Nothing Happens For A Reason

Lately, I’ve been on a mad dash to find a job in my field of study. I’ve been at it since the end of April; but I’ve recently started attacking my search at full force in hopes of getting my new career off the ground. But, to my chagrin, I’ve been unsuccessful in my efforts. In fact, only one in twenty jobs I apply for actually results in an interview, which in turn leads to those oh so awesome emails and phone calls that tell me I’m perfectly qualified for the job BUT they’ve decided to go in a different direction.

Why am I bringing this up on The Pretty Little Atheist, you ask?

For one thing, when I talk to friends and relatives about my frustrations, most of them automatically gravitate towards the old adage(s), “It just wasn’t meant to be” or “Everything happens for a reason.” But what exactly do these expressions mean?

Both sentences stem from an understanding that our lives – within this world – are governed by some type of external force that has somehow pre-determined the course of events that will ultimately lead to fulfilling the greater purpose of humanity. In other words, these two simple expressions convey a completely religious and solipsistic way of thinking about our lives. It’s as if the billions of human beings throughout existence have each had their own special mission appointed by [the] god[s], whether that mission was to endure homelessness, illness, torture, hunger, poverty, abuse, or addiction… for the greater good of god’s awesome world.

It’s astonishing to me, as an atheist, that anyone still believes that the horrible circumstances listed above are somehow part of a plan crafted by an omniscient, omnipotent being. If there was a god, wouldn’t s/he create opportunities for goodness and growth in the world, instead of subjecting humanity to indecencies as part of her/his plan? And don’t give me that “original sin” bullshit, either!

People who follow the biblical teachings of Christianity, in particular, seem to be the first ones to jump on the idea that we somehow have a greater purpose to fulfill. And this greater purpose stems from the Christian ideology that “God created the heavens and the earth. He created everything on this earth, and most importantly, He created man in His own image. The creation of mankind was special in God’s eyes.” By this ‘logic’, it’s easy to see how Christians – who are taught that the Bible is the direct word of god, and that god is the law – can’t and won’t believe anything other than the solipsistic world view that human beings were put on the Earth to fulfill special, individual tasks related to god’s ultimate plan.

Herein lies the problem: If humanity continues to worship a god that probably doesn’t exist, how can anyone move beyond the belief that our lives are pre-destined, pre-determined, and purposeful? (I use the word ‘purposeful’ not in the sense that our lives are devoid of meaningful experiences that are unique to our own individual journeys through life, but rather in the context that our lives are not governed by an ‘ultimate purpose,’ whereby everything we do has a higher meaning than what we see.) This way of thinking can make us feel inferior and depressed because we’re somehow not living up to our ‘reason for existing.’ I believe we need to move past blaming an otherworldly character for our own downfalls, and instead, admit that sometimes shit happens. Sometimes fault lies in our actions and thought patterns; sometimes, we can blame the greater economy; and other times, we can just chalk up our downfalls to plain old bad luck.

I am henceforth calling for a society in which we take pride in driving our lives forward; and pick ourselves up when we fall behind. We can (and will!) stop blaming ‘god’ for our shortcomings. We will replace “It just wasn’t meant to be” with “You fucked it up. Get over it. You’ll do better next time,” and replace “Everything happens for a reason” with “You, and several other factors in the world in which you live, have produced an unwanted result in your life’s work. You will learn from this mistake so as not to repeat it in the future; and then you will thrive based on those results.”

Here’s to a happy, fruitful, and non-purposeful journey through life! Thanks for reading.

Heather, a.k.a. The Pretty Little Atheist