Vacuum Packed

We can see how dangerous the cultural language game is by analyzing its slogans. One of the most obvious is "Things happen for a reason." This universal seems innocent enough at a distance, but up close it becomes heavy and like a mattress vacuum-packed from Amazon when you open the package. This expansion, by the way, is a thing that dominates Russell's mission in Problems In Philosophy.

When someone claims that "things happen for reason" they mean everything. An isolated incident means nothing really. If someone throws a stick and hits my head it happened for a reason. The thrower was the agent. Nobody is confused about this. If a branch breaks and falls out of a tree and hits my head, the event is much different. So let's be clear. When a person makes our claim they mean everything.

To understand our problem one should say "All things happen for a reason." Without universalizing we aren't saying much. And let's be honest, they mean to make it universal. "All things" means every single thing now or ever. Again, probably nobody disagrees.

It means there is a greater purpose and that a reasoning agent is behind this purpose. This one casual saying can be seen as a core component of man's religious drive. If we understand it, this process, we have a greater awareness of the religious instinct as it emerges into the language game. Most importantly, we can then decide if we agree. If, in fact, we want to choose to be religious.

The greatest thinker of all time, Emmanuel Kant, wrote that we all at least have autonomy. This translates into agency or free will. Using his critical style he had a hard time fully proving it. What's important though is just how we see our own free will in relation to the slogan.

If we accept the slogan, we accept that an agent is behind everything. Everything that has or ever will happen. That is religion. All of this is an agent's purpose. Things and events only have meaning because this agent willed and chose it. If this is true, if every event from start to finish is an extension of his purpose, we are left with one important inevitability: We could not have changed a thing.

If all things can be reduced to his reasons, we had no say about them. A "greater" purpose means not us. The conclusion has to be that in relation to all things that have ever happened, we had no control. If we have no control we have no free will. You can't have it both ways. Interestingly enough, Im not telling you which way to go. I'm clarifying. What's funny is, though if you're right, you actually can't choose either.