Tag Archive for "universe"
My son played in a basketball tournament this past weekend and I was honestly disturbed by the lack of sportsmanship. Both the players and the parents of the opposing team in the final showed such a lack of control on their emotions that their thuggish nature was showing openly. At one point a parent from the other team actually yelled out when one of our kids was making a foul shot. Amazing.
It makes me wonder why people act as they do. I mean, hey, we all wanted to win as well. Our kids wanted to beat them and claim the first place trophy too; but we didn’t act like heathens.
I know I might be coming off like I think we are better than them, and I do not mean to imply that at all. I am sure they are good people. I bet if I met them on the street I would even like them. But there, in the field house while the kids were playing, they acted like fools.
Just the other day I was reading Good Life, Good Death: Tibetan Wisdom on Reincarnation and I was impressed with how the author taught about the Ego. I guess the ego is what would make someone behave as the parents and kids from the other team acted.
The Ego is only concerned with its own happiness. Nothing and no one else.
They wanted the trophy and bragging rights so badly they never stopped to think about their actions. On the court the kids were too busy trying to win at all cost that they didn’t recognize how their own actions were hurting them. In the stands the parents were acting as if winning that trophy would make jeering ten year olds acceptable.
I just don’t get it.
When the tournament organizer was handing out the trophies to our team, their Second Place trophies the parents and kids from the other team just stood there and talked about how great it was to beat us. While they accepted the First Place trophies our kids, our coaches and the parents clapped for the winning team.
Do you think they understood that? I wondered if they even noticed really.
Sad. What a sad thing they were busy teaching their kids that day; I hope my son was paying attention though. I hope he saw how proud we were of the effort he and his team put out on the court. They gave it their all, and they did it with integrity and sportsmanship.
Cause and Effect, I guess that best describes my understanding of Karma. My actions, whether good intentioned or bad, create ripples on the stream in which I exist. I am not naive enough to think that doing good things with bad intentions is the same thing as good action with good intention. Nor do I think that causing harm necessarily is creating bad karma for myself either. If I came upon someone about to create harm and tragedy, I would take action to stop that. Walking away would surely create more bad karma than trying to stop the person. If I can make a difference, then I should.
How much of my life today is happening because of my past? All of it. At least in this lifetime, all of it. I can see the correlation between my place in life and the decisions I made along the journey, clearly.
Can I still run ten miles a day? No, I stopped running even before I was out of the military. Cause and Effect.
But in the larger scale, how am I effected? I try to be a good person, I fall well short of that mark most of the time, to my mind. But I do try. I know when I do wrong. When I am selfish, when I am careless with someone’s heart or feelings, when I am cruel. I am actually cruel an awful lot. For some reason my sense of humor is a cruel one. My natural state is making snide remarks at the expense of others. I know it was wrong, even as I am laughing, I know.
But how far back does that go? Was I cruel beyond compare in a past life? Was I a saint, was I a beggar who simply handed his food to an orphan, and so in doing purchased a bit of good karma as it were?
How is Karmic Law dispensed? Does God sit upon a throne and ladle out honey or vinegar based upon my actions? I can not imagine this scenario. Creator of the Universe handing out verdicts based upon my actions on a minute-by-minute basis…
To me, Karma must be so tightly woven in to the heart of the Universe that one can not exist with out the other. Karma must be there for the universe to continue, so the Universe itself conforms to the laws of Karma. Sometimes I speak like the Universe is alive and sentient itself, and I guess I do sort of think that.
Where will I be in ten years? Will I work on myself for the better, and doing so naturally create good karma for myself and those around me?
I have children now. That gives a person pause too. My actions do not simply shape my karma, for theirs must also be tightly coupled with mine. My good fortune is theirs, right? At least for now. Of course that just makes me wonder how their karma is effecting me as well. My son, was he my best friend in a past life? My boss, my brother, my adversary? The implications run so deep.
Okay, that is quite enough for today.
