Statue of a boy feeding birds on Pier 22 Galveston, Tx.
Philosophy has so often been read, but not really ever applied. Given our mortal and corruptible nature, it’s tragic because instead of making the best of history, and what we’ve learned over the ages, we often forget the most simple, basic, and useful observations that were made millennia ago. I recently picked up a book and was immediately enthralled with it. It’s called the Stoic Philosophy of Seneca translated by Moses Hadas.
I won’t summarize what it’s about only because I want to explain it in as best detail as possible. That being said, I'll start with the subject of why bad things happen to good people.
In the book, Seneca titles it “on providence”. He’s implying the universal question of “why do bad things happen to good people when God is present to prevent it”? Seneca, doesn’t necessarily mean the almighty Christian God if not, nature itself. I do believe in God as I am Catholic, but to those hesitant with theism, just use the idea of “nature” instead.
Given our modern desire for instant gratification, the question of providence is not so easily answered anymore. We lack the patience to stop and understand the misfortunes. See, we’re a people plagued by ADHD. I didn’t get this job, my car broke down, they raised my taxes, my dog died, and any number of perceived misfortunes seems to scream into existence and threaten to take our world apart, limb by precious limb. I don’t know why and I don’t know what to do, but dangit, life is over, and it’s all God’s fault.
Hold on though, God doesn’t hate you and no, he’s not punishing you. Believe it or not, he likes you. The same way a good person doesn’t wrong another good person for the sake of ill-means, God and man alike have a complimentary existence. To be exact, he’s just helping to re-adjust your moral compass.
That’s right, he has a fatherly love for you. I can’t help but think of the phrase, “spare the rod, spoil the child”. This is how he means for us to learn, and to that same end, keeps us humble once we’ve made him proud of us. Adversity breeds excellence, but that same excellence can create any number of vices to those who don’t appreciate that it was God who prepared us to be excellent in the first place. I liken this to the various famous people who have come crashing down after their rise to fame, and the beautiful part of that is you can once again reach excellence once you’ve crashed! I think of Robert Downy Jr or Mickey Rourke. Both were plagued by vices of drugs, alcohol, and Rourke even contemplated suicide, but they turned their lives around, and are probably better prepared now to be a worthy caretaker of their newfound fortune.
Now, I know you are probably thinking,”well, there has to be a better way for us to learn?’ ‘God shouldn’t have to be so harsh and cruel towards us for us to learn.”
Well, in God’s defense, it’s not his fault that we’re treated this way. It’s our own. There’s a saying that I have which I remind myself of when I feel that my world is falling apart.
Consequences teach better than moral concepts; we obey pain. Seneca mentions something very similar to this that he picked up from Demetrius. “No one is more unhappy, in my judgment, than a man who has never met with adversity.”
In other words, we’re gluttons for punishment. I’ll even go as far as to say that we look for trouble. We want to test ourselves. This is why we love sports, why we are fascinated by war, and search for our next big thrill. We love talking about the things we struggled with and subsequently overcame. We even make and watch movies that mimic the adversities of human living. Some people do it on a much bigger scale and they tend to be the ones who become famous. Steve Jobs, owner of Apple inc, is a perfect example of this.
So do perceived evils like death, torture, assault, and any other personal or physical misfortune fit into this?
Yes.
I won’t be as vulgar as Seneca, because he would go as far as saying that outliving your own children can be beneficial. However, his reasoning behind it is right on point.
It’s not a question so much as why do good people lose the ones they love, or why do they suffer so, if not taking note that death and suffering is doled out equally amongst all. No one is exempt from it, so why should it be taken as a personal slight from God? Even beyond that, it
prepares us for what’s to come and keeps us ready and anxious to continue living. Physical ailments and injury also fit into this. Sometimes, we need a solid whipping to become something bigger than what we are. Michael J. Fox is a great example of this. He gave Parkinsons a face and has prompted research for a cure. Ronald Reagan has done the same thing for Alzheimers by proxy of his wife. Both have worn their diseases with courage despite the debilitating nature of both. Michael J Fox has even created a foundation for Parkinsons research.
We shouldn’t bemoan our lives when God hands us trials and tribulation. It’s our opportunity to rise up and become a hero. God wants us to become exactly that. In our digital age, it could easily be said that we do the same thing to our computers or even cell phones. We’re constantly updating software, putting new software on the machine, replacing broken parts,
downloading apps, the list can go on and on. Our machines do not “live” an idle and luxurious life. We’re constantly testing them to ensure they operate at full capacity. God means to do the same thing to us. Without constant struggle and learning, we would become useless and outdated. We should be thankful God gives us this much attention.
So let’s assume that God hands us a steady, prosperous life, free of troubles. Let’s just pretend we’re any number of rich socialites who do not have to work because we have had the proverbial silver spoon in our mouth since birth. Most of us would think that life would be wonderful. We would be on a constant vacation, we’d wake up at any hour we want, we’d eat, sleep, and do nothing if we so wished. We would live life in excess, and think we are kings.
This prosperity is debilitating. Our minds would become weak, our bodies would most likely follow and instead of being vibrant and alive, we would be easily tricked and easily exhausted. We would not know what a day’s work is truly worth, we would not know what it is to feel a sense of accomplishment, and we’d most certainly fail if we were ever met with adversity that only we could pull ourselves out of. We were not meant to live a steady and luxurious life. As
Seneca puts it, “death by starvation comes gently, gluttony makes men explode”.
So where does that leave us? How do we become a good person?
A good person is able to take the blows of life with an eerie calm about him. He doesn’t boast and clamor about his misfortunes because he knows that either the trouble will end him or he will end it. Every misfortune is practice for the next bigger misfortune that may arise, and he’s thrilled to approach it and wrestle it to the ground. It’s only fair for the good person to be this way. A well spent life is made by the person who follows a broken, and difficult path. They willingly follow it. If they could have created the path itself, they would have done it. God’s in control though, so in essence, we follow him. As Seneca says, we are not his slaves because that would imply only God is getting his way, and we’re left wanting. This isn’t so. He’s created the path for us to follow and in following it, we please him and give mankind an example to live by.
So we come back to the original question, “why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?”
Well, he really doesn’t. If we follow his way, he tries and tests us to be hardy and well-established people. And by following this path we are kept from the true evils that exist we so often call “sin”. God protects those who are righteous from greed, jealousy, passions, and addictions. The good man has no use for these things.
Seneca concludes that God has given us the tools we need to bear the hardships that come in life as a result from external evils. We are to maintain our poise and overcome them or go down fighting. He even goes as far to say that we are, in a sense, stronger than God because he doesn’t have to endure evil, whereas we have the capacity to rise above it. (I have a really hard time believing the ‘we’re stronger than God’ part though, as a Christian) Regardless, Seneca goes on to explain that our wills are stronger than the misfortunes that exist. In the end, if the path proves too difficult and we have no will to fight, we do have an escape. God has given us the advantage of a quick death. At every point in life we are to study death. It’s always at hand. We don’t have to search far. God has given us a lengthy life, it’s death that comes quickly without knowing when, but it’s guaranteed to come. So, why should we be so afraid of it?
In the book, Seneca titles it “on providence”. He’s implying the universal question of “why do bad things happen to good people when God is present to prevent it”? Seneca, doesn’t necessarily mean the almighty Christian God if not, nature itself. I do believe in God as I am Catholic, but to those hesitant with theism, just use the idea of “nature” instead.
Given our modern desire for instant gratification, the question of providence is not so easily answered anymore. We lack the patience to stop and understand the misfortunes. See, we’re a people plagued by ADHD. I didn’t get this job, my car broke down, they raised my taxes, my dog died, and any number of perceived misfortunes seems to scream into existence and threaten to take our world apart, limb by precious limb. I don’t know why and I don’t know what to do, but dangit, life is over, and it’s all God’s fault.
Hold on though, God doesn’t hate you and no, he’s not punishing you. Believe it or not, he likes you. The same way a good person doesn’t wrong another good person for the sake of ill-means, God and man alike have a complimentary existence. To be exact, he’s just helping to re-adjust your moral compass.
That’s right, he has a fatherly love for you. I can’t help but think of the phrase, “spare the rod, spoil the child”. This is how he means for us to learn, and to that same end, keeps us humble once we’ve made him proud of us. Adversity breeds excellence, but that same excellence can create any number of vices to those who don’t appreciate that it was God who prepared us to be excellent in the first place. I liken this to the various famous people who have come crashing down after their rise to fame, and the beautiful part of that is you can once again reach excellence once you’ve crashed! I think of Robert Downy Jr or Mickey Rourke. Both were plagued by vices of drugs, alcohol, and Rourke even contemplated suicide, but they turned their lives around, and are probably better prepared now to be a worthy caretaker of their newfound fortune.
Now, I know you are probably thinking,”well, there has to be a better way for us to learn?’ ‘God shouldn’t have to be so harsh and cruel towards us for us to learn.”
Well, in God’s defense, it’s not his fault that we’re treated this way. It’s our own. There’s a saying that I have which I remind myself of when I feel that my world is falling apart.
Consequences teach better than moral concepts; we obey pain. Seneca mentions something very similar to this that he picked up from Demetrius. “No one is more unhappy, in my judgment, than a man who has never met with adversity.”
In other words, we’re gluttons for punishment. I’ll even go as far as to say that we look for trouble. We want to test ourselves. This is why we love sports, why we are fascinated by war, and search for our next big thrill. We love talking about the things we struggled with and subsequently overcame. We even make and watch movies that mimic the adversities of human living. Some people do it on a much bigger scale and they tend to be the ones who become famous. Steve Jobs, owner of Apple inc, is a perfect example of this.
So do perceived evils like death, torture, assault, and any other personal or physical misfortune fit into this?
Yes.
I won’t be as vulgar as Seneca, because he would go as far as saying that outliving your own children can be beneficial. However, his reasoning behind it is right on point.
It’s not a question so much as why do good people lose the ones they love, or why do they suffer so, if not taking note that death and suffering is doled out equally amongst all. No one is exempt from it, so why should it be taken as a personal slight from God? Even beyond that, it
prepares us for what’s to come and keeps us ready and anxious to continue living. Physical ailments and injury also fit into this. Sometimes, we need a solid whipping to become something bigger than what we are. Michael J. Fox is a great example of this. He gave Parkinsons a face and has prompted research for a cure. Ronald Reagan has done the same thing for Alzheimers by proxy of his wife. Both have worn their diseases with courage despite the debilitating nature of both. Michael J Fox has even created a foundation for Parkinsons research.
We shouldn’t bemoan our lives when God hands us trials and tribulation. It’s our opportunity to rise up and become a hero. God wants us to become exactly that. In our digital age, it could easily be said that we do the same thing to our computers or even cell phones. We’re constantly updating software, putting new software on the machine, replacing broken parts,
downloading apps, the list can go on and on. Our machines do not “live” an idle and luxurious life. We’re constantly testing them to ensure they operate at full capacity. God means to do the same thing to us. Without constant struggle and learning, we would become useless and outdated. We should be thankful God gives us this much attention.
So let’s assume that God hands us a steady, prosperous life, free of troubles. Let’s just pretend we’re any number of rich socialites who do not have to work because we have had the proverbial silver spoon in our mouth since birth. Most of us would think that life would be wonderful. We would be on a constant vacation, we’d wake up at any hour we want, we’d eat, sleep, and do nothing if we so wished. We would live life in excess, and think we are kings.
This prosperity is debilitating. Our minds would become weak, our bodies would most likely follow and instead of being vibrant and alive, we would be easily tricked and easily exhausted. We would not know what a day’s work is truly worth, we would not know what it is to feel a sense of accomplishment, and we’d most certainly fail if we were ever met with adversity that only we could pull ourselves out of. We were not meant to live a steady and luxurious life. As
Seneca puts it, “death by starvation comes gently, gluttony makes men explode”.
So where does that leave us? How do we become a good person?
A good person is able to take the blows of life with an eerie calm about him. He doesn’t boast and clamor about his misfortunes because he knows that either the trouble will end him or he will end it. Every misfortune is practice for the next bigger misfortune that may arise, and he’s thrilled to approach it and wrestle it to the ground. It’s only fair for the good person to be this way. A well spent life is made by the person who follows a broken, and difficult path. They willingly follow it. If they could have created the path itself, they would have done it. God’s in control though, so in essence, we follow him. As Seneca says, we are not his slaves because that would imply only God is getting his way, and we’re left wanting. This isn’t so. He’s created the path for us to follow and in following it, we please him and give mankind an example to live by.
So we come back to the original question, “why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?”
Well, he really doesn’t. If we follow his way, he tries and tests us to be hardy and well-established people. And by following this path we are kept from the true evils that exist we so often call “sin”. God protects those who are righteous from greed, jealousy, passions, and addictions. The good man has no use for these things.
Seneca concludes that God has given us the tools we need to bear the hardships that come in life as a result from external evils. We are to maintain our poise and overcome them or go down fighting. He even goes as far to say that we are, in a sense, stronger than God because he doesn’t have to endure evil, whereas we have the capacity to rise above it. (I have a really hard time believing the ‘we’re stronger than God’ part though, as a Christian) Regardless, Seneca goes on to explain that our wills are stronger than the misfortunes that exist. In the end, if the path proves too difficult and we have no will to fight, we do have an escape. God has given us the advantage of a quick death. At every point in life we are to study death. It’s always at hand. We don’t have to search far. God has given us a lengthy life, it’s death that comes quickly without knowing when, but it’s guaranteed to come. So, why should we be so afraid of it?
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