In a previous post, I described pain and unhappiness as serving a purpose and being the framework upon which we hang our understandings. At least in part, I rescind this statement.
My experience has been that by virtue of being alive, we are inheritors of a broken and flawed nature. I affirm that we indeed all have free will and that life is full of genuine options. As a result of this affirmation, I reject the naïve aphorism that “everything happens for a reason.” Just as there are genuine victories in this life, there are genuine losses. I highly doubt anyone would argue that the rape and murder of a small child fits into the Creator’s divine plan, yet it happens. To say that everything happens for a reason is in fact to say that we have no free will at all, for if every evil we commit is God’s will then either He determines those actions, or he is malicious in the means he uses to accomplish his ends. Either way, that is not a God in which I have any desire or ability to believe.
I believe that there are evils that serve no purpose; “surd evils” as the philosophical world calls them. Joseph Smith once said that “All your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue faithful. By the vision of the Almighty I have seen it.” I agree wholeheartedly that there are indeed losses which we will suffer in this life.
Most who know me would describe me as a happy, upbeat person, but there is a melancholy that underscores the carefree extroversion. It is a melancholy that stems from a recognition of the pain and injustice in the world. It is a melancholy, however, that leads to optimism. That is to say that it is a recognition that things are not as they ought to be, but a hope that they can be better; what William James calls “meliorism.”
I do not deny that God, in His wisdom, can make the most out of many, if not most, of our sufferings, combining them together for our good, but I do believe that some of the losses we suffer won’t be made up to us until long after our deaths.
I take my solace in the infinite care and knowledge that God has for me; in knowing that some day I will fall into His arms and weep on his shoulder; that the injustices I suffer in the meantime are but a moment in the eternal scheme of things.
2 comments:
'True Loss' and 'Everything happens for a Reason'.
I think there are true losses. I think the second statement depends entirely upon us. And THAT is part of God's plan or "will" if you prefer. If that plan refers to the system of the existence we find ourselves in, then yes, even rape and murder are part of that plan. Sanctioned by God? Of course not- decreed to happen to some- I don't think so. But part of a plan that allows us imperfect beings to act in any way possible within the laws of this physical reality.
That is the plan.
Do those things happen for a reason? That is up to us. We can learn from almost any experience. And be healed from any wrong- that is why the Atonement is at the center of Gods plan. I think that is where the brilliance and simple beauty of it come together.
I agree. Our circumstances are indeed what we make of them.
I guess what I'm saying is that in some instances, the absolute MOST we can get out of a loss (while in this life) is the knowledge that we remain faithful through it. Job is the perfect example of that.
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