and the brain, call "mirroring"- people learn by watching others and imitating others that's how you learn to speak and use the language of the people around you as a child.  once you learn to speak that part of your brain tends to shut down you don't need it anymore which is why you learn almost all the words you are ever going to use within the first few years of life and after that it requires a great deal of effort and a good dictionary just to learn a new word and also explains why if you learn a foreign language as an adult you can never really get the accent, the subtle gestures just quite  right enough to fool a native speaker. if you learn another language as a child you can. Apparently when people are put in sudden fearful situations they automatically revert to the language they learnt as children even if they have been speaking another language for decades. Similarly your behaviour is reflected back to you. in most cases if you are calm. polite and sensible you get a similar reaction back if you do not this is probably a message you are dealing with some-one madder than yourself. LEAVE.
It is always a good idea not to take yourself too seriously when thinking thoughts like "doing God's work" limit yourself to treating other people with respect and decency. Gathering large armies of paid mercenaries to destroy foreign lands is not really what any divine person has in mind when they expect you to do their work. Neither is assassinating people you believe are evil. Keep it light help out a friend, listen to a person in need or just think about some-one other than yourself for more than fifteen minutes ,that might do the trick and get you some karma points on the scoreboard. You are not expected to become ruler of the known universe to impress the powers above. In the words of Mother Theresa (paraphrased of course) you cannot do great things just many small things with great love. If you are driven by your ego and vanity the chances are one day you will be in for a big shock when you realise that you are the only person on the planet who thinks you are amazing, everyone else is just amazed that you think you are amazing,. MY FAVOURITE KARMA STORY IS ABOUT A NASTY SICK BOY WHO SHOT A FOX AND TOOK THE CUB HOME, REARED IT UP, THE CUB TRUSTED him and then when the winter time came and the fox cub had thick fur and the price for pelts was high ,he donged it on the head and put the pelt out to dry BEST PART OF THE STORY  and even nastier kid up the back lane stole the pelt, sold it  and he got the money.   MORAL OF THE STORY - you don't get away with crap behaviour eventually it all catches up with you.	You reap what you sow - in agricultural terms this is pretty bloody obvious if you want tomatoes you are simply wasting your time and everyone else's if you plant pumpkin seeds. On a spiritual level it is a bit more subtle. Carry on like a nasty parsty and you will piss some-one else off and the chances are they may want revenge .Stumble across the path of some-one really vicious and annoy them, then expect retribution in a big way. When embarking on parenthood take a realistic view and realise there is a high chance that you will produce some-one very similar to yourself and of course they will learn your behaviour patterns. Have a really good look at yourself first you may decide the world really doesn't need more people like you. That was the conclusion I came to anyway. The concept of the SOUL is a bit tricky but given that a lot of intelligent people are convinced I am prepared to give the concept serious consideration. The idea that your EYES are the windows to your soul seems fairly convincing if you look into the eyes of some-one the FBI has proven to be evil. REINCARNATION also at a really basic level seems a concept worth pondering given that all elements seem to be recycled so if living things decay and are recycled then everything is part of the one universe. I did once have a transitory feeling that I was part of the universe but I am prepared to admit I had consumed a number of alcoholic beverages just before this experience. People who practice relaxation and self hypnosis have told me they can achieve the feeling of being at one with the universe fairly easily once they had spent years practising of course. Apparently anything worthwhile takes an enormous amount of effort, which is a pity really, although there are a lot of people out there trying to prove otherwise.
LIVE BY THE SWORD- DIE BY THE SWORD. or live by the book and have a quiet heart attack in bed in your eighties. Even within criminal organisations, which if you take out morality and the legal system, is just another way of making a living, there are rules. Even where violence is accepted practice if , you become out of control and draw attention from law enforcement, take revenge in the homes, involving women and kids, of other criminals or disrupt the cash flow(this one is very important) you become a marked man and will be taken out. An FBI agent who had infiltrated an outlaw motorcycle gang in America has said that he has never experienced the friendship, loyalty and support  these men provided him with, in his life and was himself scarred when he "betrayed" them. There is of course a bit of evil in all of us the trick is to keep it under control.	If you are basically a decent human being and dealing with ruthless people you need to understand that it is okay for you to be ruthless yourself, otherwise they will think you are weak and we can't have that can we.( for as long as it takes then you can go back to being yourself again ) and basically adopt the philosophy of "off with their heads" metaphorically speaking of course anything real just results in horrendous carpet cleaning bills and forensic science being down to  a fine art your chances of getting away with anything other than a metaphor are remote. These people have been sent to you so you learn that some people are just not nice. Learn, move on and next time you can pass these types by much more quickly. If there's' a crowd of them turn them on each other and have a bit of well earned sport. These people don't even know how to spell loyalty. ( and to be honest I had to put the spell checker on myself). SADLY YOU DON'T LEARN A LOT FROM SUCCESS BUT FAILURE IS AN AWESOME TEACHER if you look at in the right way. Do not waste your time trying to change other people even if they wanted to change they probably couldn't anyway. AND there is no way they want to change to suit your personal preferences and of course you have no right to expect them to. Find people you like just as they are, there's a pretty good selection out there and of course You are all you really need. Learn to enjoy your own company and in the end you might  find yourself endlessly amusing and excellent company.