While I definitely do have faith that there is a higher power in the
universe (although I haven’t yet decided if the universe is a good place
to be or if it’s just a simulation solving some higher level
non-deterministic finite state automata), I’m not a religious man. If
fact, I consider myself a completely recovered Catholic (I’ve been clean
and sober for more than a decade and I never feel the need to go back
for another hit off the body of Christ) [1].
Likewise, I’m not a superstitious man. I understand that going under
a ladder may cause pain if something drops on me, but not for some other
mystical reason. Similarly, breaking mirrors could cut you, but only the
most serious of cuts could last for 7 years.
Still and all, I do believe in karma, otherwise stated as “what goes
around, comes around.” It’s happened many times in my life that a lot of
bad luck eventually yields to a lot of good luck. Likewise, when you do
bad, bad comes back at you and when you do good, good comes back. Of
course, these phenomenon can be explained by statistics and human nature
respectively, but I prefer to think of a giant celestial scoreboard that
I can affect by doing good for people. Or, and this happened just today,
if I do something to cause harm, even if there’s nothing I can do to
make it up to the person involved, I often find myself feeling better if
I do something good for someone completely different. Oh, wait, maybe I
am superstitious… Still, I find it a comforting way to run my life, so
I’m going to stick with it. : )
[1] I’ve known practicing Catholics that are offended by the idea
that Catholicism is a disease to be recovered from. Sorry.
