Everything Happens For a Reason? - Issue 5 - 17th April 2022
This week, I want to speak about an adage many people employ in their lives to produce comfort: “Everything happens for a reason.” Many religions employ similar beliefs; some higher power has made an event occur for a reason of their choosing. I don’t believe this to be true. I believe the world is full of natural causes, correlations and events that occur out-with our control and it is not some higher entity that makes it so, but rather nature. I’m not saying that we cannot find meaning in an event, just that there is not an objective reason for it. We must produce our own meaning. The harsh reality is that the world does not care about you. Your life is infinitesimally tiny. Many have lived before and many will live after you so why would there be some mystical reason for you not getting that job you interviewed for. It’s unintentional arrogance to believe that some higher entity cares about you, in the grand scheme of things.
Life is objectively insignificant, unless we make it subjectively significant
You might be thinking that I’m a nihilist, however I’m a realistic optimist. I believe that we can find meaning in our meaningless lives because our lives do not come with meaning pre-packaged. It is up to us to incorporate meaninginto our lives, so that we can make positive changes and hopefully leave the world better that the way we found it. I did not find it helpful for anyone to say that my brother died at the age of twenty one in a motorcycle crash for a reason. This is not true. The world can be a harsh place and as much as there is unbelievable beauty, there is also unbelievable pain and suffering. People die young, people become addicted to drugs, young children die of horrific diseases, the list goes on. It is an intellectual failing for a society to believe that any of these events happen for some reason unbeknownst to us. We must accept that nature might come calling and it might produce pain and suffering and there is no objective reason for this.
So what can we do to not let these horrific events pull us down towards chaos? We must find meaning in them. Obviously that’s easier said than done, but in order to move past these events we must, otherwise they will slowly eat away at our minds until we’re nothing more than withering souls, devoid of meaning. There was no reason for my brother’s young death other than whatever occurred to produce a collision. There is no objective meaning to this event. The pain and suffering I felt was unimaginable, until I felt it. The world ended in my mind. The world chewed me up and it took me a while to jump out of the worlds unrelenting fangs. But I did. I found meaning in this suffering.
My brother is my hero. This thought occurred to me accidentally. I was pondering all of the people who I have been fascinated and obsessed by over the years: Hunter S Thompson, Anthony Bourdain, Joe Rogan. What do they all have in common? They were lost souls who found their calling and produced beautiful art.
I was a smart, well behaved child. My brother was not well behaved, but subtly smart. I sailed through school, he did not. I found my calling of journalism and creative writing early. He struggled his way through various professions, hobbies and interests, but never found one that stuck, one in which the creative urges flowing throughout his brain could be released to produce something magical. I wholeheartedly believe that if he were here today, he would’ve found that calling and would’ve produced something magical. He was a lost soul, searching, but unfortunately his search was cut far too short. Where’s the meaning in this? Hopefully and selfishly with me. I’ve always sailed through life, for the most part, but I’ve always wanted to produce something magical, something creative, write something which no one was written before, become a trailblazer of my craft like Thompson and Bourdain, but I had never really suffered in order to produce something of meaning, until the 1st March 2014. Then I had to struggle, then I had a story worth sharing. I am not a lost soul, but I am searching. Searching for magic, wisdom and knowledge.
It was unknown to me why I admired the people above, who all struggled and who were all searching for magic. I now know that they represent my true hero. Deans Thomson was lost. I was lost but now I see. Now I will hopefully find what he was searching for and hopefully, you’ll read it one day.
The above is one example of finding meaning in pain and suffering. The suffering I have spoken about is not suffering that should be embraced like going for a run or meditating, it is suffering you cannot control. You cannot control what happens to you and the grief you must endure, but you can control your reaction to it. Find meaning in suffering and you will progress forward. Just don’t believe that there was some mystical reason for your suffering. You need to figure that out for yourself.
Keep On Struggling,
Gregor
Documentary Series I Love - The Last Dance
The last dance is one of my favourite documentary series and I’m not a big fan of basketball. It charts the rise of the 1990's Chicago Bulls, led by Michael Jordan, one of the most notable dynasties in sports history. I found this incredibly motivating, heartwarming, uplifting and emotional. To see a world class team struggle through management crisis, the pressure of championships, fame and fortune and the physical toll of the game was inspiring and I would definitely recommend giving it a watch. It’s on Netflix now.
Coffee I Drink Daily - Four Sigmatic
I have been drinking Four Sigmatic’s Mushroom Coffee for years now but I also love regular coffee. So, I generally drink mushroom coffee most days and have regular coffee as a treat on weekends or days off. Mushroom coffee, first of all, tastes just like regular coffee, you cannot taste any mushrooms. However, it has far less caffeine (approx. 50mg) and the mushrooms that are mixed in aid with all sorts of bodily and cognitive functions. My favourite is the Lions Mane and Chaga coffee. Both Lions Mane and Chaga are great for cognitive function. I also use the Aptogen coffee which is good for when you need a pick me up but don’t want the stress that may come with it. All Four Sigmatic Coffees do not come with the typical jitters that normal coffee produces and there’s no crash as the energy you get from it is stable rather than drastic. I would definitely recommend trying it because we all, as a society, drink far too much caffeine to the point where many of us are addicts.
Buy Mushroom Coffee below.
Book I’ve Almost Finished - Recovery - Freedom From Our Addictions
Although this book by Russell Brand is aimed at people who are strugglingwith addiction, it does relate to everyone. We all consume too much of something and compulsively eat, drink, shop or scroll so the techniques that Brand uncovers here are useful for everyone. Here’s the description: “The program in Recovery has given Russell Brand freedom from all addictions and it will do the same for you. This system offers nothing less than liberation from self-centredness, a new perspective, freedom from the illusion of suffering for anyone who is willing to take the necessary steps.”
You can buy Recovery below.