Does everything happen for a reason? I hear this from so many people without any explanation as how this is so. What do you think about this belief? I will share an explanation and I would like you to express what you think about it. When bad things happen,for example,accidents,disease,famine,poverty etc. If everything happens for a reason,then some agent must have wanted them to happen.If a person can be fingered for the misfortune,he can be punished or squeezed for damages.If no individual can be singled out,one might blame the nearest ethnic or religious minority,who can be lynched or massacred in a pogrom. If no mortal can plausibly be indicted,one might cast about for witches,who may be burned or drowned. Failing that,one points to sadistic gods,who cannot be punished but can be placated with prayers and sacrifices.And then there are disembodied forces like Karma,fate,spiritual messages,cosmic justice,and other guarantors of the intuition that "everything happens for a reason." Could it be instead that misfortunes may be no ones fault. To which of the above do you ascribe to and why? I myself don'believe that everything happens for a reason,it just is what it is and humans or animals or nature can be the cause of so much suffering and unforeseen things. Yes someone or thing can be at fault. I give credit to Steven Pinker and his new book...Enlightenment Now..The case for Reason,Science,Humanism,and Progress. Everything happens for a reason has always bothered me because i could not give a person who says this to me a clear answer. Thanks to Steven Pinker I can give them something to think about.
By an old time member Blueblades since 2002