[Ilaubuas]

In my understanding of the issue, karma is simply cause and effect. I don't believe in life after death or reincarnation, but I know that if I hit somebody, they'll probably hit me, or get someone else to hit me, or I might be arrested. Or even if I get away "consequence-free", I just fed the part of me that does harm instead of the part that does not do harm...surely that will come back to bite me. Simple cause and effect.


For instance, I know that recently in my life I have lied a lot (I've since put forth effort specifically to stop), and when I got away with it (which was often) it made me more likely to continue that behavior, since I thought I was escaping without harm. But eventually I'd either get caught and experience suffering through that, or hurt somebody and create suffering through that, or just feel guilty and create suffering through that. It's all just cause and effect.