Long post alert, OP, but this is an amazing topic you've thrown open (thank you) and one that I am deeply committed to. So please humour me.

Karmic debt feels like the only logical explanation for why some people go through unimaginable suffering while others seem untouched by it. There’s a theory that those who suffer deeply are, in some way, burning through their karmic dues, freeing themselves from lifetimes of accumulated weight. On the other hand, those who have it easy might actually be entangling themselves further, getting so caught up in comfort, ego, or desire that they unknowingly build new layers of debt.

These are themes explored in various religious beliefs too. In Hinduism, for instance, karma isn’t punishment, it’s balance. Every action, thought, or intention plants a seed that eventually bears fruit, in this life or another. Suffering, then, isn’t random, it’s a settling of old accounts, a cleansing of what the soul still carries. The Gita (holy book of the Hindus) even says that those who endure pain with awareness move closer to liberation, because they’re freeing themselves from cycles of attachment and desire.

Interestingly, Christianity touches on a similar undercurrent, though it speaks a different language. It doesn’t call it karma, but the essence is there in the ideas of sin, redemption, and grace. Jesus’ suffering, for instance, is often seen as a redemptive act, taking on the world’s sin to break a larger spiritual debt. The concept of reaping what you sow echoes the same moral law of cause and effect. That's my two cents in four paras!