Karma is defined as "the sum of a person’s actions in this and previous states of existence, viewed as affecting their future fate" by the oxford dictionary. In today's context, it is used more loosely, as readers have often read the phrases "good karma" or "bad karma". For the length of this discussion, we will understand the term "good karma" as utility, (or enjoyment, or shiok-ness) as the result of earlier good deeds, and conversely for "bad karma", as disutility (or bad luck, or bad life)
the model of Karma operates under the assumption of many repeated lifetimes. (A perfect long run) However, we can understand the model using the same micro-model of many periods of life within our known lifetime. Doing a good deed in period one leading to good karma in a later period (not necessary period 2). Then assume we live for uncountable number of periods.
Digressing from Karma-talk, we will now consider a situation of consumption smoothing as means of maximizing our lifetime enjoyment. This is easily understood when you imagine yourself having 1000 chocolates for your lifetime. Imagine i give you 1000 chocolates now... if you eat all at once now, you'll probably be too fat and die of disgust anyway. If you choose to save everything till when you're old, you'll probably not enjoy it very much when you're 80 anyway. the best choice, hence, would be "consumption smoothing" and consume regularly at different periods of your life. agreed?
whenever we do a "bad deed" like cheating, stealing, walking away from the salvation army cans, buying a cheapskate present, refusing to help someone else do their projects etc etc.. WE STAND TO GAIN! agreed? (we get to save our money, get better grades, cheat some money, etc) But one day Karma is going to get back at us and we'll feel its wrath.
whenever we do a "good deed" like buying tissue paper form the 1 dollar auntie, or befriending some smelly bugger, or actually DONATING to the salvation army, we suffer current losses. we lose money, we suffer the smelliness, or end up with 5 packets of tissue. But one day, Karma will "reward" us, like when your girl really need some tissue to cry, and you get a hug. or smelly guy turns out to be the next american idol. you get my point.
Morals are WRONGLY telling us to ALWAYS do the good thing, do the right thing, donate to the smelly guy, give up the seats. because that is NOT consumption smoothing! It is the same as saving all your good karma for the future! like saving 1000 chocolates to the last period of your life! To make matters worse, we do not even know when our life ends. if it ends too early, your good karma is like your CPF: forfeited. If it never ends, you will have one shitload of good karma waiting for you but you never FULLY enjoying it, like your CPF.
Obviously, the above model of "always doing the right thing" was designed by someone who did not understand the economics of utility. IF karma is an investment, and breaking our life down into multiple periods, the best strategy would be to keep a balanced portfolio. Invest some, consume some, and invest DIFFERENTLY. at every time period, we should do BOTH good and "bad" deeds, in order to reap maximum utility.
in a nutshell, don't always donate money, or befriend the smelly guy. neither should you always avoid the tissue auntie. MIX UP your karma, smooth out your consumption over different time periods. have a chocolate every few days.
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