I found that discussion of reincarnation and the idea of karma mostly very interesting. I did feel it fell short in a couple of areas.
I do agree that the very word 'karma' may mean different things and when we use it may actually cause confusion rather than clarity since the meaning intended by the speaker may be completely different to the meaning held by the listener. For that reason I have dropped the word completely myself, it may still crop up in something I say, but I think it is such a muddied concept that it may be best replaced by different terminology.
As for the discussion, at the start I was trying to urge them both to bring up the ideas of the NDE and associated life-review, which was in fact discussed. That I feel was a positive. Well, there were a number of other positives, I didn't take notes while I was watching, so can't list them all.
A couple of things I didn't like much was (If I recall correctly) the use of the idea of cause-and-effect and then linking it with the idea of reward-and-punishment. To me the latter is mostly a useless remnant, it is I feel an idea worth forgetting. Another idea which was mentioned, that of using the concept of karma as a means of social control - ugh - another idea worth forgetting.
One major omission. Once we take the concept that our actions (or even thoughts) have consequences, why is it necessary to wait until either a life review, or a successive lifetime, in order to resolve them? Why not start right now? Following on from this, in terms of acquiring data, each of our own lives can be considered as a laboratory experiment, where these things can be studied directly. I've certainly observed cause-and-effect play themselves out within this single lifetime, sometimes directly, within seconds, or a few hours, a few days, or even a number of years. I don't see this as conflicting with the idea of free-will, rather it tends to support it.
The preferred model which I use is that of 'no separation'. By that, I mean that the concept of other people or creatures as separate from ourself is misleading. In that sense, one might even argue that all love is self-love, and all harm is self-harm. At least this is the way things seem to play out for me. (I'm well aware that others may disagree or argue against this.)
I have sometimes mused upon what sort of a life-review I might have. I was reminded of that on reading an NDE account recently:
Quote:But, then came the "other side" of my life. To my surprise, I was not subjected to all of the lying and deceit that I would expect to see from my youth or all of the sexual trysts and dalliances from my college days.
Quote:The acts that were thrown into my face were those that seemed inconsequential and trivial.
https://iands.org/ndes/nde-stories/iands...asure.html
Back to the subject of reincarnation. It was some sort of concept of karma which led me to dig more deeply into the subject. I had (many years ago now) started to hypothesise that I must have been some sort of terrible person in a previous lifetime. What I eventually discovered was something else. It was more along the lines of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While the earlier existence I found was no saint, it wasn't some cosmic retribution, reward and punishment which was thrown upon me. No. More simply it was a continuity, so that issues remaining unresolved were eventually to be picked up and dealt with. I've often thought of this lifetime as a time of healing, as the former damage is gradually dispelled.