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Nobody to Blame
Let's start by stating a bold claim that you've probably never heard before. Upon first hearing this claim, you'll most likely think it to be ridiculous and absurd, but by the end of this article, you'll see the utterly obvious truth of it, and you'll never look at the world the same way again. Are you ready for it? Here it is…
There is no cause of anything.
That's right. Nothing "causes" anything else to happen… ever. Now let me explain why.
As an example, let's say that a man needs milk, and he walks several blocks to the corner store to buy it. After purchasing the milk he begins his walk home, but while crossing the street there's a drunk driver that doesn't notice the stop sign at the intersection where the man is crossing. At the very last second the drunk driver slams on his breaks, but it's too late, and he hits the man crossing the street.
If we just take a step back in the way we perceive things, we could just as easily say that the man was hit by that drunk driver because cars were invented. Or because the wheel was invented. Or because of the development of technology. Or because somebody figured out how to make pavement for driving on.
Maybe the man was hit because of his neediness for milk. Or because his wife sent him to the store. Or because of his wife's enjoyment of breakfast cereal. Maybe it's because people drink milk. Or perhaps it happened because cows exist.
Maybe it happened because the man chose to live in the exact location that he does. Or maybe it was because that was the only house on the market that he could afford, and he could only afford that house because of the job he has, and he has that job because he dropped out of high school.
Maybe he was hit by the drunk driver because of the precise speed in which the man walks, and the exact time he got there. Or because he had to stop to re-tie his shoe lace that had come undone. Or because he didn't tie them properly when he first left his house. Or because he chose to wear that specific pair of shoes to walk to the store. Or because he chose to buy those exact shoes. Or because he could only afford those shoes.
Maybe it's because the city chose to install a stop sign instead of traffic lights. Or because stop signs aren't twice as big. Or because they're not fluorescent yellow.
What if the whole incident happened because the man decided to walk to the store instead of driving? Or what if it was because the store was built at that location? Or because the owner of the store decided that was a good place to set up shop?
Perhaps it was because the drunk driver was born. Or because the man buying milk was born. Or because either of the men's parents had sex. Or because his parent's parents had sex. Or because any of these people ever met each other in the first place.
What if it was because the human species evolved in the manner that it did? Or because life came to be on the planet? Or maybe it was because of the "big bang" (if that's how it happened). Maybe it's because the physical universe exists.
It might have been because of the location of the bar that the drunk driver was drinking at. Or because the drunk driver had to be home at a certain time. Or because the drunk driver had to work in the morning. Or because his taste buds like the taste of alcohol. Or because he's not able to overcome his addiction despite all of his efforts. Or because nobody has taken him to an AA meeting.
The drunk driver may certainly be irresponsible, and maybe he lacks proper judgment, but that certainly isn't "the cause". It's only one tiny minute reason out of a literally infinite and unending number of factors within all of existence. There is no end to the amount of circumstances that come into play, and not a single one of them is the cause of anything else.
So let us repeat the lesson learned… There is no cause of anything… ever. There are only automatic effects and consequences. Everything is happening of its own, as a spontaneous result.
Most importantly of all, if there is no cause of anything, there is nothing and nobody to blame for anything, and if there is nothing to blame, then there is absolutely nothing to be angry about. Everything just is what it is, and we have no choice but to accept it. No matter what's happing in the universe, it's perfect, and it can't possibly be anything but. This understanding literally forces us to fully accept absolutely everything as it is. There is nothing to complain about and we have no choice but to forgive everybody for everything they have ever done, no matter what that might have been.
What a person does, and chooses, is determined by what a person is, and what they are is determined by what they are aware of. Everybody is exactly what they are currently aware of, and what they are currently aware of is based upon an infinite number of factors.
We might all be learning from "mistakes", but at least we can all be at peace (of mind) with each other as life unfolds. The whole concept of causation is an entirely false ingrained perception that is in everybody's best interest to let go of. If everybody had this understanding, we would have total world peace because nobody would be acting out of anger, blame, resentment, hate, or fear. Everybody would fully accept, forgive, respect, and love all of life for what it is. And we would no longer need lawyers.
There is no cause of anything.
That's right. Nothing "causes" anything else to happen… ever. Now let me explain why.
As an example, let's say that a man needs milk, and he walks several blocks to the corner store to buy it. After purchasing the milk he begins his walk home, but while crossing the street there's a drunk driver that doesn't notice the stop sign at the intersection where the man is crossing. At the very last second the drunk driver slams on his breaks, but it's too late, and he hits the man crossing the street.
If we just take a step back in the way we perceive things, we could just as easily say that the man was hit by that drunk driver because cars were invented. Or because the wheel was invented. Or because of the development of technology. Or because somebody figured out how to make pavement for driving on.
Maybe the man was hit because of his neediness for milk. Or because his wife sent him to the store. Or because of his wife's enjoyment of breakfast cereal. Maybe it's because people drink milk. Or perhaps it happened because cows exist.
Maybe it happened because the man chose to live in the exact location that he does. Or maybe it was because that was the only house on the market that he could afford, and he could only afford that house because of the job he has, and he has that job because he dropped out of high school.
Maybe he was hit by the drunk driver because of the precise speed in which the man walks, and the exact time he got there. Or because he had to stop to re-tie his shoe lace that had come undone. Or because he didn't tie them properly when he first left his house. Or because he chose to wear that specific pair of shoes to walk to the store. Or because he chose to buy those exact shoes. Or because he could only afford those shoes.
Maybe it's because the city chose to install a stop sign instead of traffic lights. Or because stop signs aren't twice as big. Or because they're not fluorescent yellow.
What if the whole incident happened because the man decided to walk to the store instead of driving? Or what if it was because the store was built at that location? Or because the owner of the store decided that was a good place to set up shop?
Perhaps it was because the drunk driver was born. Or because the man buying milk was born. Or because either of the men's parents had sex. Or because his parent's parents had sex. Or because any of these people ever met each other in the first place.
What if it was because the human species evolved in the manner that it did? Or because life came to be on the planet? Or maybe it was because of the "big bang" (if that's how it happened). Maybe it's because the physical universe exists.
It might have been because of the location of the bar that the drunk driver was drinking at. Or because the drunk driver had to be home at a certain time. Or because the drunk driver had to work in the morning. Or because his taste buds like the taste of alcohol. Or because he's not able to overcome his addiction despite all of his efforts. Or because nobody has taken him to an AA meeting.
The drunk driver may certainly be irresponsible, and maybe he lacks proper judgment, but that certainly isn't "the cause". It's only one tiny minute reason out of a literally infinite and unending number of factors within all of existence. There is no end to the amount of circumstances that come into play, and not a single one of them is the cause of anything else.
So let us repeat the lesson learned… There is no cause of anything… ever. There are only automatic effects and consequences. Everything is happening of its own, as a spontaneous result.
Most importantly of all, if there is no cause of anything, there is nothing and nobody to blame for anything, and if there is nothing to blame, then there is absolutely nothing to be angry about. Everything just is what it is, and we have no choice but to accept it. No matter what's happing in the universe, it's perfect, and it can't possibly be anything but. This understanding literally forces us to fully accept absolutely everything as it is. There is nothing to complain about and we have no choice but to forgive everybody for everything they have ever done, no matter what that might have been.
What a person does, and chooses, is determined by what a person is, and what they are is determined by what they are aware of. Everybody is exactly what they are currently aware of, and what they are currently aware of is based upon an infinite number of factors.
We might all be learning from "mistakes", but at least we can all be at peace (of mind) with each other as life unfolds. The whole concept of causation is an entirely false ingrained perception that is in everybody's best interest to let go of. If everybody had this understanding, we would have total world peace because nobody would be acting out of anger, blame, resentment, hate, or fear. Everybody would fully accept, forgive, respect, and love all of life for what it is. And we would no longer need lawyers.
Labels: acceptance, blame, cause, enlightenment, forgiveness, love, peace, spirituality, world peace
posted by Jarett | Thursday, November 20, 2008
4 Comments:
Very good post, Jarret. But we should take care of sentences like "Everything just is what it is, and we have no choice but to accept it" because it looks like we can't do nothing. By this reason, somebody says buddhism is "niilist", but it isn't any way. Att, Oraculo, Brazil.
I disagree completely with your statement. Your entire argument is based off the concept that, "Everything is happening of its own, as a spontaneous result." The basic premise of such an argument is that every action that causes a reaction, is a spontaneous, and more importantly, a RANDOM event that produces a result.
The idea of randomness is ultimately the strongest argument against ideas such as free will. Lemme explain it as follows: You're in line at a buffet at the dessert section. You have the choice of either eating a peach or eating a piece of cake. You pick the cake for reasons A, B, and C, and you refuse the peach for reasons D, E, and F. If you were to hypothetically redo that exact moment, with everything being the same, you would still make the same decision, because reasons A, B, C, D, E, and F would all be the same. Your reasons compelling you to act would remain the same and therefore so would your choice.
Another argument against randomness is the idea of a dice roll. Rolling dice provides you with the probability to get the numbers 1-6, usually through "random" means. However, were you to control EVERY way the dice is rolled, angle, toss, force, etc, you could hypothetically control the outcome every time. Even down the submolecular level, quarks (the smallest known particle) react based on influence from without. Ultimately, nothing is random. It may appear so because of our lack of knowledge of what is actually causing things to happen.
With this in mind, the only conclusion is that everything is one big chain of being influenced. The idea is that if you knew EVERYTHING, every circumstance, every development since the begining of time (i.e. the theory of the big bang), you would in fact know the outcome for every action that has ever taken place, and will ever take place.
You can therefore claim that the drunk driver didn't cause the other man's death, but was a factor in it. So yes, there is a cause for everything, ultimately one small change resonates throughout time in an infinite amount of ways, and can cause a drunk man to hit an innocent pedestrian. Immediate effects are the only known effects to us because it is impossible to determine the reasons and reasonings of people's actions.
Thanks for the comment.
Although I didn't say it directly, when I said "Everything is happening of its own, as a spontaneous result", I was speaking of karma, the law of attraction, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, what goes around comes around, you reap what you sow, etc. In which case I agree wholeheartedly that there is no such thing as random events, chaos, accidents, co-incidences, flukes, or luck. It's all karma, all the time, because it's not possible for karma to be in effect only some of the time. It doesn't turn on and off.
Free will was never specifically mentioned in my blog post, and I wasn't inferring that there is no such thing. Perhaps I should have worded the sentence this way: "Everything is happening of its own, as a spontaneous result of karma, which is determined by past conscious or unconscious choices."
But if a person doesn't believe in karma, then this means nothing to them. Personally, I know karma is a fact of life because I've purposefully and intentionally put it to practice many times, with the result being so called "miracles" or "co-incidences" (to the naïve).
So yes, there are certainly influences happening all the time (ie. being programmed by TV), but most people consider the word "cause" to be something that is a SINGLE and DIRECT reason, whereas an "influence" is just one of many factors. And there are always many factors, not just one. That's why I think we should stop using "cause".
What we choose to be and do is a choice, but what happens to us as an automatic consequence, is not. Or, I've heard it put this way... "You are personally responsible for everything in your life, once you become aware that you are personally responsible for everything in your life."
Nice discussion.
Karma exists until you realize more.
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