Theos-Talk Archives (August 1998 Message tt00189)

>Daniel Caldwell queries:
>
>And what does all of what you write above really mean?
>Could we have some concrete examples?
>

It means exactly what Lao Tzu wrote many years ago to the effect
that there is no good without evil, and no evil without good. It also means
what Shakespear wrote to the effect that good and evil are
within, not without.


>(1) If Albert goes around for 30 years raping women
>and never gets caught, once he's dead. . . . he's home free?
>

What does "home free" mean? There is karma, after all. But karma
cares not a wit about good and evil.


>(2)  If I was a Gestapo officer who enjoyed bashing
>babys' heads against train cars, and I didn't get
>caught by the Allies or the Jewish Nazi hunters,
>once I'm dead. . . I'm home free?
>

I have no idea what you mean by "home free." If a person
has no conscience (conduct disorder ala the DSM IV)
then they are "home free" yes. It is the conscience that
gives us a sense of good and evil, sometimes rightly and
sometimes quite wrongly.


>(3) If Joe is a lustful guy, who has sex with hundreds
>of guys, gets AIDS and then *purposely* infects scores
>of other guys with HIV, once he's dead. . . he's home free?
>
>These are just a few examples from real life. . . .
>

Karma is a balancing act. Too much sex has its
repercussions. Too much of anything does. Harming
others brings harm to oneself and so on. Good and evil
are purely human value judgements that we tack onto
events wrap us around needless axels.

>Are there any "laws" inherent in the fabric of "Nature" which
>relate to such vile human behavior?
>

The "vileness" of any act lies only in the viewpoint of an observer.
A person with conduct disorder may kill another person without
any regret soever. Hitler and his SS, for example, considered
their acts to be fully justified. But acts of violence brings about
violence just as acts of love bring about love. This is karma, and
it has nothing at all to do with vileness or holiness.


>Do such actions, etc. have any effect on the future of these
>three human beings once they have left the physical plane?
>(Assuming you believe in life after death, reincarnation,
>progression to higher planes, etc.)
>
I do so believe, and yes it does, of course. But karma acts like a
magnet in the sense that as we sow so shall we reap, and as
we tend to think about others so others tend to do unto us.
The vileness of any act of violence exists in our minds, just as
the holiness of an act is in our minds. I believe that karma is
an uncaring impersonal Law (Crowley had it right when he taught
that Love is the Law because if we have love everything else
will follow in due course).

Jerry S.