"Bad" things
Why "bad" things happen from the Judaic Path
click for more discussions fromThe Judaic View thru the eyes of Rabbi Mark Strauss-Cohn
The age-old question, "Why do bad things happen to good people" is one that is addressed extensively in Jewish life and lore. However, you might note that in the Jewish world, the question is not "Why" but rather "When". We don't know why bad (or good) things happen (most of the time) but we do know that they will happen. Rabbi Harold Kushner, in his famous book, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" addresses this issue and concludes that there are some things we simply do not have answers to. Additionally, the Jewish response to evil in the world, which is what underlies the question, is: "When these bad things have happened, what do we do about it?" We return the question, in typical Jewish fashion, with a question and ask: now that something bad/evil/wicked/horrible has happened, how are we going to respond? The "Why?" question is limiting and even degrading. It can stop a person from acting and even surviving. While many may be comforted by an answer like: "It is God's will." Many will find that answer completely unsatisfactory and consequently abandon God, faith, and even their people.
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Why "bad" things happen from the Unitarian Universalist Path
click for more discussions fromThe Unitarian Universalist View thru the eyes of Rev. Charles Davis
On the file cabinet next to my desk I have a quotation “ I always believed in humanity and the holiness of the universe, including the catastrophes.” This was said to me by Ada Kozier when we were planning her funeral. She was 94 and her life had its catastrophes. Born Jewish in Germany she escaped as Hitler rose to power. She moved to Spain where Francisco Franco imposed fascism. She emigrated to New York. She moved south to care for her ill sister then ended up needing care for terminal cancer.Click for more....
Why "bad" things happen from the Baha'i Path
click for more discussions fromThe Baha'i View thru they eyes of Rafael Castillo
Personally I don’t believe in random chance or coincidence. Things happen for a reason. We may view a fortuitous event as good or bad luck, however, I believe whatever happened was meant to be, weather the consequences are “good” or “bad”. How we deal with the event determines if we learned our lesson or not.Click for more....
Why "bad" things happen from the Vedic Path
click for more discussions fromThe Vedic View thru the eyes of Arci Edwards
I think it is rather safe to say that everyone, at least in our culture, has, at some time or another, either said or heard said "Why me? Why is this happening to me? I am a good person. I don't deserve this". My most memorable experience was 20 years ago when my mother was in the hospital awaiting surgery after a massive heart attack. My sisters and father were beside themselves with fear, anxiety and blame. They would lament, "Why is this happening to her. She never hurt a fly." That one statement revealed to me a plethora of illusion which I saw as the source of their despair. Over the next 7 months, as my mother dwindled in the hospital to her death due to surgical error, I witnessed first hand what happens to people when they can not answer the question: Why do bad things happen to good people? Their lives became pools of toxic waste - my one sister divorced her husband, my two other sisters estranged themselves from each other, and my father drank himself to death within two years. Although still a novice, by that time, I had been studying Vedic philosophy full time for about 4 years. The knowledge I had gained from those studies allowed me to see "bad" things from a different perspective, from a point of calm trust interlaced with peak moments of celebration - those same moments which my family experienced as the greatest suffering. It was the sword of knowledge - knowledge of the soul, of karma, of the Supreme Creator, Maintainer and Annihilator, the Supreme Personality of Godhead - which cut my illusions and released me from material suffering.Click for more....
Why "bad" things happen from the Pagan Path
click for more discussions fromThe Pagan View thru the eyes of RavenHarte
“Why is this happening to me?” This is a question I am actually amazed that I hear as often as I do amidst people of my own spirituality – one that believes in the idea of karma, the “Three-fold Law” and/or work on Self. Usually this comes from an individual who as been working diligently on Self, living fully their chosen spirituality, attending ceremonies, correcting relationship mistakes, doing “everything right” and then something happens; they lose their job, or someone gets a grave illness, or their relationship ends, or worse someone dies. “Why me?” they ask. My first inclination is always to want to say “because that which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” I never do of course. Its not helpful to say that when a person is drowning in their own fear and pain, but for me it’s the truest statement I could make to them. I believe we are the sum of our experiences. Look back on your life, look at every “horrible” moment in it and then see what changed for you right then. What decision did you make, or not? What people came into or left your life because of that issue? How did your steps from that incident create the life you are living now? This is often how I begin the process in getting myself through those moments in life. I tell myself “this too shall pass” and know with all my heart that on the other side of tragedy, I will be able to look back and see the whys. I think about the tragedies of the past and how better able I am to handle the NOW because of the THEN, and that gives me the resolve that I will prevail. Click for more....
Why "bad" things happen from the Universal Spirit Path
click for more discussions fromThe Universal Spirit View thru the eyes of Wilda Spalding
“Why do bad things happen to good people?” For a universal spirit, the juxtaposition of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ is a non sequitur of two expressions of experiences within time and space. It might be said that ‘Good’ is meant to indicate that which is in balance with and enhances the well-being of a person. ‘Bad’ usually means that which is destructive to the harmony and balance needed for well-being. A somewhat surface expression of things happening to people, can lead one into a dualistic response of questioning rather than to a more unitive understanding of ‘happenings’, ‘good’ or ‘bad’, that occur in life. Many religious and philosophical pathways do utilize worldly, dualistic answers to ‘explain’ the question posed above.
Click for more....Why "bad" things happen from the Beauty Way's perspective
click for more discussions fromThe Beauty Way View thru the eyes of Robin Lynn Rainbowfeather
Why do "bad" things happen to "good" people (or vice versa)?
Ah dualities! They look so solid and real but what an illusion they are. In the native worldview, all of life is encompassed in a circle. Seen 3 dimensionally it looks like a never ending spiral. This Circle of Life holds all feelings, thoughts, events, dualities, past, present, future, everything that we can conceive of and everything that we can not. Here's an exercise so you can experience what this teaching is all about. Hold
your arms out like an airplane, with your arms horizontal to the ground. Assign one duality to the end of one arm with the other duality to the other. Let's pick good and bad to start with. Now keep holding your arms as you feel the linear continuum from one end of Good all the way to the other end of Bad. Of course, we are in between the ends, somewhere on that continuum of good and bad, sliding along this scale we have set up. How long can you hold your arms out, balancing between these absolutes? Not long in the whole scheme of things - there is too much tension. So we tip towards "good" or the other way to "bad" and accept that label as real, whether it is assigned to a given moment or event in our lives or to our whole identity. Now I want you to bring your arms into a circle with your hands touching in front of you. What happens to the dualities now? They are side by side, touching in fact, not opposites at all. They are more similar than we at first thought. Now lower your hands into your lap still keeping your arms encircling the space there. How long can you hold this posture? For a long time - it's natural, relaxed and inviting. In this way we see how we can move from the Western linear worldview which is very limiting and tiring to the Indigenous circular worldview that holds All That Is.Click for more....
Ah dualities! They look so solid and real but what an illusion they are. In the native worldview, all of life is encompassed in a circle. Seen 3 dimensionally it looks like a never ending spiral. This Circle of Life holds all feelings, thoughts, events, dualities, past, present, future, everything that we can conceive of and everything that we can not. Here's an exercise so you can experience what this teaching is all about. Hold
your arms out like an airplane, with your arms horizontal to the ground. Assign one duality to the end of one arm with the other duality to the other. Let's pick good and bad to start with. Now keep holding your arms as you feel the linear continuum from one end of Good all the way to the other end of Bad. Of course, we are in between the ends, somewhere on that continuum of good and bad, sliding along this scale we have set up. How long can you hold your arms out, balancing between these absolutes? Not long in the whole scheme of things - there is too much tension. So we tip towards "good" or the other way to "bad" and accept that label as real, whether it is assigned to a given moment or event in our lives or to our whole identity. Now I want you to bring your arms into a circle with your hands touching in front of you. What happens to the dualities now? They are side by side, touching in fact, not opposites at all. They are more similar than we at first thought. Now lower your hands into your lap still keeping your arms encircling the space there. How long can you hold this posture? For a long time - it's natural, relaxed and inviting. In this way we see how we can move from the Western linear worldview which is very limiting and tiring to the Indigenous circular worldview that holds All That Is.Click for more....