bacon:
noun
Etymology: Germanic origin
meaning: The smoked or cured side of a pig.
karma:
noun
Etymology: Sanskrit
meaning: The force generated by a person's actions held in Hinduism and Buddhism to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine the nature of the person's next existence.
I feel like I understand bacon pretty well. It is not a very complicated concept to grasp... and it is delicious. Because I understand bacon, I have no problem talking about bacon with other people or explaining what it is like to someone who still needs to be enlightened. Even if I did not like bacon, I feel like I am familiar enough with it that if someone else were to bring it up in conversation and told me how much they liked bacon I would be able to relate to them and understand why they feel the way they do about bacon. I have a pretty healthy understanding of bacon.
I am not an expert in this area, but karma seems to be a little more complicated than bacon. Also I would argue that, on a whole, karma has a greater influence in peoples theology than bacon does. I also think that people with religious beliefs that do not subscribe to the idea of karma are very quick to dismiss it without taking the time to understand why it is that other people embrace the idea. Things like this often times produce barriers rather than bridges... and I like to think that as a follower of Christ, I should be in the business of bridge building.
A friend of mine, Mark Herringshaw, seems to also care about this.
He recently wrote a book entitled
The Karma of Jesus
In this book, Mark looks at two normally separated areas in life: karma and grace.
The book is based off of a chance conversation that he had with a young man with a lot of questions. Karma and Christ are the focus of this conversation and as Mark recalls this event he draws some interesting conclusions of how the concept of karma interacts with the concept of grace. I read through this book last month and was interested to hear how grace and karma would fit together.
I feel as though I am able to better understand different ways of thinking after reading through his book and learning more about the history and application of karma. It definitely feels more like bacon than it did before.
Now, I have never done this before... but I am going to try something new...
Mark has offered to donate 2 copies of his book to readers of momentum, and I am going to make you work for them. so this is the deal...
The Deal
In the comment section beneath this blog, leave your most interesting, amusing, outrageous story dealing with Karma.
In one week I will pick two winners to receive a free copy of Mark's book based on the comment/stories that are left.
So... get going! leave some feedback! Win a free book!
Building bridges, eating bacon, understanding karma.
just that simple, just that easy.
Peace.
I wrote a big explanation about the differences between Hinduism and Buddhism when it came to karma, then deleted it because I was lecturing too much. Also, I would seriously argue against the idea that grace and karma are the same thing. Karma is brought about by the individual while grace is given from without. Karma are actions that bring a result and grace has nothing to do with one's actions. So, yeah, good title. I want to read it either to throw it in the toilet when finished or figure out what the heck he means to say about it all.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe in karma, only God. I do believe in bacon though...
ReplyDeleteSo this is karma-tic story in a way.
ReplyDeleteOne of my parent's friends is British and he loves boiled eggs. This one time he was traveling on a train to another city in India (common mode of transport) when he spotted a vendor selling eggs. Thinking to himself that he would purchase one, he walked over the Indian seller and introduced himself in English.
The seller, obviously not understanding English, looked at him blankly when our friend asked, "Are these eggs boiled?" then wobbled his head in agreement. "Can I have one," was the next question asked, and again the Indian seller, not comprehending the English words spoken to him, bobbled his head in agreement.
Our friend then proceeded to take one of the eggs and crack it open. The problem was that he had a habit of cracking them on his head, pretending he was thick skulled or something. "Watch this," he motioned to the seller as he brought the egg to his forehead and smashed it.
As you might imagine, the wet goop that splatted all over his face and onto his shirt signified that the egg was indeed neither boiled nor free. He sheepishly paid the vendor and walked off to try to find a restroom.
Karmatic elements: No doubt our friend's mother had warned him as a child, "If you keep cracking eggs on your head someday it'll be a raw one!" Methinks he stopped doing it after this experience ;)
I don't know enough about Karma to actually back up what I am about to say but.
ReplyDeleteI believe in Karma to some extent. At its simplest: what goes around, comes around. However I believe that it's consequences of actions. If you're helpful to people, they are more likely to be helpful to you, even if generally they are unhelpful people.
Princeton's defintion of Karma is "(Hinduism and Buddhism) the effects of a person's actions that determine his destiny in his next incarnation." Which I suppose if I change some of the words I would agree with. Our actions & choices - or a single action & single choice - determine our destiny in our next incarnation -aka Heaven or Hell. This actually holds when we remember that we get new bodies.
I don't really know how I wa going to relate this back to your post. So this is the end. Also, disclaimer, this whole post was made up on the spot.
So a few months ago I was preaching to my young adults group on Tuesday about forgiveness. I was sharing about how important it is that we as Christians do not hold grudges against people. I was even asked to share a story of my forgiveness of people the following sunday.
ReplyDeleteThe Wednesday, I was at school just stoked on how awesome the young adults study went the night before. I felt great about how good the responses were, and how awesome I did at forgiving people. I was sure I was in the top 10 Christians of the week. I was in the book store at school, and turned a corner, and literally ran into someone. That person was someone who I instantly felt anger towards based on past experiences with. I was so angry and thought about punching the dude in the face....
Then I thought about it...
...forgiveness...grudges...
...Instead of punching the guy in the face, I felt like God punched me in the face (Karma perhaps?).
Since I was supposed to share on Sunday about God's forgiving power through me, I felt unprepared and instead told of my run in with one of my enemies. I was humbled, and clearly had to deal with my prideful "forgiveness".
Not sure if it makes sense, or applies, but this incident will stick with me for life. Never thought of it as Karma really, more God's use of 2x4's.
Anjreux, lets do bacon sometime together.
In my previous life I was a chimpanzie. I loved it & I dominated the social scene then.
ReplyDeleteSee I was the first monkey to bring real slapstick with sarcasm & ridicule to the trees. Where other chimps could only laugh if someone fell OR wile out in aggression, I discovered combining them!
All the limbs were my stage. I might intentionally lose my banana to a drooling leather-face thief while screaming loud for attention. Then a moment later I would trip em onto it, fresh peeled nanner smashing all up in my opponents eye socket with everyone watching.
I soon enjoyed the attention so much that I became the assailant. Only when boredom struck, which was nearly always. And before long I had a rouse for each character complete with signature flair.
My signature was spanking my victim dramatically & audibly before rolling my tongue through a shrill squeal.
The women must have loved it. They'd laugh the hardest. Pretty quick I found that a publicly spanked female chimp will tackle her spanker in the brush @ twilight when nobody is lookin.
I made a good life out of spankin. I was king of the clan, entertainer of the year for my entire prime. The best a monkey can live.
As a human I discovered I wanted more. I found that spanking the competition was already popular. This was no longer a differentiating idea! I couldn't be a follower so I refrained.
I kept quiet most of the time, despising the vexatious slappers of this life. I kept to myself cuz only my own kingdom on unilateral mocking was good enough; I'll accept nothing less!
For awhile I spanked a lot of women just for the company. But then I befriended one. Funny thing I found that I wanted more to see my female friend get old than to spank her in front of my friends. Being a man is strange business indeed.
So I gave her my chimpheart as it was all I had cultivated. I went about negotiating this new treacherous vulnerability with my well traveled tools of pomp & circumstance.
In time I willed it together & got her into a contract that suited me. Somehow along the way I found my partner to be far away with my heart. Easy fix, I'll just keep my old lady & spank another for consolation.
Well now she's climbing someone else's tree while I clear this ripe stinging from my eyes. And even though I have finally integrated all my parts to seek consolation from the great sustainer only. Ironic that now when I'm really human my heart still beats her name.
What a crazy world. Through one birth your king of the jungle & the next your condemned to a lifetime of spanking the monkey.
Here's another:
ReplyDeletehttp://heartcognition.blogspot.com/2009/12/two-minutes-today.html
Thank you all for your feedback! I will be sending out the two copies of "The Karma of Jesus" soon. If you get a copy, you'll know you won one :)
ReplyDelete