Yeah. That's the paradox inherent in that. I've noticed that -any- philosophy has a paradox in it. I have this weird mind that embraces paradox, that somehow 'gets' that one half doesn't necessarily cause the other. But I've never figured out how to express that. Guess if I could, I'd probably be making a lot more money than I am, huh? :)
Part of why I've personally expressed my philosophy in terms of role-playing. Sometimes, the dice throws are truly random, because no story is good without random events.
And yet, how can we know? Not everyone who is exposed to a virus gets sick. Not everyone who is exposed to a carcinogen gets cancer. Can we really truly say that if a person was completely self-actualized, that they'd never get sick? No, because we live on Planet Earth, not Planet Utopia, and therefore, we have no way of showing what happens to a perfectly self-actualized person, because there ain't no such beast here. :)
However, yes, the last thing you want when someone has a tragedy happen is to tell them "you brought this upon yourself." Which is why I prefer to treat them as random events, whether they are or not.
But again, what isn't random is how you choose to respond to events, even really awful ones. I guess I am enough of an idealist to think that no matter what happens, 'choose love' is always the right answer...
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Part of why I've personally expressed my philosophy in terms of role-playing. Sometimes, the dice throws are truly random, because no story is good without random events.
And yet, how can we know? Not everyone who is exposed to a virus gets sick. Not everyone who is exposed to a carcinogen gets cancer. Can we really truly say that if a person was completely self-actualized, that they'd never get sick? No, because we live on Planet Earth, not Planet Utopia, and therefore, we have no way of showing what happens to a perfectly self-actualized person, because there ain't no such beast here. :)
However, yes, the last thing you want when someone has a tragedy happen is to tell them "you brought this upon yourself." Which is why I prefer to treat them as random events, whether they are or not.
But again, what isn't random is how you choose to respond to events, even really awful ones. I guess I am enough of an idealist to think that no matter what happens, 'choose love' is always the right answer...