You can get a free lunch, you just gotta know where to look. (Everywhere and forever, all at once.)
But the fact that bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people is a bad sign, pointing in the other direction, to the basic randomness and meaninglessness of X*.
This post is about how that apparent contradiction is resolved by the Law of the Conservation of Karma.
(* X = Life, God, the Gods, the Universe, the Force, Giant Turtle, etc).
In physics, Conservation of Energy is a Law that states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can only be changed from one form to another.
Likewise, the Law of the Conservation of Karma says that justice (karma) cannot be created or destroyed, it can only change from one form to another. In other words, everyone gets their just desserts, maybe not at the time or in the form anticipated, but at one stage or another, at one place or another, in one way or another. Everyone gets what’s coming to them, sooner or later, here or there, once or twice, in one lump or many.
In physics, the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the total entropy (disorder) of any isolated thermodynamic system tends to increase over time. The Universe** is an isolated thermodynamic system. So, according to the Second Law the disorder of the Universe tends to increase over time.
But lo and behold: Living things thwart the Second Law by imposing order locally and temporarily at the cost of greater disorder non-locally over the lifetime of the Universe. Being semi-closed systems, living things insulate themselves to an extent from the entropy going on ‘outside’ of them.
When bad things happen to good people or good things to bad people that is a local effect which has to be paid for non-locally so that the overall quantum of justice in a just universe is conserved.
If a Good Thing happens to a Bad Person, under the Law of the Conservation of Karma, somewhen else a Bad Thing happens to cancel out the Good Thing, and the overall quantum of just desserts is conserved.
If a Bad Thing happens to a Good Person, under the Law, somewhen else a Good Thing happens to cancel out the Bad Thing, and the overall karma of the Universe is preserved.
There’s another part to this discussion, concerning virtual particles, and how it is that something can arise out of nothing. But I can’t remember... something about the relationship between energy and time and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. Never mind. Some other time.
Yes this post includes edited content from earlier posts. So what?
** In this post (at least), “Universe" means Everything, including every little thing in the multiverse, maxiverse, megaverse, reality, the all, whatever you want to name it. The Universe is an isolated thermodynamic system. Everything includes literally every thing: material and immaterial, past and present and future, real and imaginary, subjective and objective.
The image features the three fates, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, "...who spin, draw out and cut the thread of Life ... as they triumph over the fallen body of Chastity." (Wikipedia 23 April 2014). Mouseover the image for more information. I don't know what Chastity's got to do with it. Death triumphs over Chastity? Doesn't make sense to me.
NIGHTMERRIES: THE LIGHTER SIDE OF DARKNESS This so-called "book" will chew you up, spit you out, and leave you twitching and frothing on the carpet. More than 60 dark and feculent fictions (read ‘em and weep) copiously illustrated by over 20 grotesque images you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.
AWAREWOLF & OTHER CRHYMES AGAINST HUMANITY (Vot could be Verse?) We all hate poetry, right? But we might make an exception for this sick and twisted stuff. This devil's banquet of adults-only offal features more than 50 satanic sonnets, vitriolic verses and odious odes.
MANIC MEMES & OTHER MINDSPACE INVADERS A disturbing repository of quotably quirky quotes, sayings, proverbs, maxims, ponderances, adages and aphorisms. This menagerie holds no fewer than 184 memes from eight meme-species perfectly adapted to their respective environments.
FIENDS & FREAKS Adults-only Tales of Serpents, Dragons, Devils, Lobsters, Anguished Spirits, Gods, Anti-gods and Other Horse-thieves You Wouldn't Want to Meet in a Dark Kosmos: 4th Edition
HAGS TO HAGGIS Whiskey-soaked Tails of War-nags, Witches, Manticores and Escapegoats, Debottlenecking and Desilofication, Illustrated
Sometimes my mother buys me lunch, but then I have to sit there and listen to her telling me how much she disapproves of everything that I do and don't do. I guess this falls under the category of mixed blessing.
Cheesemeister, I face very similar issues with my surviving progenitor, bless her! But I know she has my best interests at heart, so |I try to be patient, but usually fail. Thanks for stopping by, Cheers, SRS/CR/MM
"Good and bad are prejudices that God (eternal realty)doesn't understand."
I believe this universe is precariously balanced, how it maintains the balance, it's only known by nature, which is the manifestation energy of pure consciousness or eternal realty. Which and what is fit for survival, the right is owned by by this manifesting energy (what we call Nature). Who is strong, who is weak, who is bad, who is good, is all beyond the calculation of empiricists, rationalists, materialists and scientists.and atomists.
I agree with teh conservation of energy logic of yours. There must be some calculation, a natural programing that decides or say changes the energy from one form to other.
Hi Shubhajit, yes I am in furious agreement with everything you say in your comment. The only slight divergence is that I would say that God understands Good and Bad very well, knows they are prejudices, doesn't care either way, and doesn't prefer one to the other.
After all, the Universe contains that which humans refer to as "Good" AS WELL AS that which humans refer to as "Bad".
"manifesting energy" = "nature" = "God" = "the gods" = "consciousness" = "the force" = "me" = "you" = "Higgs Field" = "Brahman" just having fun! ;-)
There are many things beyond calculation, including but not limited (in my view) to the things you mention. Some would say that everything is beyond calculation.
Certainly, by this stage in my life I am beginning to discover the drawbacks, pitfalls and traps of calculation (and thought, and language, and logic).
Thanks for your comment. What a great comment: I enjoyed it very much. Regards, SRS/MM/CR
The invention (discovery?) of karma led to
- fate, fatalism, the dread of taking on the karma of others (by helping them) and the divination of the future (astrology, palmistry, etc.).
- caste and the corollary rise of feudalism.
- the female sex as inherently inferior, dowry, female infanticide.
On the positive side, the dead systems of exploitation of India and China (not quit dead in India as we will soon see) did not doom us like capitalism.
mgeorge, one way or another we would have invented a concept to achieve the things listed in your comment: caste, feudalism etc. I find it illuminating to substitute "outcome/s" for "karma". As in, "actions usually produce like outcomes" --- If I go around punching people in the face, my karma probably will feature being punched in the face! Or, if I steal from pweople, my karma probably includes people stealinjg from me. If I love, I will probably be loved. If I hate, I will be hated. etc Thanks for your comment, Cheers, SRS/CR/MM (god these multiple identities are becoming an annoyance!)
COMMENTS? Come on... gimme your best shot!