As far as I'm concerned, your first sentence summed up karma in and of itself. Newton's Third Law, you know.
I recognize you are a Buddhist dear Heather, but you are incorrect. The law of Karma is actually for every action there is an equal and SIMILAR reaction!!! If you do "bad" then you can expect reality to respond in kind. If you do "good" then you can expect reality to mirror your "good" actions. Sadly however, good and bad are merely value judgments and have no real meaning at the end of the day. In theory so-called bad actions can cause a catharsis within the individual that moves them to change their ways. In that respect, since the bad precipitated the change within the individual can you really say, after all is said and done that it was a bad action?
You get out what you put in. You reap what you sow. What goes around comes around. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
See above. Every action has an equal and
SIMILAR reaction, at least when taken from an internal (psychic/psychological) perspective, not a physical perspective such a Newton was describing. I stress that in no way is it EVER an opposite reaction. If that were the case then we would likely deem Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin as being close to god as the result of their "evil" was the birth of much "good". (I hope you can see how narrow the focus of that lens is.) There is ONLY experience. It is we ourselves who determine via our own prejudices what constitutes "good" and "bad". One must be wary about ascribing dualistic concepts to multidimensional values (like karma) as one only ends up short changing themselves through their abysmally limited focus.
BTW: Xexon stated at the start of this thread that "karma" does not exist in the higher spiritual realms and I would suggest he is not terribly knowledgable in this area... no pun intended. To suggest that one EVER rises beyond karma is absurd and has its basis in limited flesh-based thinking. Karma IS and always will be your own personal self correcting mechanism somewhat like how subatomic particles are bound by weak forces and strong forces so we are forever bound by karma. Any other position is simply delusional.
Your examples concerning doing without, envy, and the question of evil have nothing to do with Karma (universal). They have more to do with karma (personal).
Heather, there is no difference in karma due to the nature of Oneness. This is a dualistic illusion, period.
Hope I made sense.
You did hon, but never think for a second that I a belittling your contribution. You are a solid example of a pure Buddhist and you certainly help bring back memories within this old fossil.
I dunno Heather but it is like mankind has only been given a very, very limited view of reality from an internal perspective. My deep suspicion is that many monks led isolated lives and withdrew from worldly affairs. This certainly helped them to achieve enlightenment, but it also cut them off from the deep and wonderful connections with their imperfect brothers and sisters of mankind. Here I mean it is somewhat like asking a child who grew up in a wealthy family what it is like to be poor. They can speculate, but they really do not know. They have no experience with it and so cannot really imagine the nuances of what it is like to go without or to be hungry. It is a similiar situation with many of the sages throughout the ages who have lost their ability to RELATE to their fellow human animals.
I hope that makes sense.