There are many angles I can approach the discussion about how eagerly most people jump headlong into anything that makes them feel better. There are still some finer points and distinctions I need to make.

nbsp;           One of the facets of the matter which I have long been interested in is that people heavily rely on superstitions and rituals to make them feel comfortable. A brief list would be those who can’t even have their first cup of coffee until they consult their astrologer or psychic. Athletes are very superstitious as to how they dress for a game, the amount of steps they take up to home plate, and even making sure not to step on the baseline when they walk off the field. Religious people have their share of them too such as praying for everything in sight ranging from having a safe trip to and from work to a raise they are hoping to get and even as far afield as praying that their favorite team reaches the World Series. These habits are assumed for a very simple reason which is that they feel a lack of control on their environment which makes them very insecure and nervous. So to cope with this shortcoming – so they can at least function in their daily lives – the invent all sorts of rituals to fool themselves into believing that this will placate their deities who will take pity on them and award them kind deeds.

            Another related behavior is when something bad happens (sometimes good but usually bad) which makes no sense whatsoever, how easy it is for them to blame or give credit to God for the incident. These can be exemplified by the case of a man I worked with (a mere 36 years old) was stopped at a red light on his way to work when a tree fell on his car and killed him. The flavor of the day was, “It was God’s will!”

            Or when the tsunami killed over a quarter million people along the Pacific and Indian oceans’ rim, this of course had no rhyme or reason at all so people resorted to the tired but familiar, “It must be in God’s plan!”

            I recently lost a dear friend who suffered with multiple sclerosis for 38 years. She had deteriorated to the approximate state of the well-known scientist Stephen Hawking who has had Lou Gehrig’s Disease for decades now. It was a very sad thing to witness but again, as with so many other cases where there is no sense to be made of the situation, it was popular to say, “It was in God’s hands!”

            Having said that, I must make this analysis; it is a basic human frailty that whenever something comes up which has no explanation people always blame it on God. This is, for one thing, because they have no answer and humans must have a reason for something so God is the only thing available so they blame it on him. It does not suffice to simply leave it at, “I just don’t know.” The reason for this is once again simple and this is because an explanation on a clinical or scientific level, even if one was available, is cold and sterile and in itself leaves most people with an empty unsatisfying feeling. They must have a moral explanation such as it was someone’s fault or on the most popular case, it was God’s handiwork.

            At this juncture we are required to examine the essence of such an attitude. One moral position on such things is practiced by some people, most notably Sylvia Brown who states that when these bad things happen to people it was because on a spiritual or metaphysical level these people “chose” to take on challenges for some bizarre journey to ultimate spiritual fulfillment. I totally reject this explanation and stance because it is clearly just another way of blaming the victim. I add that it is malicious and the mind which invented it is malicious as well much as vindictive people view God as a vengeful and vindictive being.

            Then there are those who say that it was God’s will to send a tsunami or other natural disaster to kill uncounted masses of people. And there are those who say that it is God’s plan to afflict innocent people with terrible illnesses or crippling disabilities. Once again, if God wanted to make a point, couldn’t he find a better way to do than to wantonly kill hundreds of thousands or to inflict such pain on someone who never did any harm to anyone? This too must be the brain child of someone who has a malicious nature in order to conjure up such a hideous plan as the work of God.

            So then, why do they do this? The answer is simple which is that they must have a moral explanation for it and not just any explanation. This requirement is what drives so many people into helplessness and hopelessness when confronted with sense acts of suffering and loss. To them, it must have a moral basis in cause.

            To me, this is a major problem and flaw in human psychology and character. This is always the way which people approach difficult times and they never think of an answer not based on a moral explanation such as it was just random chance. It is so much less exhausting to just accept that it was nothing more than dumb luck to be standing where a lightning bolt strikes you dead than to blame it on God or to fruitlessly search for a moral explanation for it. This is the same to say that a person acquires a life changing and debilitating disease at an early age for no more reason than he or she chose the wrong gene pool to be born into.

            Over the last century and a half many have become very upset when they are told that they are descended from simians. Then along I come to tell people that they are no more significant than a grain of sand or a quantum particle so you can imagine how unnerved this makes them. But I say this for a reason and this is that once we realize that we really are just a mass of chemicals and electrical impulses, the need for a moral explanation of things begins to fade in importance. If we approach the conundrum from a point of everything being a freak accident or series of random chances, it becomes so much simpler.

            If a purpose is still needed, then let it be that the one thing which separates us from other life forms is that we can think. And because of this, then our goal or purpose should not be directed towards constantly finding a moral explanation for everything which at first glance lacks one. This is so fruitless and wasteful of energy. Our goal should be to contribute to the collective pool of knowledge. We should not indulge our own brand of moral explanations and ascribe them to everything that happens or that which we want to happen. As I often say, “Bad things find us naturally so why go out in search for more?” When confronted with something tragic or otherwise life altering, don’t expend you r energies looking for something or someone to blame it on. Just accept that it is just random chance and it happened to be your turn.

            Then too, another angle to look at this from, is that if we don’t use our unique intellects to add to the combined knowledge of man, and instead direct our energies toward finding ways of placating the “spirits of bad or good luck”, or try to distract ourselves from reality by indulging in any form of distraction which are so common today, then it all becomes a matter of entertainment or amusement. It is directed in no constructive manner or goal but becomes just a variety of wasting time. This is a crime against the intellect which is the only thing which sets apart from all other things.