Instant Karma by David Michie

Author:David Michie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction / metaphysical visionary
Publisher: Conch Books
Published: 2022-11-09T00:00:00+00:00

33

Galaxy Television, Los Angeles

Princeton, New Jersey

Boulder, Colorado

“Joining us today from Princeton, New Jersey, is Associate Professor Stanley Smugg, PhD, the best-selling author of Pointless Prayer, and from Boulder, Colorado, Tibetan Buddhist Lama Tashi.” Dan Kavana introduced his two guests.

Stan Smugg looked studiously clever against a backdrop of leather-bound books. In the Flourish studio, Lama Tashi emanated a benevolence as panoramic as the sweeping vista behind him.

“With all the events today, there’s huge speculation about instant karma.” Dan set up the debate. “Part of the challenge we face is that most of us don’t know much about karma apart from “what goes around comes around.” But there’s at least one person who is convinced there’s no such thing as karma. Earlier today, Stan Smugg conducted what he has described as a rigorous test of the concept and says he found no evidence to support it at all. Tell us about your study, Professor Smugg?”

“Well, Dan, the research involved 100 participants, each of whom was asked to give away ten dollars within half an hour. If instant karma really existed, you would expect that, soon after giving the ten dollars away, each of the participants would receive a financial gain. But that didn’t happen. 36 participants got something but 39 got nothing at all and 20 actually lost money. What’s more, the windfalls of the fortunate 36 varied greatly. So—” a condescending smile playing on his lips, Stan Smugg told viewers, “—if there is such a thing as “instant karma” I found no evidence of it in our study this morning.”

Slam, dunk was the impression he conveyed. Case closed. He’d tested the concept and numbers never lied.

In Colorado, Lama Tashi’s face was bright with humor, his shoulders shaking as he chuckled.

“Too funny!” were his first words on the subject. Behind his spectacles, Professor Smugg’s eyes narrowed.

“You find the results humorous, Lama Tashi?” Dan confirmed.

“The whole thing!” he was shaking his head. “The whole concept. But it’s useful that researchers are starting to take an interest.”

“You mean in instant karma?”

“Karma, more generally,” recovering himself, Lama Tashi resumed the kind-hearted presence that had so endeared him to the townsfolk of Omni over the years—and, earlier that morning, to many millions of people online.

“You know, this idea of “instant karma” is not something we have in Buddhism. Usually, causes created in one lifetime only ripen in a lifetime that follows, when they meet the right conditions. But we have to keep an open mind, yes? Perhaps conditions are suddenly heating up today so causes ripen more quickly. Karma climate-change yes?”

Instantly, thousands of social media feeds were quoting the line. The most memorable so far. Karma climate change. Could there be a more apt descriptor?

“You’re saying there may be such a thing as more instant karma?” Dan wanted to clarify.

“What we are experiencing today,” Lama Tashi tilted his head. “It seems that way.”

“But the study conducted by Professor Smugg—”

“It’s based on a flawed understanding. A mistaken idea about what karma is. Quite a common misconception,” Lama Tashi seemed to be directing this at Stanley Smugg himself.

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