Rule #77: Don’t Mess with Karma
In a lot of these postings, I talk about religion, God, and faith. Many of these same conversations have played out at our dinner table, usually with heated debate. Matthew, in particular, believes that nearly every phenomenon in the universe can be explained by science and logic.
One concept that challenges a purely science-driven worldview, however, is Karma. Karma—rooted in Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist philosophy—teaches that our actions interconnect us with the world around us.
I can’t prove the existence of God (though I may keep trying), but I can say that the interconnectedness of the universe is both real and measurable. For the more analytical among you—and yes, Matthew and Eevee, that means you—what I’m referencing is chaos theory. Specifically, the “Butterfly Effect”: the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in Africa sets off a chain of interactions that can eventually influence the strength of a North American hurricane.
It’s a metaphor for how everything is connected. And though chaos theory suggests the world is random, even Einstein pushed back, writing to Max Born, “I am convinced that God does not play dice.” We may lack the tools to map every variable, but the more we look into the universe—whether charting galaxies or unraveling DNA—we find more order, not less. There is an elegance of design that can’t easily be dismissed.
As children, we expected praise when we did something good. As adults, the reward is no longer automatic—we act instead from an inner compass, whether moral code or work ethic. Maturity teaches us that action and reward don’t always show up in neat, immediate pairs. But that doesn’t mean the connection isn’t real—it’s just less obvious.
Karma isn’t simple “do something good, get a cookie.” It’s deeper, slower, and more powerful. Karma flows like an ocean current. Swim with it, and life moves more easily. Swim against it, and you’ll feel overwhelmed.
One of the best pieces of advice I ever received from a therapist was: Don’t focus on doing the “right” thing—focus on doing the healthy thing. “Right and wrong” can be fuzzy up close. But “healthy and unhealthy” is easier to see. Karma works in much the same way. Healthy actions encourage more health, more connection. Unhealthy actions attract more dysfunction, more damage.
That’s why I was angered by bloggers who suggested Japan’s devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami were “Karma” for World War II. That wasn’t Karma—that was cruelty. In fact, real Karma could be seen in the waves of compassion, aid, and relief work that followed. Helping others and connecting with them is the key to understanding Karma.
As Buddhist teacher Sakyong Mipham put it: “Like gravity, karma is so basic we often don’t even notice it.”
Kids, choose paths that move with the current, not against it. Seek ways to connect with people, to make lives better without expecting something in return. In business, in friendships, even in small interactions with strangers, this mindset pays off: “doing well by doing good.”
But ignore Karma at your peril. Selfishness, cruelty, and chasing immediate rewards will drag you into destructive currents. Karma is a force—one that can carry you forward, or one that can destroy you.
Takeaway: Karma isn’t instant payback—it’s the current of life. Swim with it by doing healthy, positive things, and it will carry you far. Fight it, and it will crush you.
Love , Dad
Ah… the current again. A wonderful tribute to the virtues of intuition, ethical inclination, and experience. Unfortunately, you camp them all in with slight hints of mysticism and a misunderstanding of probability and some scientific disciplines.
Your main point is well taken. There are forces- naturally occurring or aggregating from collections of individuals- larger than ourselves that we should pay attention to. There is also value in karma, which can easily be understood outside of the realm of eastern spiritualism as the rather obvious fact that selfish people tend to make more enemies and leave themselves more exposed to retribution than polite ones.
That being conceded, you recognizing the moral order that has time and time again been shown to produce the best results for mankind gives you no leeway in making declarations that this is beyond science or logic. It is secular thought which produces the best results, often at the damage of ugly superstition. Utilitarianism is the closest thing I have to a personal code of conduct, and it matches up fairly well with your thoughts above. I recommend you read Sam Harris’ book, The Moral Landscape, just as I took the time to study my Lewis and Neibuhr and Bonheoffer before I truly felt comfortable condemning the Christian system of ethics in which I was raised.
As for the larger science, DNA is unquestionably the result of variation, chance, and reproductive selectivity. Finding the double helix beautiful or humbling changes that not a bit. As for chaos theory, I know very little. But assure you that neither I nor Einstein took complicated systems as evidence of a supernatural. His agnosticism is well documented, and while he would take no issue with your beliefs, he would certainly protest the use of his science in their favor.
A long post over minor quibbles, I challenge karma as a supernatural force but have learned not to challenge its very real function. A great post, missed them during the absence.