Adelphia wrote:I think the idea of karma being westernized is not religious and actually helpful because it allows a belief system for those who don't identify with traditional religions that helps understand the spiritual/hidden/invisible aspect of actions having consequences. However, the idea of karma can be misused in New Age...

One way the idea of karma becomes abused when a divine element comes into play, karma is cause and effect, which operates on its own. It's also abused when people say 'oh it's karma' to explain a negative occurrence or worse:

... karma’s bandied around these days to imply that there’s a divine plan. It doesn’t just represent the natural order; it goes on to suggest that this order is for our benefit. It’s straight out of the Bible. Hence: the universe is looking out for me; what goes around comes around; everything happens for a reason.

Well, everything does happen for some reason or another, but why should it revolve around me? That’s wishful thinking. A Facebook friend of mine recently received an unexpected $19 cheque in the mail shortly after losing $11 in cash. He called it karma, as if the two events were directly connected. However, we already have a word for remote coincidences like that: Luck....

It’s not easy. Countless causes and conditions collide to produce a constant stream of effects, and those effects in turn become new streams of causes and conditions. We never get the whole picture any more than we notice each frame of a movie, though we can see patterns with more or less clarity, depending on how much mental space we create for ourselves.

Trouble is, we don’t always want to see clearly. What we really want is reassuring explanations, even if they’re illusory.

http://www.thenakedmonk.com/2013/10/12/ ... ing-karma/