Karma, reincarnation, ignorance, wisdom and deliverance

[alchemystical]

If you stop for a moment and consider the fact that you, right now, are embodied on this planet you could then deduce there is a 50/50 chance you could once again find yourself in a similar predicament. In previous times stretching back far beyond history it appeared that the knowledge (not belief) of reincarnation was widespread and self evident which is in sharp contrast to todays scientific materialist times that believe you spin the wheel once and thats it so get all you can get with no thought for the consequence.

First I'm wondering your thoughts on all of this in terms of the wheel of life and what it means to be and second the oh so interesting question of karma for if one subscribes to the principle that life is a dream within a dream and we keep living and dying in a cycle until we wise up then you can't help but wonder:

Is it really fair to be "punished" via the circumstances of this life, into which you are born with ignorance, if you have no awareness of what you did the last time round? In a sense thats like compounding and its easy to see how the fools become more foolish with each step because its not like you get a guide book which says "Here's what not to do this time round" as you're thrust into circumstance which ostensibly is engineered to balance the scales which you yourself imbalanced in the first place.

Kind of a crooked deal, n'cest pas? Like going into a casino. Getting $100 worth of free chips, hitting the jackpot and then being told you can't withdraw it until you've gambled again for a certain period of time and then finding yourself in debt and having to wash the dishes for the other patrons instead. At least that would be fairer because you'd know the reasoning behind it all and could've very easily said "Keep your free chips and the winnings I generated, I'm out" as you strolled out of the establishment but in the game of life there is no such option.

Obviously this is a very wide reaching topic so if I've inspired you to jump off on a tangent feel free to share it so we can all explore it as all paths lead to the same place anyway and this way we might see some delightful sights we otherwise would not have.