in the end, do you think everyone gets what they deserve?

Question

im not talking about in the "next life." i mean this one. do you think karma sorts that kind of stuff out?

Answer 1

This is a question we all ask ourselves over and over again in one way or another; but it is a question that none of us is ever able to answer.

Especially, when you attach the stipulation excluding the "next life." Whether by "next life" we mean human history or reincarnation or some form of life after death. In this life, we may believe, we may imagine, we may be taught -- but we can never know -- whether rewards and retributions will be meted out justly in a "next life."

So to answer the question I hear you asking -- "In the end, do you think everyone gets what they deserve in this life?" -- we must ask the question one person at a time.

Start with yourself (as I start with myself): Do you think you will get what you deserve? I have reached the age of 70 and a half years. That means I have technically reached an age that makes me "elderly." Do I think I will get what I deserve? NO. No. No way.

I have been more richly blessed than I ever could have deserved. An ideal wife; five wonderful children; a profession that I found satisfying and rewarding; health and affluence and security (at least when compared with my parents and with most of the millions of people in the world); repeated experiences of pleasure and self-fulfillment (and both my football and basketball teams have been national champions at least once!). Do I get what I deserve? Far, far more.

Do I get the punishment I deserve for all my bad decisions, my faults and selfishness? No, not that either -- although, as you probably can tell, the severest punishment I receive, the most pressing judgment meted out to me has been in my own mind, in my own regrets and self-recrimination.

But there's a broader question that we need to consider. Can the finite human mind EVER know what anyone deserves? Is what we "deserve" somehow related to more than what we do (or earn)? Is it conditioned by what we are given -- our genes, our parents, our childhood, our bodies, our mental and emotional health, the circumstances in which we live, the historical situation in which we were born, the nature of this planet in our era? Can we ever know that about anyone else? Or even about ourselves?

Of him to whom much has been given, much will be expected. How much has each of us been given? How much should be expected of us? It's hard to know, very hard. Even for ourselves, much less for all humankind.

So yours is a question that none of us is ever able to answer. Not in "this life." We cannot know. I suspect that for most people the answer is "no, not everyone gets what they deserve." Karma, it seems, must go well beyond that. But we cannot know.

One of my hopes for the "next life," whatever form it takes, is that I will reach a dimension that I can answer such spiritual questions, or at least understand them. But like most wish lists (from Santa Claus onward), our hopes for the "next life" probably differ as much as our responses to this one. Your hopes are not likely to be the same as mine. Hence, what we would consider a reward or a retribution would likely not be the same.

Will our wishes be granted? Will our hopes be realized? Will we get what we deserve? Karma? We cannot know. Only believe. ("Help Thou our unbelief.")

Answer 2

Not really -- Karma is a Cycle -- and the Reward for a life well-lived is NOT necessarily received in THIS lifetime -- it may take longer than that.

I know it seems that the truly evil individuals profit over and over again, but in the end ... at the end of the cycle of their lives -- they will find out exactly what happens when you CHOOSE to live in a way other than respectful to life in all its forms.

So although Karma EVENTUALLY Sorts out what you really deserve from the good (respectful, dignified, honor) life you have lived, it will be worth the wait ...

Answer 3

when this life is over god gives everyone 2 chances to go with him after everyone is sorted out and all the good ones are left the world starts again you dont have to be good or whatever everyone gets what they deserve but its not karma everyone either deserves to leave for all eternity or stay alive for all eternity in this world

Answer 4

Yes, I do since karma is the law of cause and effect, therefore, he/she will definitely get what he/she deserves, at least on the mind.

Answer 5

You have not fully understand the laws of karma. It may or may not happened this life but it will surely happen one day. It 's a matter of time. What you sow, you reap.

Answer 6

Yes. I believe that if law is universally applicable, it is this one. You can't escape the fruits (good or bad) of your actions. "Deserve" is a bit tricky word here, as it might indicate latent potential. Although there's no supreme power up there which will ensure we get what our latent potential would give us, the natural laws are such that we get results of our actual actions.

Answer 7

As a Christian I believe that people do experience consequences of their actions. What goes around tends to come around. You will suffer because of your bad actions - and others may suffer because of these actions also. You will benefit because of your good actions and others will benefit from your good actions also. So yes - I do believe in a form of Karma - I just refer to it a consequences of your actions.

Answer 8

i feel like in the end, everybody's life is weighed out equally. We all may go through different things that may hurt us or make us happy, but everybody else also goes through their fair share of situations. so whoever thinks somebody else's life is better than yours, they are probably suffering or will suffer from something in the present or future.

Answer 9

Unless you believe that babies around the world (as just one example) "deserve" to suffer from starvation and war, then you cannot believe that "everyone" gets what they deserve.

Answer 10

No. But a destructive life style usually ends badly.