Does Everything Happen for a Reason?

We have all heard it before. The phrase of ‘everything happens for a reason’ may imply a generous amount of faith or support the more bluntly logical view that every event has both a cause and effect.  All good intentions aside, this old adage could use some elaboration which is what I intend to provide.

My view is neither based on the individual concepts of faith or logic, but both.

Just by observing the world, logic tells me how vast and complex it is. Although I feel at the centre of it all, that is only my perception, and also my limitation.

A limitation to see everything that is transpiring, and for anything I do observe, I may also be viewing it in isolation, missing its cause and its following effects, thus making any judgements I place, incomplete.

Just take one single event that happened to you and imagine it starting off like a simple mathematical equation. From there the amount of variables that can come into consideration is well beyond our comprehension. Every solution also has the potential to be another equation, so the process may be much longer than we realise.

Yes, its true. Just like in a numerical sense, things may turn out negative or positive. But this is where faith comes in.

It’s not faith that old mate in the sky has a giant calculator and everything will turn out positive. I see faith as a decision to believe that regardless of the immediate observable odds, things still have the potential to turn out for the better.

We’ve all encountered a ‘blessing in disguise’ before.  A painful breakup which allowed you to meet your current sweetheart. An unfair job loss which opened you up to the great opportunity you have now. These examples are specific solutions that in our moments of grief combined with our limited knowledge of everything that was going to transpire, we couldn’t predict or estimate.

So that is faith. However, I’ll end on the topic of logic.

Through the same observation of the world, logic also tells me that unfortunately things just happen, because they do, and it’s completely up to us to find that worthwhile reason.

Tragedies and illnesses strike everyday, and we all know that one person who we just couldn’t find the right words to condole when it did. You may even be that person.

As painful as it is, misfortune and the fragile nature of life, are truths we all have to accept. When we do, we can find support through others who feel the same. Once the discomforting resistance to what has happened has ceased  and we accept where we are, we can just focus on our next move.

Eg. Using a illness to increase your appreciation of life. A loss bringing a family closer together. Opening a foundation in someone’s name. Taking measures so the same thing doesn’t happen to others.

Things may never be better than they were, but with logic and faith, they can be better.