[harmonygirl]

Andyj, can you explain what you mean by medically bad and animal bad? I don't think animals act in contravention of a moral code. They don't harm each other for pleasure, it is for survival. They play, they eat, they mate. No malice. just survival. I have no idea what you mean by medically bad...
I agree that karma is not about payback. I think you're right that positive outlook brings positive results. In my opinion, right action and right thoughts are key. (because I believe that your thougths have energy that is put out into the universe and may have consequences). That is why when I encounter unenlightened, uninformed or just plain miserable people, I don't accept their energy and try not to let it affect me. There is actually a buddhist breathing technique that I have been practicing for a while that basically has you absorbing other people's negativity and emitting positivity (I think of it like being a karmic vacuum cleaner). It is a tricky thing to do and maintain your own positivity!

[ANDY J]

Hi, what i mean by animal bad is that they are not intelligent enough to know their actions may course unnecessary suffering eg: our cat often toys with its prey prior to eating it our cat does not think about the prey suffering but enjoys itself some people are like this they do not have the capacity to see anothers suffering or simply do not want to which could be put down to extreme selfishness.
Medically bad would be mental illness.
Regards Andy j

[harmonygirl]

Interesting point about animal bad, Andyj. I hadn't really considered animals to fall under this category because there is no malice or greed. You are right, however, there is ego. There is play, and there is killing is out of necessity, to defend territory against predators or for food. Not for economic or belief systems. Maybe there is more grey here than I thought! I am not sure I agree with you that mental illness is "bad". People can't help how their bodies work. If their system is deficient, and they become psychopathic killers (to take an extreme example), the important goal in trying to vest the consequences of their actions with them isn't to punish them, because (depending on the type of psychopath) they will likely never learn to feel what they did was wrong. The consequences are best vested by having them undergo medical treatment to allow them to feel that what they did was wrong. (and also, of couse, to separate them from society).