What Happens, Should Happen - Always
How many times have you said to yourself, “That shouldn’t have happened!”, and then proceeded to feel angry, fearful or sad?
For every “should” that you think, ask yourself what is the basis for that should? The answer might surprise you.
There are two possible bases for every “should”,
- A should based on reality
- A should based on your beliefs about reality
For example, one day on your way to work, you run your car off the road because of a flat tire. You might say to yourself, “That should not have happened.” Think again.
All things that happen in reality should happen, always. A causal chain of events exists for everything that happens. Every event has antecedent events that collectively contribute to every outcome.
Your car ran off the road because it should have, and this is based on certain antecedent facts,
- Your level of driving skill
- Your speed on the road at the time of the incident
- The quality inspector at the tire company failed to notice the flaw in your tire
- The nails that were accidentally poured on the road three days earlier
- Your tendency when driving to over-correct when startled
The accident could not have occurred any other way than the way it did.
In this sense, everything that happened should have happened, and this idea extends to all events.
For instance, consider the thought “America shouldn’t have gone to war with Iraq”. From the reality perspective, there was no way America could not have gone to war with Iraq, especially given,
- Given the way our political system works
- Given the way historically America has used military power
- Given the characteristic way decision makers view foreign powers
There is another perspective, however, it is the “should based on your beliefs about reality”. We will discuss this in the next post.
