Of Karma and Ken Lay
Ken Lay’s recent death got me thinking about several things.
For those of you with your head buried deep in the dogshit-riddled turf of your backyard, Ken Lay, or Kenny Boy as his buddy George W. Bush nicknamed him, was the ex-CEO of now-bankrupt Enron. He had a heart attack this week, and it killed him at the age of 64.
The man did some nasty things. He made thousands of employees go broke by asking them to hold the company’s stock when it was going straight to Hell, while he sold all his shares to preserve his substantial personal fortune. He claimed not to know that the energy-trading company was a multi-billion dollar fraud fest (yeah RIGHT). Prosecutors disagreed, and if he didn’t kick the bucket, he had years of jail time awaiting him- along with some kicks in the ass, no doubt. I have five words to say about Texas jails: Glad I’m not in one.
When the Enron scandal erupted in 2001, the economy dry-heaved like a drunken teenager, and the hangover is still being felt today- with such problematic results as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Congress’s well-intentioned but ill-written regulatory response to Enron.
Not to disrespect the dead more than is necessary to prove my point, but Ken’s greed for money-orgies at the cost of the employees he led made me feel not-so-bad for him when he died this week. But his death gave me pause for other reasons.
I sort of believe in the Hindu religious/philosophical concept of Karma. At this point I consider myself spiritual, not religious, but what I like about Hinduism is that you can believe whatever the fuck you want (even atheism) and still be a Hindu (anyone who tells you otherwise is simply wrong- this was written thousands of years ago, minus the f-bomb). I’m not sure if karma is a real force, as I have no evidence one way or the other, but I’d like to think it’s plausible. Like all human beings, I am small-minded, and cling to the hope that there is a sense of justice and order to the universe. Without it, I would find life barely worth living.
Simply put, karma can be defined as: Every Action Has an Equal Reaction. This may sound a bit like fourth-grade science class, but that’s why I like it. The simplicity. I do something nice for someone, something good happens to me later. I do something evil, something bad happens to me later. Ken Lay screws people, Ken Lay dies of massive heart attack at a fairly young age.
Ah, but life (including death) is not that simple. Sure, you can argue that Ken Lay got his just desserts. But what about the perfectly nice people who have heart attacks and die at the age of 64? Here is where Hinduism’s coup of a solution comes in- and makes things more complicated, but also more interesting. The concept of reincarnation.
Reincarnation, simply defined, means that you are reborn when you die. Right now, we were reborn from previous lives. We do not go to heaven or hell- which is how many religions encourage people to live good lives. We just keep on living, life after life. If we’re evil, our next life may suck, but we can always improve our lot by our own actions. Ken Lay may come back as a starving child in Africa, but if he’s a good person, better things could await him.
One can think about karma and reincarnation until one’s head spins. I do it often. A friend once told me that I would come back as a grasshopper. Can we come back as an insect- or any type of animal? How about bacteria? Plants? Do any of these species have measurable morality? Can their actions have reactions? Does reincarnation help explain evolution, because organisms became experienced from previous lives and adapted from them? Are my health issues caused by my karma? I’m not sure, but Hindus by and large are raised to believe that.
I read an excellent book on the subject of karma, Aghora III by Robert Svoboda. The book is based on the teachings of a master Aghori in India named Vimalananda. This dude had some interesting ideas- such as, whenever we use soap, medicine, or other products which were tested on animals, we get side effects, as bad karma for all of the pain inflicted on animals during the testing of the product. They could be miniscule effects, but they happen. Another odd idea is that when a male masturbates, he incurs bad karma because he murdered millions of sperm cells.
I’m not sure how far to take it, but I can explain why I want to believe karma is real. How better to explain the injustice in the world? The suffering of children anywhere in the third world today, or during the Holocaust? What did these kids possibly do to deserve torture, starvation, and death? Many people are in a "living hell" already. The only way I can live with my comfortable-assed, living-life-large-in-New York City self is through a kind of justification: they must have been evil in their past life or lives. That starving kid in Darfur must have been a tyrant who tortured people for sport- say, Saddam Hussein’s son in the previous life?
I don’t know. I don’t have evidence of karma or reincarnation, except anecdotes. My British History teacher in 7th grade in England was named Mrs. Groombridge. She was an American-born person who ended up moving to England, marrying an Englishman, and earning British citizenship. She was Madonna’s first cousin, but I remember her for her reincarnation story. As a 4 year old child in the U.S., she used to speak with a peculiar British accent, although there were no British people around. She also used to always draw a village, which did not exist anywhere near where she lived. When she grew up, she found herself inexplicably drawn to England, so she moved there. And the accent she had as a child, and the village pictures she drew, exactly matched this small village in Northern England that she found. Her sincere belief is that she lived there in a previous life or lives.
Minus any evidence, I do not know if there is a heaven, a hell, a purgatory, a Valhalla, karma, or reincarnation. I do not know if Jesus was God’s son or just a dude. That’s why I think humankind wastes way too much time debating others, killing others, and trying to convert others to their so-called faith. In my opinion, there will be plenty of time to argue and debate about religion- when you’re dead.
