Talk:Karma

Deletion of Page

This page does not discuss karma whatsoever but is talking about reincarnation. I suggest merging these articles. LoneJourneyman (talk) 19:30, 10 March 2019 (UTC)

Firstly, welcome, and also thank you for your comments! The general policy of the site is indeed to ensure the page's title is either explicitly mentioned within the contents or does not involve a lot of interpretation on which general agreement could not be found that the contents were indeed discussing that topic or very closely related to it. So in replying here, I want to particularly make clear (after first making my case below for possibly keeping the page, though with some modifications I've since made), that I remain open to changing my mind.

A Wikipedia article on karma defines it to mean (footnotes removed for readability):

"action, work or deed; it also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual (cause) influence the future of that individual (effect). Good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and future happiness, while bad intent and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and future suffering.

The philosophy of karma is closely associated with the idea of rebirth in many schools of Indian religions (particularly Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism) as well as Taoism.

My rationale for having a separate page therefore, is that while the issues are closely related, the fact of rebirth is somewhat different from the purported mechanism of rebirth (though I've since removed the quotes that I feel really did belong elsewhere, while leaving one that I feel does still belong). For example, one could hold a theory of reincarnation without karma--that people keep getting reborn as higher life forms as a law, not due to any actions on their part, or that we are repeatedly reborn in a random manner, etc. And while the Bahá'í Faith rejects reincarnation (unless understood as the return of attributes), it is interesting and informative I think to focus on similarities, while noting areas of divergence and being precise. I hope my updates to the "See also" section are not too interpretive, but they are meant to guide the reader as to the possible relationship with the page, rather than just listing a bunch of pages. Let me know what you think of the changes. And thanks again for your valued input! WikiSysop (talk) 03:15, 11 March 2019 (UTC)