Do you Believe in Karma? Fate? Destiny? Santa?

I don't have any historical proof or first hand knowledge but I like to believe that once upon a time, someone made up these concepts to help themselves and others feel good about themselves. Not that it was just someone with a pen and paper and it happened over night or anything, but that these concepts are man made fairy tales devised to put blame on some mysterious superior power and dismiss all the bad stuff as not our own fault.

Now, not many people would include Santa in with that list but I do because I have children and I find that Santa has very much the same effect that the others do. For example, come October or November, my children's attitudes and behavior change quite drastically when they begin to realize that good things will come to them if only they behave properly.

Doesn't that sound like Karma to you? Isn't it Fate that decides that good things are in store for good people? I know what you're thinking, those things are unavoidable where as you can change how you act in anticipation for Santa and thus fool him into being good to you Christmas morning.

Well I'm sorry but all the arguments in the world won't change the fact that all those arguments can be used both ways. You can fool karma, you can convince fate, you can't avoid Santa's naughty list. And in my mind, they're all just as real as each other.

It's so easy to accept failure because it's simply your destiny, it's easy to motivate yourself into trying harder because you believe you're destined for greatness. Why is one more true than the other? Because you believe one more than the other?  They're both true, they're both false... just like being on Santa's naughty or nice list. Try harder because you're destined to get good presents, and you will. Accept that you're no good and you'll get coal for Christmas.

The only thing that separates Karma, Fate and Destiny from Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy is that adults believe some while children believe the others.

Think about it. What child believes in Karma? Fate?? My children believe that when they're bad, they get no presents and get disciplined. They believe that when they're good they get good stuff. Simple as that. They know that good behavior rewards them. No destiny about it. Do good, get good. Try hard, get rewards. Now ask them about Santa and that's a whole other matter.

Adults are the exact same except the other way around. Adults believe that no matter how hard they try, they're destined to get disciplined or rewarded the same. Adults believe that if you're good you get the same stuff as if you're not, because that's Fate. Adults believe that other bad people will have bad things come to them because that's Karma... somehow that makes them feel better about those bad people.

There's only one thing that separates them, adults believe in some, children in the others. I think the children are far better off, don't you?