If there is a God, why do so many bad things happen?
Ah what a loaded question! This question is one of those questions that people throughout time have tried to answer. And even if there isn't a God, why do bad things happen?
I have been sitting with this Ecotrain Question of the Week since it was posed and today seems like a good day to answer it.
You see, many of you who have been following us since the beginning of the year may remember that we were in a car accident. We didn't have a scratch on us and our car just needed a new tire and a new oil pan- pretty minor really considering what happened when we had the accident. We had the car fixed and processed the trauma/lessons and that was that.
Two weeks ago we went onto a friend's family land to pick blackberries. The roads were a little rough, but nothing we hadn't seen before in our beloved Jetta! We always take those roads slowly, but this time something horrible happened. A teeny tiny knick from a rock ruined the entire oil pan again! Drop $500! Very frustrating that this happened with such a little knick. We got the car back the day before yesterday and yesterday I drove it to the local river so I could go floating with some friends...
As I'm pulling out of the river, a guy who is sitting there says, "Is that blue car any of yours? You probably shouldn't drive it; all the oil leaked out." Frustrated and upset to find my car like this (after an amazing day) AND after I had just had this problem fixed, luckily Ini was driving by the river at just that time and met up with me and took me home (very good timing.) This morning he called the mechanic and he said that it leaked because there was silicone plugging a hole on the engine block where it looked like the first mechanic to fix it from the initial accident had forgotten to take off a screw (when removing the oil pan) and just ripped it off the engine block leaving a hole. You can imagine how angry we are!!!
So why did this happen to us? Has God turned her back on us? Is karma returning to us? Is this another "life lesson" teaching us in the school of life? Is there no rhyme or reason for this bad thing that happened to us (or to anyone else, for that matter)?
What about wars? Rape? Death? Genocide? Health Crises? Loss?
It's undeniable that bad things happen every day and that none of us are immune to this.
So, here it goes,
If there is a God, why do so many bad things happen?
Despite growing up in the evangelical non-denominational Christian church, my views on God have changed drastically. God is no longer a big man in the sky to me. God isn't a savior of the world brought down to earth through the body of Jesus Christ. God however still is a spirit moving through things, kind of like the Christian version of the holy spirit.
It's this spirit moving through life that I see as God. However, I'm not sure if this spirit is there to protect and shield us from "bad things happening." Does the life force energy flowing through all things have a priority in getting things to be "all good all the time?"
Two things come to mind here, first the Taoist story I also shared in the car accident post:
It’s a story of a farmer and his horse.
One day his horse runs away. And his neighbor comes over and says, to commiserate, “I’m so sorry about your horse.” And the farmer says “Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?” The neighbor is confused because this is clearly terrible. The horse is the most valuable thing he owns.
But the horse comes back the next day and he brings with him 12 feral horses. The neighbor comes back over to celebrate, “Congratulations on your great fortune!” And the farmer replies again: “Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?”
And the next day the farmer’s son is taming one of the wild horses and he’s thrown and breaks his leg. The neighbor comes back over, “I’m so sorry about your son.” The farmer repeats: “Who Knows What’s Good or Bad?”
Sure enough, the next day the army comes through their village and is conscripting able-bodied young men to go and fight in war, but the son is spared because of his broken leg.
And this story can go on and on like that. Good. Bad. Who knows?
The second is this oft quoted poem from Kahlil Gibran
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.
Also as an aside, I don't what to trivialize things like Genocide, Rape, etc by sharing these stories and saying that "Maybe it's good or maybe it's bad" or make some pat answer that tries to explain away the pain and devastation (generational and personal) that people experience by saying it can be redeemed in some way or it's for some "greater good that we cannot see"...
All of the pain in the world is obviously very real and I think at the end of the day it's not about the WHY, but about how we respond to it that matters/we have any control over.
Do people ask the question "If there is a God, why do so many bad things happen" because they're looking for someone to blame? That's usually a knee jerk reaction in the face of adversity- someone must be to blame- and the end of the line person is the one who theoretically created it all to begin with, God! The Ultimate!
But I don't think you can look at it that way. I think bad things happen just as good things happen. I don't believe there is a God pulling the strings and I shared that Taoist story to illustrate the blurred edges between good/bad and the way they contain and inhabit one another. Good and bad are not poles, but essences dancing throughout all of our moments. I shared the Gibran poem to convey that bad cannot be bad without the good to compare it to. That's the nature of our human life. If everything was good all the time (like heaven theoretically will be to the Christians), how would we know it was good?
Where is the juice, the thing that keeps the story going? If we're all slathered in bliss and goodness all the time how can we differentiate it from anything?
When I'm faced with things like this car dilemma, this is where my mind goes. There is a spirit knocking at the gate at the top of my head telling me things will be okay (even if they don't seem okay now.) Asking me to trust the process of life.
Does it make sense? No!
Does it suck? Yeah, sometimes!
But it seems like the carving out that happens from these bad things does strengthen, teach, and polish us up just like a diamond going through intense heat or a pearl working away in the oyster.
Life contains All of this, not just the bliss and that is what we have to contend with as we live on this blue and green planet careening amongst the stars.
So here's my take on this extraordinary and controversial long term unsolveable human question.
What about you? I challenge you to write a post (or a comment here) with your answer!
