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Do people get what they deserve generally?

it depends on how you define what it means to deserve something. in reality we are entitled to nothing, and everyone atleast gets nothing in life, so in that sense yes we all get exactly what we deserve and maybe a little more. some might even get a lot more. a house with a car, groceries in the frig and a tv to stare at is what most american's seem to think everyone deserves, and you were 'underprivileged' if you didn't have these things. if you think you deserve what the average joe has, then fuck no not everyone gets what they "deserve".

i don't really believe in luck. maybe fortune, because someone people are definitely more 'fortunate' than others. but its all relevant- rich people have their struggle just like the poor. your dealt a hand in life and its all about how you play your cards.

life isn't about keeping up with the average joe. its about survival. your not promised anything here, we should be grateful for every for every second we are still alive. if this kid was sitting there provoking someone, then was surprised when he got cracked over the head with a bat, then ya sucks to say but he got what he deserved.

your born into life, you don't choose life. i grew up having to share a room with my brother and sister until we moved out. i would think it wasn't fair- my friends had their own room. when i would bitch about it my mom would say 'well life isn't fair..what do you want me to do about it?'. and thats the truth. life isn't fair and you don't deserve anything. you get what you earn, and no not everyone is given the same opportunities to earn the same amount.
 
No. Bad people (I should say people who, as far as I can tell, are bad) get good things all the time, and vice versa. The westernized concept of karma that we are all familiar with is just not true; IMO it's a lie people who are to afraid to seek justice of their own tell themselves so they feel OK about being shat on....
 
materialistically, no. evil is constantly rewarded with a greater share of material goods. nice guys finish last.

in the realm of emotional/spiritual wellbeing, yes. humble, compassionate, loving people are not bitter and angsty. greedy, hateful people are not at peace.

some things are a crap-shoot: circumstance of birth, random acts of violence, acts of "god", illnesses out of nowhere.....no real rhyme or reason to that stuff, is there?

much is outside our influence, but we do have control over our reaction to external stimuli, and that is a very valuable thing. in that arena, assuredly we get what we deserve.
 
not. a. chance.

thousands of people in pakistan just died from floods. most of them poor subsistence farmers, taking care of their families. millions are now in horrible trouble.

mass destruction like this seems to happens practically every week nowadays.

and no way did very many of those people deserve trouble like that, even if a few of them were (coincidentally--they still didn't cause the floods) "bad."
 
Certain "prosperity theology" & "positive thinking" type movements need to believe that everything happens for a reason based on our actions, thoughts, & intent. I wouldn't care except that it often leads to victim blaming. Sickness, poverty, and misfortune are going to have clear causes sometimes, but searching for why someone got parkinson's disease by testing their moral choices or ability to be positive about life is just unseemly, as an example.

But I guess I often do want to believe intent and actions matter and try to read into events in my life some sort of "karmic" pattern to events. Sometimes I picture also that maybe most of the things that come towards people in their lives are arranged because they are here to learn certain lessons. I'm utterly inconsistent on this issue as I am on most things that touch on spirituality or metaphysics.
 
I would say not. I do know someone you can ask though.

Ask the Pope who hides child rapists under the cloak of divinity.
 
not. a. chance.

thousands of people in pakistan just died from floods. most of them poor subsistence farmers, taking care of their families. millions are now in horrible trouble.

mass destruction like this seems to happens practically every week nowadays.

and no way did very many of those people deserve trouble like that, even if a few of them were (coincidentally--they still didn't cause the floods) "bad."

who are you to say whether or not someone deserved the fate they received? what did these people do to deserve to not die in a flood? probably the same thing they did to deserve to die in a flood. nothing. well, maybe not completely nothing.. if you live by water its kind of silly to be surprised by a flood. danger is everywhere though, and there is really no avoiding it completely. either way, no one can hold fate in their hands. control is an illusion, we only have influence. there is no good or bad, no right or wrong, only consequence.
 
The short answer to the original question is no. If you get what you "deserve" it is because of chance. However whenever something horrible happens people tend to think "maybe this is pay back for insert misdeed of some sort here" or when hard work does pay off it is not un common to chalk this up to karma or whatever. I highly doubt it is fate or a divine form of consequence. I just try to control the things I can control. Obviously if you commit a misdeed there are potential consequences so make better choices.
 
^^Yup I agree.
There is alot in life we can control, and alot that we can't, and when something bad/negative happens to someone, it is anyone, whether they are a "good" or "bad" person. There can't possibly be any such thing as karma. You hear people say things such as "Only the good die young" or on the other hand", "That person got what they deserved". I certainly do beleive in positive thinking, but positive thinking doesn't stop uncontolable events from occuring. So no-one "deserves" anything the way I see it. It is all random.
 
who are you to say whether or not someone deserved the fate they received?
he was talking about large communities of people like the one where you live... so...

who is he to say? he's a sentient human

the humans in flooded communities have a subjective experience in addition to their physical bodies. when the flood hits, there is a lot of existential suffering that nobody should have to go through. they don't deserve that. some may "deserve justice" in some sense/way, but a flood for everyone? even the ravers?

this is not karma. you were born a million to one odds by making it to the egg. the moment you are in relies on perhaps infinite happenings all happening just the right way. in order to survive and thrive us humans cause an undescribable amount of suffering, directly and indirectly, in our own and other species. change/evolution/growth eats up entropy, aka things being built up in nature often also involve things being destroyed

non-human non-moral forces of the universe prevail at this point, and when they destroy communities, it has nothing to do with how win or fail that community is, or how deserving/win/fail humanity in general is

unless you're saying there is a god and he did it for the luls
 
"People get what they get. It has nothing to do with what they deserve."

House %)
 
he was talking about large communities of people like the one where you live... so...

who is he to say? he's a sentient human

the humans in flooded communities have a subjective experience in addition to their physical bodies. when the flood hits, there is a lot of existential suffering that nobody should have to go through. they don't deserve that. some may "deserve justice" in some sense/way, but a flood for everyone? even the ravers?

this is not karma. you were born a million to one odds by making it to the egg. the moment you are in relies on perhaps infinite happenings all happening just the right way. in order to survive and thrive us humans cause an undescribable amount of suffering, directly and indirectly, in our own and other species. change/evolution/growth eats up entropy, aka things being built up in nature often also involve things being destroyed

non-human non-moral forces of the universe prevail at this point, and when they destroy communities, it has nothing to do with how win or fail that community is, or how deserving/win/fail humanity in general is

unless you're saying there is a god and he did it for the luls

i wasn't saying anything about god or karma, and im not really sure what you are trying to say.. idk what this 'flood' is or 'forces' you talk about.

all im saying is why should people "deserve justice"? why would humans be entitled to, deserving of, or promised anything in life but death? there is nothing on this earth that i know of. i know the only thing that is guaranteed in my life is my death.
 
In my book, no action exists in a vacuum. All actions exist in a long loop of cause and effect--the connections between various acts may not be immediately or easily apparent, but random simply cannot, and does not exist.

Do people 'deserve' what they get? Well, that's not for me or you to decide. But does something happen for no reason? Absolutely not.
 
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in some ways. This was sort of mentioned already but it was my first though on the subject. Most people i know get what they deserve as far as quality of life. The people i know who are dishonest, thieves, powertrip on people, manipulate, etc., are not happy. They are constantly paranoid or distressed. I have tried to explain that they are only feeling like that because of the way they themselves act. They only fear strangers because they have no compassion. They only worry about getting robbed because they rob. I have one friend who is always thinking that everybody is going to call the police on them. For years i couldnt figure out why he was always trippin on that, and then one night he told me how he had called the police on a kid a while ago just because this kid was sitting in a car outside my friends house. He also called the police on some girls that were drinking at a park by his house. This shit blew my mind. For years growing up i sat in front of peoples houses smoking weed with this guy, and drinking in parks. But it explained his fears. He has some weird thing where he gets off on the power to fuck other people, but it causes him to live in fear.

The good people i know are much more content no matter what their life.
 
If morals are entirely subjective then there is no universal judge who measures who stays and who goes based on their moral progress and hands out rewards & punishments to those who deserve it. It's all random. If that boy had stayed in that night or walked south instead of west, he maybe would still be alive and well. But if this were so, then it could be some other person lying in that coma, that is, if the abusers were on a mission to beat someone up and not that boy in particular. But, what if, they tried to beat someone up and a cop saw them. If that had happened, 3 boys would have been in jail. But the kicker is, the only reason the cop got there in time was because he walked north and not east and he took his time to finish his supper.
It's all of our individual decisions coming together to play one giant, random game called Life, and time is the judge. If there is a God, and he's behind all this; well, that's pretty fucked up.
 
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In my book, no action exists in a vacuum. All actions exist in a long loop of cause and effect--the connections between various acts may not be immediately or easily apparent, but random simply cannot, and does not exist.

Do people 'deserve' what they get? Well, that's not for me or you to decide. But does something happen for no reason? Absolutely not.

I tend to agree with this statement. I believe every person was born with a nobel purpose. Life can be cruel regardless of our best intentions. People may get frustrated and wonder "why me?" We are on this earth to learn and gain wisdom through tribulations. Smooth sailing teaches us nothing...
 
If it's destructive(destroys their spirit)-no they dont
If it's constructive(enhances their spirit)-yes they do
 
I think that karma isnt neccesarily limited to 1 lifespan. For example what has a fetus done wrong to not be born into the world, or an infant to get sick and die before he/she has developed a sense of being. The more good deeds in general as an overall perspective the more good is developed in the world. The more bad deeds, the more bad comes to be of our world. For instance a microcosmic example of this would be a violent school yard where it is considered the norm to have fights then you are more inclined to start a fight, because it becomes more of your instinct. Of course we can rise above this thinking, is this neccesarily the best thing to do in my situation to fight this person? This good deed, will lead to an overall less summation of fights in the school which may allow another person to think the matter over more rather then instinctively starting a fight.
 
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