Everything that happens, happens because of events leading up to it. So yes, everything happens for a reason. The fact that you can’t trace it doesn’t make it mysterious, just unknown. As far as ‘Reason’ goes, make up your own. It’ll make as much sense as anyone else’s deductions on the matter.
We are splitting “reason” or “goat”?
when i hear people saying everything happens for a reason i get the impression that they just dont mean cause and effect, rather that some outside force created an order of events that leads up to a positive outcome in a future event. like someone else said i dont believe everything happens for a good reason but i am open to the idea to certain things happening for a good reason. theres a good quote from lost “dont mistake coincidence for fate” i know our brain try to rationalize events and connect the dots to things that arnt actually there, still i believe (maybe foolishly)
Micro-scale quantum mechanical effects happen for a reason. These reasons tend to be very, very small.
Shit happens.
What Joe Cephalus said. My paraphrase: we make up a reason after the fact.
I think so, because our reactions to the things that happen to us are what set us on the next path we take. Kinda like walking across a bridge, except you have to lay down the plank & nail it in, in order to be able to take the next step.
I don’t know if this qulaifies as a reason, but, one of the subtler qualities of our existance is the we are in a sense, one of the universe’s ways of observing itself.
Perhaps a way of answering the OP’s question is to assume the opposite holds and then devise a reasonable explanation for that eventuality.
Suppose things really are totally random and unpredictable, and that no relationship can be seen between any two occurrences. Why would we as a species gravitate toward making Order out of Chaos? Why would we waste the energy trying to find connections and patterns?
How would we reasonably counter the arguments that we appear to have found plausible explanations for such as:
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sunrise, or at least a lightening of the sky, will occur within roughly 12 hours of sunset
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if one feels pangs of hunger, eating something will most likely relieve those pangs
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if one throws an object into the air, it will fall back to earth some time later
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there must be some other similar things…
I waded in to note that I find people who have this belief tend to be either fatalistic, or deep into their faith, or both.
I am personally repelled by the implication of this belief, which is an utter lack of free will and/or responsibility for one’s actions; but that’s a statement of dislike on my part rather than an argument.
This is actually how I interpreted the OP.
I would like to believe that bad things that happen actually avert worse things (you know, like you’re late to work, but if you weren’t you might have gotten into a car wreck with someone who would have passed you texting), and I’d like to believe that wishes made at 11:11 come true, but really? Those thoughts are fanciful and comforting, but it’s rather unlikely that there’s a basis for either beyond the thoughts making life a bit more bearable.
In a literal sense, of course everything happens for a reason. Life isn’t chaos, all things are subjected to cause and effect, though obviously many of the causes are completely in the hands of others because the series of their choices and actions build to set up antecedents that effect others, very often complete strangers (like if you did get hit by the idiot texting, the cause of your accident would be their callous lack of regard for others prompting them to do something stupid while driving).
No.
:smack: You stole my answer.
Usually when people say everything happens for a reason, they’re really talking about purpose and significance. They mean that even the most trivial event has some significance, and there’s a consciousness behind everything.
I totally disagree with this. There’s no evidence of a consciousness that causes things to happen, and there’s no reason to believe that everything has significance. But on the other hand, I do believe in cause and effect, so I’d say everything has a cause, and also has an effect on other things.
Yep, absolutely. Everything that happens, happens for a reason.
That is not to say, that there is any guidance or supreme being behind the reason. For instance, last week, my AC unit broke. That happened due to a series of severe power surges, that eventually fried the control transformer. The power surges were the reason, the failure of the transformer was the result.
The reason is usually blind random chance.
This is my philosophy:
[QUOTE=Douglas Adams]
Anything that happens, happens. Anything that, in happening, causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen. Anything that, in happening, causes itself to happen again, happens again. It doesn’t necessarily do it in chronological order though.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, everything happens for a reason.
No, everything doesn’t happen for a purpose.
Why did person X die 4 years ago when the freeway bridge collapsed in Minneapolis?
Reason - They were driving over the bridge when material fatigue caused it to collapse. Or maybe, because they were trapped underwater and unable to breath.
Purpose - none
Why did a giant meteor hit the Earth, leading to the extinction of most life?
Reason - Because the orbit of the Earth intersected the orbit of the meteor.
Purpose - none
I do believe that everything happens for a reason, but that reason is not always caused by God. That reason may be done by humans. Regardless, in the end, there is a lesson to learn. Certainly, we are sometimes so hurt that we can’t find anything good to learn from bad things.
But I thought those who believed in a god also believed that all things come from god, and that everything that happens is preordained by god, therefore everything is caused by god. Since god supposedly directs all our lives, then all things caused by humans are caused by god, right? That’s why I view religious causality as complete nonsense.
It’s one of those things that people say to provide comfort. It’s a suggestion that if you’re patient and faithful, something good will come out of adversity. Or that your dilemma/situation connects you to intelligently-designed cosmic events greater than yourself, and it’s not your place to change or question it.
So if your wallet is stolen, don’t worry! The person who snatched it will use your credit card to buy some medicine that will prevent his baby from dying, and the baby will later become the great-grandfather of the Golden Child–who will save us all from going to hell. Be happy that your wallet was stolen!
It is comforting to think that something good can result from the course of events following a personal disaster–thereby justifying the personal disaster. But it’s crazy thinking because people rarely question whether the good balances out the bad. They don’t know what the alternative would have been. So I end up playing a winning lottery ticket after having spent five years unemployed and broke…and if I had had a job, I probably wouldn’t have been thinking about playing the lottery in the first place. But maybe if I had had a job, I wouldn’t have spent the last five years becoming addicted to lotto tickets, burning through thousands of dollars. I would have gotten married, had a kid, bought a house, and gotten a promotion at work. As much as people talk about how much they love their significant others and their children, I’m not thinking they would trade them for a winning lotto ticket.
I think it’s human nature to do this. It’s why religion and superstition are so ubiquitous. And finding the upside to everything does have a comforting effect. I think it is one of those habits we’ve evolved to get through the shittiness of life. When you don’t have it, suicide makes perfect sense.
No, unless you’re referring to the basic relationship between cause and effect. Cars seem to break down randomly, but it’s really because the battery was going bad for weeks. Parents think their children hate them for no reason, but it’s really because the parents did a shitty job of raising their kids for the first 18 years of their life, or because the kid has a chemical imbalance (depression etc) that went untreated for too long.
It’s more accurate to say that there are reasons everything happens. Trying to ascribe all of these little events and non-events to a divine power or greater purpose is where people fundamentally fuck up. People like to think there is a silver lining in every dark cloud, but if there is, it’s merely coincidental.