Life and learning "lessons"?

[David19]

This is something that has been on my mind this week, and I wanted to get your views. But, a lot of Pagans, as well as other groups, seem to believe that everything that happens in life, happens so that you can learn a "lesson". But, do you really think that's true, do you really believe that your purpose in life and every event, major or minor, is there to teach you something?.

I don't believe this 'cause I don't believe that every event is there to teach you a "lesson", sometimes shit happens, 'cause this world isn't all "fluffy" and "light", there is evil in the world and sometimes things happen that just plain suck for no reason at all.

I've seen some people say that even rape victims or kids that are victims of pediphiles are there to "learn a lesson", to me this is totally wrong and just BS, IMO, anyway, and kind of shows that the people who say that have never been raped or abused, 'cause I really doubt after a rape victim has been raped, their going to go "well, I wonder what I can learn from this" or "well, it's just my karma", etc. Like i said, sometimes the world just sucks at times, for no reason.

I've also seen this attitude applied to the gods and other spirits/supernatural beings, for example, people assume all the gods are "nice", "good", etc, and that even if they appear to send something bad, it's just to teach you a "lesson", but I think this is just a romantization of the gods, of the supernatural, and a very New Age idea.

It just seems to me that many people can't accept the fact that just maybe the gods are all "full of love", that just maybe the gods and spirits all don't care about you, or that gods do have other things to do with their time than just look after humans and attend to their every need.

To me, there are many, many gods and spirits, some "good" & who do care for you, some "bad" and who will cause shit to happen in your life, some "bad" who just don't give a shit about you, some neutral, etc.

To me, it's a more realistic view of the world that there are many powers at work in this world, universe, multiverse, etc, and not all of them "good".

Anyway, what are your thoughts, opinions and/or beliefs on this?.

Thanks.

[Arion]

I think bad experiences in life can help you evolve as a person, and make you stronger, depending on how you view the circumstances. You can choose to be the victim, or you can take something out of your suffering. It can give you compassion for those who have been through the same thing and urge you to help others, and it can help you recognize things about other people you wouldn't have thought about before. It's hard to explain.

I've always thought "life lessons" as a school analogy was pretty stupid. I don't see life as something for learning lessons, more like evolving and expanding your world views.

[Athena-Nadine]

I don't think everything happens just to teach me a lesson, but I do believe that, if I so choose, I can learn something from everything that happens. Being human, I admit that I don't always have the inclination to look for a lesson in every event I live through. There have been times that I have learned something without even realizing it until far later.

I have found that I learn the most from my own mistakes and not things that just happen to me.

[LostSheep]

I think that things just happen. I think that God or the Gods (however you see them), set the world going and then pretty much left it to go on its own sweet way, we have free will and we're free to make our own decisions and profit from them or not as the case may be. I think he/she/he & she/they* (* as appropriate) doesn't/don't take that much of a hands-on approach to running it as to deliberately influence events so to teach one individual person a lesson or whatever. A lot of times, things don't happen for a reason (so S Club 7 were wrong). What happens is just part of the existence that we're free to make our own way in.

[ladyraven]

Everything happens for a reason, not necessarily to teach you something but to set you up for something else. I've always tried to keep in mind that if I couldn't handle it, then it wouldn't be happening to me. We all just have to be tested at times so that we can truely know what we are capable of.

[Greybird]

Most things happen for a reason. That reason isn't always about you. Sometimes the reason for something happening is about someone else, or many someones. Some things happen because there is an element of randomness in the universe, of spontaneity.

As to learning lessons, the purpose of things happening isn't to teach us lessons about life. Rather, the purpose of life is to learn lessons from the things that happen.

[Shanti]

IMO some things are not meant to teach anything, just be experienced for the experience of experiencing. :)

[LadyCelt]

earlier today, I was thinking of something similar. You know the saying about how you can't escape trouble, it'll find you? I think people may try to escape things or people, only to find something similar again. I think if you don't change your ways or learn the lessons, it'll keep going. I've felt a feleing of similar things come at me before this way; if that makes sense.

I do feel certain things and people may be there for us to learn and for us to teach. I don't know where to research this though, just my own thoughts.

[Diotima]

I am Pantheist, and believe that Universe itself encompasses all and is the Highest there is. However, I don't believe that Universe is all that nice and good- I feel that it is interested in learning of itself, and this "learning" includes also explorating Dark and Evil. That is why I don't worship universe.
Instead, I worship Light that I understand to be the sum of everything good and right in the Universe. It is Light that guides us if we choose to become part of it- beings committed to Light. These beings may well include other sentient beings than Humans, possibly also Deities though I don't know any Deity personally.
Besides Light and Dark, I believe that there is a medium- that I sometimes call Red. Most people are Red- they are neither committed to Light or Dark. Yet, because of what I call "moral entropy", or the great tendency of degeneration, it seems that people who belong to Red, during the course of their lives move towards Dark more often than towards Light.
I believe that humans are "the atoms' way of thinking themselves", I believe that we each carry a soul, an immortal part that in death, returns to Universe. During its life on Earth, the soul develops and changes, as our experiences mold it, and it is this "shape" that will join in Universe when we die and so, Universe learns of us.
I also believe that at least some people have some specific "missions" we are supposed to perform during our life. However, we may not know what these missions are- they may even seem trivial from our own point of view. Yet, in the larger scale they may be important. I believe, that sometimes this purpose may be given us by Light, and that Light tries to guide people who have chosen it. However, as Universe is stronger than Light (that is only part of it), it may "overrule" Light's plans.

I believe that one of the greatest powers in our life is the power of our ignorance: we don't know the plan of Light, or the plan of Universe. We have free will, but often we don't know when we manage to be truly free, and when we just follow the path that has been prepared for us. Most important use of free will is, when we choose how we react to things that life throws to our way. Ultimately, the shape of our soul depends on ourselves.

[Pagan Warrior]

Everything happens for it's own reason, but you can choose whether or not to learn a lesson from it.

[Lunar Raven]

This is something that has been on my mind this week, and I wanted to get your views. But, a lot of Pagans, as well as other groups, seem to believe that everything that happens in life, happens so that you can learn a "lesson". But, do you really think that's true, do you really believe that your purpose in life and every event, major or minor, is there to teach you something?.

I don't believe this 'cause I don't believe that every event is there to teach you a "lesson", sometimes shit happens, 'cause this world isn't all "fluffy" and "light", there is evil in the world and sometimes things happen that just plain suck for no reason at all.

I've seen some people say that even rape victims or kids that are victims of pediphiles are there to "learn a lesson", to me this is totally wrong and just BS, IMO, anyway, and kind of shows that the people who say that have never been raped or abused, 'cause I really doubt after a rape victim has been raped, their going to go "well, I wonder what I can learn from this" or "well, it's just my karma", etc. Like i said, sometimes the world just sucks at times, for no reason.

I've also seen this attitude applied to the gods and other spirits/supernatural beings, for example, people assume all the gods are "nice", "good", etc, and that even if they appear to send something bad, it's just to teach you a "lesson", but I think this is just a romantization of the gods, of the supernatural, and a very New Age idea.

It just seems to me that many people can't accept the fact that just maybe the gods are all "full of love", that just maybe the gods and spirits all don't care about you, or that gods do have other things to do with their time than just look after humans and attend to their every need.

To me, there are many, many gods and spirits, some "good" & who do care for you, some "bad" and who will cause shit to happen in your life, some "bad" who just don't give a shit about you, some neutral, etc.

To me, it's a more realistic view of the world that there are many powers at work in this world, universe, multiverse, etc, and not all of them "good".

Anyway, what are your thoughts, opinions and/or beliefs on this?.

Thanks.

Hmm..

I don't think that we're really here to "learn a lesson"..but more so to evolve as a human being (and spirit). You're right..not everything that occurs happens for a reason. Bad things happen to good people. However, it's how we get past those bad events..and how we better ourselves despite the troubles in our lives is what really matters. As you say..if something horrible happens to someone (ie rape)..they aren't going to think "wow, what can i learn from this!". Instead, with work they'll try to move past it, and grow as a person...and if they do, it'll definitely feel like an accomplishment in life.

So basically, I don't think that every minor and major thing that occurs is to teach us a lesson..instead, it's just an obstacle that life throws at us... Successfully passing those obstacles though..helps us grow, learn, and evolve.

[Philosophia]

I think everything does occur for a reason and it could be something very simple to extremely complex. But that reason may not have anything to do with us, we're just part of the chain reaction that exists. The lessons we learn is something we decide to have. Everything is experiance and that is how we grow as a human being.

[RavenStars]

The questions of free will and just how much (if at all) the gods meddle in the affairs of mortals have been around for a long time. The desire to matter to the gods, matter enough so they provide lessons, is a major psychological need. Total free will, even the total absence of the gods is thought to be the ultimate cold... or if you take it right the ultimate comfort.

There are no answers that haven't been already considered by others, I can only blather about the fear of having a purpose and not getting it. I don't want to be punished with lessons when I'm not getting it. I'd much rather not have lessons. I'd much rather have life, in all it's glory and pain, unburden with the weight of the gods on my shoulders. And I'd much rather have intercession be by my request, as in a prayer, ritual or work of magic.

Oh, and I certainly don’t want to go through life rationalizing that everything that happens to me is a lesson, afterall, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

[whiteravenfire]

I kinda believe that there are lesson to be learnt from things that happen in your life, the good and the bad. And those lessons that can be learnt can help you spiritually evolve.

I think, if I didn't have this core belief I'd have found it very difficult to get through some of the harder events in my life. I must admit though, at the moment I could do with a break. There just seems to be one thing after another going wrong in my life.

[ShadowcatX]

Everything happens for it's own reason, but you can choose whether or not to learn a lesson from it.

I wanted to say that I fully agree with this.

I also agree with the idea that, if there is a higher power or powers, they're not all good and love, IMO at best there's a 50/50 balance.

[RainInanna]

I agree with Athena Nadine and Greybird. As to deities, I'm not a polytheist because I don't believe if deities exist as individuals they are all-loving or even that our lives are really of their concern. Therefore I don't feel a desire to worship them.