Karma’s a Bitch? I’m Not So Sure Anymore.

Why I stopped believing in cosmic accountability and started paying attention to the human experience.

Over the years, people have often said, “Don’t worry, karma will take care of it.” I’ve said it myself.

When life is unfair, we crave explanations. We want to believe that our suffering serves a purpose and that those who harm us will eventually get what they deserve. When life is good, we want reassurance that the good times won’t end. In both situations, we seek certainty beneath a cloud of uncertainty.

Perhaps that’s why concepts such as karma, fate, destiny, the evil eye, and divine justice hold such enduring appeal. They offer a sense of order when life feels chaotic.

The point is this: I’m no longer convinced that karma operates in the way people often claim it does.

The Illusion of Cosmic Justice

A few days ago, I read about an 85-year-old man being sent to prison. Assuming he was guilty, many people would describe it as karma finally catching up with him.

But is it?

At 85, he could barely walk. He may have dementia or another age-related illness. He may not even be fully aware of where he is or why he is there. If someone cannot comprehend or meaningfully experience punishment, can we really say that karma has delivered justice?

Then there is the opposite question.`

What about good and decent people who suffer throughout their lives? What about those who spend years battling disease, betrayal, poverty, or circumstances they never chose for themselves? What about young people who die early despite doing everything “right”?

Where is karma then?

From Accountability to Experience

The older I get, the less interested I am in organised systems of cosmic accountability and the more interested I become in human experience.

The only idea I can partially embrace is that life may be a series of lessons. Not necessarily lessons delivered by God or the universe, but lessons learned through experience: through our decisions, mistakes, relationships, and struggles.

Some people call the culmination of those lessons moksha. Others call it prudence, enlightenment, wisdom, or peace.

A New Way of Walking

What I do know is this: I want to spend whatever years I have left learning.

I hope to become a slightly better version of myself than I was yesterday.

There is no longer any competition between myself and anyone else. If others choose to compete with me, that is their decision, not mine.

I no longer believe I was born to fix, reform, or educate the entire world around me — not my family, not my friends, not even my child.

Every child is unique. Even children raised by the same parents grow into entirely different human beings, each with their own personality, strengths, weaknesses, and path.

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned is perhaps the simplest:

Live and let live.

Not because other people require our endorsement, but because peace often follows when we stop trying to control how others live and begin paying closer attention to how we walk our own path.

I may never know whether karma exists, whether destiny is real, or whether there is some grand cosmic ledger balancing every act of kindness and cruelty.

But I do know this:

I have this life.

I have this moment.

And that feels reason enough to learn, to grow, to love well, and to leave people freer to become who they are meant to be.

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