“Evening Light” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！How’s everything going?
Today I read a great blog post about positivity, and in it there was the saying, “Everything Happens for a Reason” and I started thinking about that particular phrase for the first time… and I actually don’t agree with it, at least in the way that it is commonly interpreted.
I don’t believe in fate or destiny, predetermined by a god, gods, or other supernatural presence. No, I think that an infinite amount of events are in motion for whatever reason, natural or man-made, and that in our normal daily lives, we’ll come into contact with some of these events. It’s just being in the right place at the right time. No gods necessary.
Why do we feel the need to believe that everything happens for a reason? Isn’t it enough to know that the thing has happened, and now we have the chance to react to it, and hopefully in a positive way?
I suppose for some it might be comforting to believe that a god or spirit is controlling everything, but to me, that is a frightening idea, especially when you see the unfortunate things that happen to innocent people. (Birth defects and leftover landmines come to mind)
Anyways, the phrase “Everything happens for a reason” seems like the first part of a longer phrase, the second part being, “… so look for the silver lining”. But then why not just remove the first part altogether and simply look for the positive in everything.
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Today’s photo is of our breakfast area in our house, and the evening light coming in. I thought it looked nice. I like to take snapshots of the mundane things… they might not be great photos, but they are glimpses into real life. There’s some value in that, I think.
I hope you had a nice Monday!
おやすみなさい！
– B 
