Yes, but not really in the metaphysical sense. If you do good things and live a good life, you will have the tools (strength, attitude, friends and family) to handle anything that comes your way.
On the other hand, if you're an a$$hat to people, when something bad happens - which it always does - that trophy wife will leave as soon as the plastic surgery fund dries up, or the Ken-Doll husband will be boffing your "best" friend. Basically, you'll surround yourself with shallow, self-serving people like yourself and your support system will be gone.
By being a good person, I'm not going win the lottery and have that big house on the hill. But Dan and I will have good kids who will lead good lives and be there for us when we get old, freinds who will stand by us no matter what, employers and coworkers who respect us and most of all, we'll have each other.
Nothing keeps bad things from happening, but it's your inner strength and the support you have around you that gets you through.
A very insightful and true sentiment, HRHDi. I agree with about 95% of it. The only part that throws up a flag for me is where you said:
"Dan and I will have good kids who will lead good lives and be there for us when we get old, freinds who will stand by us no matter what, employers and coworkers who respect us and most of all, we'll have each other.".
I sincerely hope right along with you that you are correct in this (and well you may be!!) but it
is something out of your control, and in that, trusting that this will be your future can be a set up for disappointment, or worse. Please understand, Im sincerely not trying to be negative or challenging here... Im basing it on first hand experience that I've had.
For me, in my life, for the things I've been through, REAL "trust" is a "GITNIP"... "Good In Theory, Not In Practice". (Learned that one from a psychotherapist friend of mine!!)
See, everyone wants desperately to trust others, and if we could really trust others 100% (or even 60%), the world surely would be a better place, but in doing that, we are putting some, or all of our "emotional eggs" in someone elses basket, and one thing I've learned for sure in life is that anyone can hurt anyone at anytime, and being able to not only accept that, but thrive in spite of it has made me a stronger person.
Example: My wife knows that she has the ability to hurt me on a lot of different levels. I make no secret that I dont want her to do that because I love her, and have a lot of emotional investment in our relationship... However, IMO, Im better prepared for something unexpected to come down the pike BECAUSE I know that she can hurt me (even unintentionally), and Im not gonna be quite as blindsided by it as I would be if I completely "trusted" that such a thing would never occur.
Again, this may well only apply to me, but I DO speak from a very personal, excruciatingly painful experience, and my experiences dictate that adopting this philosophy has been necessary for my sustained recovery from that experience.
I absolutely DO follow what you said in your post, in leading a decent, clean life, but thats for me, given freely to both intimate and aquaintance relationships, and it certainly does improve my feelings about myself and others as I move throughout the world. And knowing that things may not conform to what I want them to be, and being prepared for the unexpected to happen (because it will) makes my spirit and mind stronger.
Again, maybe only valid for me, but the thing I DO trust in the world is myself.
Sorry if this was a bit of a thread hijack, but IMO, the ideas of "Karma", and "personal lifestyle ideals" are 2 different things and though leading a decent life certainly DOES bring good things to our tables, the literal idea of "Karma" leading a person to believe that some sort of higher power is gonna bring good or bad things to a person depending on how they run their life just doesnt apply to me, but certainly
everyone is entitled to believe in what helps them through life... its what makes us all students, teachers, individual and interesting!!
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