Falty Seeds

I had a real problem with the whole seed thing.  I know we haven’t talked about karma yet in class, which means I’m basically arguing with a fictional character.  Despite this, I find a gaping hole in Friday’s explanation of why good or bad things happen to people.  Reading her defense was like a rollercoaster ride for me.  First, I disagreed, but was curiously as to where she was going with it.  Then, when she explained to the Captain how when the Sergeant lies for money, he isn’t really getting the money because of the lie but because of a previous good he has done.  I really liked that idea.  For one, it explains fairly well why good things happen to bad people.  I can except the idea that even bad people do good things at time, and that perhaps they deserves what they receive presently because of past actions.  I might also like it because it means that one day those bad people will be punished for what they are currently doing.  It was when Friday said that every bad event inflicted upon a person happens because they have done a similar action to someone else that she lost me.  There are just instances where that makes NO sense to me.

Let’s use the example given in the book.  The Sergeant’s little boy is burned to the point of deformity in at least one third of his body if not more, seemingly as a result to his father’s stupidity and drunken stupor.  If we were to follow Friday’s explanation, the little boy’s deformity is due to his own actions.  So I am to believe that this boy, who can’t be older than ten, somehow damaged another person through fire in his young life?  I know it’s just a story, but if this is really the true philosophy of yoga, and others really do believe this theory, I don’t see how they can justify certain circumstances