I am no stranger to making deals with God. When I was a child, I would promise God that if I didn't get into trouble this one time then I would never ask Lori E. for bubble gum again. And years later, when I was waiting to hear if I got the internship that I wanted, I implored God once again -- "Please, give me this internship and I'll never think a bad thought again." Later when my daughter was driving home in a bad snow storm I turned to God again and begged: "Bring my daughter home safely and I will never ask you for anything else ever." My daughter did make it home safely. She is a safe driver and had excellent snow tires but I couldn't help associating my deal with God as being connected to her safe arrival.
So, was I true to my word? Was this the last deal that I was going to make with God? Was it the last favor I was going to ask?
Absolutely not!
One month ago, I had a mammogram that appeared suspicious. That led to an MRI, a biopsy, and last week to another biopsy. The second biopsy was a surgical biopsy. And here I was lying on the surgical table thinking "Please God just one more favor -- let this not be cancer. I'm sorry that I'm so vain and don't want to lose my hair. I'm sorry that I am not ready to join the pink tribe. I will do anything, yes anything if these biopsy results come back cancer-free. I didn't know what that anything would be.
Results came back on Thursday. I do NOT have cancer. I am beyond thrilled. I immediately made a facial appointment and bought some new clothing. What am I going to do to fulfill my promise to God? I don't know. One thing I do know, however, is that I will no longer promise to make no more promises.
Oh, and one more thing: I have these weird superstitious thoughts that if I'm nice to the nurses, reception staff, etc. then my chances of getting bad news go down. This is very similar to when I was a young adult waiting to hear back from graduate schools. If I was nice to the postman then he would surely bring me good news. I'm not referring to behaving in an unusually different way than I usually do. Instead, I'm talking about just being a little more cheerful and engaging.
And if it doesn't help me get admitted to grad school, etc. at least I'd feel good about being cheerful, engaging and smiling.
In my efforts to make deals with God and engage in superstitious behavior maybe I'm simply trying to ensure my good karma. I now truly understand this word. I have to say that it baffled me for years.
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Making Deals With God, Superstitions And Karma | Positive Thinking ...
Thank you for your honesty. Superstition, as such, can be found in animals, especially birds; pigeons can be trained to be superstitious. My superstitions tell me when I feel helpless. But sometimes they are just for entertainment--crazy ideas. Wishing on a star. Knowing when and that I am superstitious also helps me see when that is not the case, which is most of the time. My view of life really has no rational place for superstition, but I can be irrational, too. I can fall in love.
It's interesting to imagine karmic links. But upon any investigation, these don't withstand the test of reality.
Your article shows how these superstitious thoughts are often linked with wishful thinking. This certainly counts against their plausibility. Good article.
the reality of karma is everywhere but one must give up their religious and materialistic beliefs and the ego is not about to do that. few exceptions of course.
the herd effect of not believeing in karma which both the religious and materialists have to a great degree is a human condition.
we can even see it in our movies as now every action movie has a person throwing up from some kind of emotional stress or pain. once one director put it in their movie to add drama to the scene, it is now common place in most action and drama movies.
You never offer any proof or your supernatural dimensions, researcher. You criticize materialism over and over, offering no proof. What am I to make of this?
Then you say people who have opinions are a "herd." I am a part of a herd effect for believing that computers work?
I wouldn't use movies as an example. Let's talk real world. You see karma, but 8 million children under the age of 5 die every year. What did they do wrong? They are innocent toddlers and infants. Are you saying they deserved to suffer and die? Where is the karma, researcher?
I think this argument shows that your imagining karma in this world is clearly wrong, unless you can refute this point.
The closest thing we have to karma is the ever fickle "what goes around comes around" principle, which seems to work best as a punitive measure rather than a reward for being good.
One need only watch one afternoon of the ID channel to learn that often times people who perform selfless acts wind up dead as a result.
I suspect everyone has been down this road. enjoyed your humor.