Sunday, August 23, 2009

Everything Happens for a Reason?

Prompted by a Facebook post by one of my younger cousins, I'm copying and pasting the thread because this frequent assertion is something that really bothers me and her post just allowed me to articulate my feelings on the subject:

My cousin's initial post: i will pay someone ample amounts of money to prove the "everything happens for a reason" bullshit.

One of her friend's replies: interesting... the fact that you even say that boggles the mind. (I can't tell from this reply which side of the argument this person falls on, but tend to think, based on the vague, somewhat ridiculing tone that he hasn't really given it much thought).

My reply: Actually, Steph - I think it's an excellent question. Things happen *for a reason* due to simple cause and effect, i.e. the reason I got a ticket is because I ran a red light. The fact that my driving may improve after is simply a possible result of the initial incident, NOT the reason for it happening. It's annoying to me that our species is so intelligent in so many ways, but that a large percentage have allowed themselves to believe in this backwards thinking, and I mean backwards literally (cause = effect, not the other way around, which is what that whole "everything happens for a reason" bullshit implies.) Or, put more simply...everything happens *because* of a reason, not *for* a reason. Why we insist on ascribing mystical qualities to something that is as beautifully simple and reasonable as cause and effect is beyond me. So Steph, I don't anticipate that you'll be owing anyone a ton of money anytime soon;-)

1 comment:

dad said...

Couldn't agree more! So many examples: Washing the car causes rain. Forgetting the umbrella does it too. And in my case, buying a stock causes its price to drop. Buying a ski chalet caused global warming. Simple cause and effect!