The Karma Fallacy
On the false belief that the world owes us for our good intentions
We are creatures of habit, and from this, we rely upon the anticipation of events to drive our lives. As we grow up, we see things over and over again. This is how we learn how the world works but also creates patterns in our mind of what we expect for how the world operates.
As the computer scientist Ray Kurzweil has put it:
“We are constantly predicting the future and hypothesizing what we will experience. This expectation influences what we actually perceive.”
One pattern we not only have witnessed throughout our lives but is built into the zeitgeist of society is that if you work hard, you will be rewarded for your efforts.
And this is objectively true, to an extent—when we put in effort, we are able to advance ourselves. But sometimes we take this too far and we begin to believe that every time we put in effort, make a sacrifice, or do “good,” we will be rewarded for that.
In cognitive-behavioral therapy, this is known as the Heaven’s Reward Fallacy, the over exaggerated belief that because we have put in effort, because we’ve put in good karma, we should be reciprocally rewarded with good.
But as we all know or have experienced, just because we do good doesn’t mean we are, will be, or should be rewarded with the same.
The Stoics would tell us that it is through the task of trying to be good, by working towards virtue, that virtue is and within itself the good we will get.
Cicero once stated:
“To the degree a person relies on himself and is made sturdy by virtue and wisdom so that he depends on no one and thus possesses all he needs within himself.”
When we do good, when we pursue virtue and perform acts for the acts themselves and not for something in return, we should keep in mind Cicero’s summary of the dichotomy of control as he articulates it through the symbolism of the archer and his target:
"Take the case of one whose task it is to shoot a spear or arrow straight at some target. One's ultimate aim is to do all in one's power to shoot straight, and the same applies with our ultimate goal. In this kind of example, it is to shoot straight that one must do all one can; none the less, it is to do all one can to accomplish the task that is really the ultimate aim. It is just the same with what we call the supreme good in life. To actually hit the target is, as we say, to be selected but not sought."
Yes, success is dependent on effort, but it does not mean we will always have success. It is the effort which will always advance us even if we do not always hit the target.
As the Stoics reference this idea, it is about everything that leads to the moment of releasing the arrow to strike the target that we control. Once the arrow is released, we’ve let go of control and wait for the end result. The same goes for when we perform acts, we must perform them for the act itself, not the possibility of being rewarded for the act. When we change the focus from looking for rewards outside of our control to the act itself, which in turn is the reward, we pursue virtue, we avoid the fallacy, and we live a more meaningful life.
Is it always fair? No. Sometimes we put into the world and to others a lot more than we get back. And this is unfortunately just a part of life.
As Marcus Aurelius had to remind himself:
“I do what is mine to do; the rest doesn't disturb me.”
Thank you again for reading and I hope you found this useful. Please feel free to heart, comment, or ask questions about this post. Suggestions are always appreciated and considered.
Until next week,
D.A. DiGerolamo