John Coopey

Karma

Friday 19th October 2012 4:25 pm

I went to visit my dad in hospital the other day. It had been chucking it down with rain and as I walked towards the Medical Centre a bus whooshed through a puddle in the gutter and drenched me. I’m pretty sure the driver did it on purpose; he had two lanes to himself but in order to hit the puddle got so close to the kerb that his wheels edged it.

After I’d swore at him under my breath (and then at myself for not watching out for these gutter puddles) my mind turned to Karma.

If you believe in any of those similar concepts as divine retribution or God’s infinite justness, or yin and yang, or Karma’s “what-comes-around-goes-around”, then I wondered what fate awaited the bus driver.

As I continued to walk I remembered an incident some years ago when God had his little laugh on me.

I’d driven to a meeting at a service station down the M1. On the way down I’d been chewing gum and, as you do, spitting spent gobs of it out the window onto the motorway. When I arrived I pulled into the carpark and stepped out of the car straight onto a fresh, sticky gob of chewing gum. I couldn’t help thinking that The Boss played the best jokes.

As I approached the hospital I wondered what he had in store for me as reward for my lack of love and care for my dad.

◄ Facebook

Cat Nap ►

Comments

Harry O'Neill

Sun 28th Oct 2012 20:54

John,
Back from Scotland (with a stiff neck and minor eye-op tomorrow)

You link minor misdemeanours with the more serious worry about your lack concerning your dad...They are not comparable really but the logical link is there.

This sort of highly personal `conscience` and fear of desert cannot really be appeased by Anthony`s hive instinct, or the survival of the species, as though humans are merely animals. Apart from our beloved families I really don`t think it matters a hoot to us that the solar system has a finite life, only when we are personally faced with the fin....The real realisation is that, in the end, there is no flight.
...and what comes after?...No amount of encouragement to `bear it for the good of the race` will wipe away that fear.

As I said: The strength of personal conscience is a good place from which to begin thinking of what life is all about.

<Deleted User> (10439)

Fri 26th Oct 2012 11:32

An interesting post relating the concept of karma in the two incidents. As far as I can understand karma is not a straight forward concept. I don't think one can always and simply say that a particular action leads to that particular effect. There is a great deal of psychology involved, actions can be intentional or unintentional.The law of karma ia associated with the concept of conscience and the conscience is something acquired by us, an instinct for what is good, right and true. Then its simply 'if we have no conscience - no karma'

John, when you stepped out of the car into a gob of sticky chewing gum, you were fighting with your conscience instead of just ignoring as if nothing has happened.

Its more of a naturalistic phenomena, yet the existence of these concepts is a good way to keep people in line morally by making them responsible for their actions.

Isobel

Tue 23rd Oct 2012 17:18

I think I've enjoyed the comments on this as much as the poem. And is it a poem? By your own definitions John, it would probably be a piece of prose - a piece of thought. I liked it whatever it is :)

I don't think Anthony is suggesting that we are like animals when he talks about the hive mind - merely that we are interdependent, and socially aware of that. The conscience used to be instilled by religion 'thou shalt not' and all that... now we rely heavily on parenting, which comes of course from what was instilled in our parents. Perhaps that accounts for why law and order is breaking down at times - there is a dilution of rules.

I've always associated karma with the actions of the individual having a knock on effect - rather than actions of others - that your misdeeds will come back to haunt you in some way. It would be great to think people might their comeuppance somewhere along the line - Jimmy Saville for one.

I was surprised to hear that you gob your chewing gum out of the car window John? For me good karma would be, if whilst doing that, someone gobbed theirs right through yours:) Please tell me you aren't one of those men who creep round at night letting their dogs shit all over the pavements and leaving it behind...

Great topic for a poem - now get it up in discussion, we could thrash this one around for ages :)

M.C. Newberry

Tue 23rd Oct 2012 14:18

Do infants have a conscience? There's scant evidence of that in their behaviour. So, it seems to be something we develop as we grow -inwardly and outwardly...a recognition that we must interact for common benefit against the otherwise destructive forces - again from within and without - that threaten. The "couldn't care less" attitude is part of that threat to our collective well-being, despite it being admired guiltily in individual instances - perhaps a throwback to that time when man was a lonely hunter and relied upon himself more than now. "Conscience doth make cowards of us all" wrote the Bard. Discuss!

Jade

Tue 23rd Oct 2012 13:38

Hi John,

Very interesting - I'm currently doing a bit of Buddhism, reading about it, meditating etc.

The point of Buddhism,to me, is that we should try to accept all the shit that happens to us - the point being that an accepting conscience is a happy conscience. Instead of whinging all the time (which reminds me of your excellent 'Whinge, Whinge, Fucking Whinge', John) rising above things might be more appealing.

I don't think Karma is about 'divine retribution' - Buddhism hasn't got a vengeful word in its lexicon. From my understanding its more about how bad things affect us/ accumulate on us - e.g. that bus driver who splashed you was probably having an awful day - just been sacked, his wife is cheating on him etc. all the negative karma was building up in him so he released a bit of it on you John in the form of splashing. So probably we should be feeling sorry for him.

But, I liked the reading - very Alan Bennett!

Harry O'Neill

Sun 21st Oct 2012 21:22

Anthony,
I was interested in your comments.

I don`t think conscience is a consequence of a
hive mind. It belongs soley to rational, self-relecting, sentient human beings (there is no evidence of conscience or self-reflection in any other beings at all).

I`d love to take up some of your other points, but I`m off to Scotland tomorrow (for a week)
I hope that this blog is still going when I get back...It`s juicy!

regards Harry.

Anthony Emmerson

Sun 21st Oct 2012 13:08

Enjoyed this little snapshot of human life John - beautifully read too. Every day I wake up wondering when that lightning bolt is going to flash from the clouds above, reducing me to a small pile of smouldering ash!

To take up Harry's point we need both the conscious and selfish impulses contained in all human beings. The collective conscience to ensure our survival as a species; as in the "hive mind" of bees and ants. To take it to its logical conclusion, our earth/solar system has a finite life, and if we are to extend our survival we will have to cooperate to find a way off a failing planet. Our selfish survival instinct (taken to extremes by some) is the extension of the fight/flight instint that both aids our own survival and promotes competition; which, in itself fosters progress and discovery. These two human traits have always been in conflict. Both are necessary; without them we would simply live content in our own stagnation.
Karma, now that's a different thing altogether involving "divine intervention" - for those who believe . . .

Regards,
A.E.

Harry O'Neill

Fri 19th Oct 2012 23:57

John,
Just come on, late and tired, but your blog woke me up a bit.

Where on earth does conscience come from? And why do, not only most religions or faiths, but also all of the secular psycho analytical world, talk so much about it?

It is quite obvious that people don`t always get what they deserve here on earth, So why do so many of us so fiercly desire that they should?

And why does atheistic Humanism strive so ardently to make us be fair and nice to each other...why should we? It is obvious that many who aren`t fair at all often do very well at the expense of those of us who are?

The bankers got many more millions than they deserved (not to mention the social security fiddlers who - between them - probably got billions)...And all at the expense of the ones who were genuine claimants.

Many - if not most - of the poems on here rail against injustice...Why? It`s not good enough to say that it is merely a human `instinct`, The `instinct` to fiddle is just as human. Why do we praise the one and condemn the other.

Your conscience (for that`s what it is) argues a sound bringing up...and it`s an excellent point from which to start thinking about `the meaning of life`...For why the hell should we worry about conscience if life has no meaning anyway?

Thanks for waking me up.

If you wish to post a comment you must login.

Please consider supporting us

Donations from our supporters are essential to keep Write Out Loud going

Bringing poetry to people

Click here to donate now