Karma without Reincarnation?

[Madhuri]

Are there any religions that believe in Karma (relating to reactions to self), but not reincarnation?

Is it really possible, considering that very obviously people do not always incur equal reactions to their actions in the same lifetime (murder, for example).

If you believe in karma, but not in reincarnation, how do you believe the system works?

 

[Boethiah]

I'm not sure about religions that have a "Karma but no reincarnation" plan into their theology, but I know several people who believe in some sort of Karmic bank of sorts but don't necessarily believe in reincarnation. That is the extent of my knowledge on the matter.

 

[YmirGF]

If you believe in karma, but not in reincarnation, how do you believe the system works?

I don't believe in karma, but I do believe in a non-standard version of reincarnation.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I experience karma of which through cause and effect can enable re-birth.

 

[YmirGF]

I don't believe in karma, but I do believe in a non-standard version of reincarnation.

Actually, I want to change this slightly...


I believe in a non-linear version of reincarnation that is independent of the ludicrous notions of karma.

 

[LuisDantas]

Are there any religions that believe in Karma (relating to reactions to self), but not reincarnation?

Is it really possible, considering that very obviously people do not always incur equal reactions to their actions in the same lifetime (murder, for example).

If you believe in karma, but not in reincarnation, how do you believe the system works?

My understanding of Buddhism (which, perhaps surprisingly, I understand to be correct) is that it proposes karma - not so much as the new-agey notion of an invisible force of justice as a kind of clarion call for personal and social responsibility, but not reincarnation.

Then again, I don't see much relation to the two concepts either, and I have come to believe that neither does much anyone else. The concept of reincarnation that I have come to recognize is the Spiritist one, and Spiritists don't believe in Karma, despite what they keep telling themselves.

Back to the OP questions, I don't think there is a system, but there is instead a duty to, for lack of a better word, emulate it. Such a duty is self-evident for anyone who is sufficiently serious and sincere in his or her religious practice - whichever it might be. It is perhaps the main link between the various religions, in fact.

So yes, I would say that there are such religions, and that they are essentially "all correctly understood and practiced ones". A sufficiently wise religious person learns to let go of delusions of "separatedness", whichever religion he might consider himself a part of.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

I don't believe in karma, but I do believe in a non-standard version of reincarnation.

I agree with that belief.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Actually quite the opposite of this...


I'm not sure of any religions that believe in Karma without reincarnation. I heard of a thing called "Christian Karma" in which Yahweh gives you good things that are wrong to do that tease your needs and you have to know better not to do them, something like that.

What type of afterlife or lack of afterlife are you looking for?

 

[Vinayaka]

From my (Hindu) point of view, you can't have one without the other. Karma is action, and the benefit to mankind from the concept is that fully knowing the impact of action will return to you in this or a future life, you are motivated towards right conduct.

Further, understanding that 'bad' things happen to you because of this enables you to stop the whining when personal trying times are on you.

 

[Penumbra]

Are there any religions that believe in Karma (relating to reactions to self), but not reincarnation?

Is it really possible, considering that very obviously people do not always incur equal reactions to their actions in the same lifetime (murder, for example).

If you believe in karma, but not in reincarnation, how do you believe the system works?

I don't think any supernatural proposals of Karma can adequately work without reincarnation. As you have said, people do not always (or arguably, even usually) receive equal reactions of their actions.

I don't particularly believe in reincarnation, but I believe in karma in the general, imperfect, non-supernatural sense, where one can generally expect acting morally to provide them with moral returns, and where one can generally expect acting immorally to provide them with immoral returns. Acting malevolently or carelessly can lead to people not liking you or treating you well, and it can affect your conscience, and can lead to a life devoid of love, and in extreme cases it can cause people to take negative action towards you. Acting benevolently can lead to people respecting and liking you, helping you if you need it, loving you, and usually leads to a clean conscience. In addition, actions regarding the self usually come back to help or haunt you. Eating healthy and exercising, and abstaining from poor health choices will usually result in better health and beauty, while having negative habits will often lead to a reduction in health and beauty.

But due to luck or skill, some people who perform malevolent or careless actions will not reap negative consequences that equal their actions. And most nice people around the world in disadvantageous conditions will not receive anything to make up for their misfortune. Nature, in the form of either medical problems or natural disasters, affects the just and unjust alike.

I think supernatural proposals of Karma require reincarnation to be true to continue to be non-falsifiable.

 

[thedope]

I'm pretty sure instant karma is a brand of breakfast cereal.

I think there is an illusion of linear reciprocity. Being is emergent. We are duped into chasing time.

 

[YmirGF]

We are duped into chasing time.

Ah, but when you become aware of non-linear time, now that is where things begin to get interesting.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Atheists can believe in karma without reincarnation if they wanted to

 

[thedope]

Ah, but when you become aware of non-linear time, now that is where things begin to get interesting.

To get beyond cause, simply let your answer be yes or no.

 

[atanu]

A sufficiently wise religious person learns to let go of delusions of "separatedness", whichever religion he might consider himself a part of.

Re-incarnation is that final separateness that is perpetuated by not following or willfully neglecting the karma knowledge, which has as its basis the goal of obliterating the sense of separateness.

Sense of separteness erased beyond any possibilty of return is immortality -- the forms and names may come and go.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I'm pretty sure instant karma is a brand of breakfast cereal.

The kind that makes you suddenly run to the bathroom. ;O)

 

[Madhuri]

Atheists can believe in karma without reincarnation if they wanted to

Karma is an eastern, spiritual concept. What exactly would an atheist believe karma to be and how could it operate without reincarnation?

 

[LuisDantas]

Karma is an eastern, spiritual concept. What exactly would an atheist believe karma to be and how could it operate without reincarnation?

It means roughly the same as "responsibility". Instead of relying on any sort of reincarnationist belief (be it traditional or otherwise) it draws upon concepts of social interconnection and mutual reliance, as well as some basic notions of sociology, psychology and economy.

Ultimately, it is a convenient (or not so convenient, perhaps) reminder that spirituality is in fact not a strictly personal matter. In fact, its whole reason for being is that our lifes are not really our own, because our actions "bleed over" into other people's lifes as a matter of course.

That is one of the many reasons why blind faith is basically worthless in a spiritual sense. Actual wisdom must be pursued instead, because good religious practice must by definition consider the social circunstances of its practicioners.

 

[Madhuri]

Thanks Luis for explaining.
I will add though, because I am not sure if your posts suggests otherwise, but that the spiritual belief of karma also sees it in terms of how action affects the self and the whole.

 

[LuisDantas]

Thanks Luis for explaining.
I will add though, because I am not sure if your posts suggests otherwise, but that the spiritual belief of karma also sees it in terms of how action affects the self and the whole.

Sure. It is not always well understood or wisely employed, however. Then again, not too many religious concept are anyway.