Growing up in a Hindu household, Karma served as a fundamental tenant of my life. God's system of checks and balances, do good and good will follow etc.
As I got older and my belief in organized religion began to wain (and eventually disappeared), I still held on to the concept of Karma. While the rational side of me understands that there is little causality between one's actions, and being rewarded/punished in a future time period (beyond things that are obviously linked, i.e. cheating and divorce, crime and jail), I still can't shake the feeling that I'm wracking up cosmic brownie points or penalties.
I try and live a pretty decent life, but when I do something I know I shouldn't be doing (downloading a pirated movie, watching porn etc.), I try and "buy" my salvation by doing something charitable - normally donating money to a cause of some kind.
Even though I don't believe in religion, and my belief in God is best described as "tenuous", I still feel as though karma is a real thing - an unseen balancing force in the universe.
Anybody else have any thoughts on this? Even if it isn't real, Karma seems like a useful construct to help guide one's life - alternatively, I am a simpleton holding onto irrational religious belief beat into me as a child.