Discussion Main / KarmicTransformation

• A special case in Bruce Almighty. Bruce Nolan curses God after having a rotten day, calling Him "a mean little kid with a magnifying glass." God shows up and challenges Bruce to do a better job of running the universe, endowing Bruce with all His power. What's unusual about this example is that Bruce doesn't so much hate God as he is envious of Him, and at first he thinks having all of God's power is pretty awesome. It only gradually dawns on him that being God comes with enormous responsibilities, and doesn't mean getting one's own way all the time.

Bruce never gets transformed. Into anything.

• A positive example is Saul, a persecutor of Christians, being struck by light from Heaven on his way to Damascus and persuaded to convert to Christianity himself. He then becomes known as Paul — and the rest is history.

Same problem with transformation. He also wasn't forced to change, he made that decision after his sight was restored.

• In The Green Mile the Hate Sink guard Percy Wetmore is constantly bragging about how his family connections will soon get him out of the prison and into a much easier job in a mental institution. Percy eventually does go there... as an inmate.

And again, no transformation into anything. He doesn't say he disdains mental institute inmates, just that it'll be an easier, sweeter gig.

• Pounder's transformation doesn't really count, since it is more or less explicitly stated that he didn't hate rats, and in fact quite liked them, viewing them as a worthy adversary (cross-references nicely with Reaper Man in which Death says "What can the harvest hope for but the care of the reaper man?"), and his post-mortem transformation into a rat is implied to be a good thing.

Not entirely supported by the text, where Pounder's last human words are bewailing his fate "But I don't even believe in reincarnation!" and the Death of Rats' response (Squeak!, meaning "reincarnation believes in you") does sound just a little bit venegeful. Pounder may well see himself as someone who respects rats as a worthy adversary, but the rats see him as someone who kills them.

Is it still Karmic Transformation if the person is rewarded by it (for a good deed), or is that Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence still? Even if its not being Put on a Bus ?