Cause
and Effect
“We
can no longer think of causality as absolute law, but only as a tendency or
prevailing probability.”
Marie
Louise von Franz (Jungian Analyst)
As you
know, we in the west tend to be linear thinkers. A, leads to B, which causes C.
We think in cause-and-effect terms. Which is why we are the most litigious society
on planet Earth. If something goes wrong, it must be someone’s fault, and they “should”
be made to pay. Even though accidents happen—especially during inclement
weather—we tend to search for someone to blame. If we can’t find a reason for
such an accident, we attribute it to God or to Satan, or some other mysterious
entity. We attribute, for instance, the incredible number of mass shootings we
have in America to “mental health issues” when 16.2 million people, almost 7%
of adults in the US, are diagnosed with mental illness, and 16.19 million of
them never commit a crime of any kind, much less murder.
The Chinese,
on the other hand, are “field thinkers.” They think in terms of what
circumstance came together to create this situation. In the words of von Franz,
“The Chinese are not interested in what they should do; their interest is
rather in the whole situation so that they can act in awareness of it.” The
difference in how we think is attributed to the predominance of extroversion in
the west, and introversion in the east. Extroversion leads us to want to act,
as opposed to the Chinese model of introversion which likes to live in the “idea
of wholeness.” Our way of thinking is a straight line from cause to effect,
and theirs is a circle with several events included in it.
The
lesson for us is, of course, that there is not always a causal factor for
everything that happens. Much of the good-bad-ugly that goes on every day is
random in nature. If you win the lottery, it’s a random event. I think the odds
are something like 16-million to one. If a tornado winds through your
neighborhood, and your house is obliterated, there is no one to blame. If your
neighbor’s house is spared, there is no one to praise. Tornados and their
destructive path are random and unpredictable.
Not to
say that we don’t automatically thank God when we are spared disaster; we do—even
atheists thank God when they’re spared. But to attribute the destruction to God
and assume that your faith is what spared you but not your neighbor, is both
arrogant and presumptuous. The Divine does not work like that—truly. The Divine
simply is, and it is there whether we are in turmoil or in joy, always and
forever. It sits with you when you are sick or sad or angry. It dances with you
in joy and excitement. It animates you and your world and when you know this,
when you feel it, you will understand that “bidden or not, God is always present.”
(Jung) God is present with you, and with your neighbor.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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