The reasons why

We are obsessed with understanding why things happen; Science tries to find out why the world acts the way it does, it is the basis of religion too. Our curious nature is the wonder of the universe but it is also a terrible burden; it can lead us to seek answers where there are none.

Why do bad things happen in the world? Why do I have Parkinson’s disease? There is no reason. It just is. Our need to answer the question is a need for control in a hostile world. If we can understand why we can prevent it and make the world and ourselves safer. But sometimes the world cannot offer any answers and this leads us into logical despair; we end up praying to God who, as author of the world, is responsible for (or at least neglectful of) the evil in the world. So, we end up replacing “why is there evil in the world” with “why does God allow it” and get absolutely nowhere in answering the why.

Some people blame themselves for being “born into sin”. But such reasoning is a cry of despair. In no way did we choose to be born or choose the way we exist. What have I got to do with what supposedly happened 2000 years ago? That’s not my responsibility; that’s like saying I committed murder ten years before I was born and I should be punished for it.

We should learn to live with uncertainty and not knowing why. It just is. We can learn to do something about it by trying to understanding how the world works but filling our lives trying to understand why is trying to climb through the looking glass; instead we bang our heads and we are left looking at our reflection and wondering, “why am I here?” No reason…