Why?

The human race is obsessed with this question. We’re not satisfied with a solution for a problem. For some reason, we feel the need to explain the reason something occurred. To an extent, this makes sense for some things. Knowing the reason something occurred can help to prevent the same thing from happening in the future, so from that standpoint, of course the root cause is useful. However, this obsession can go too far by demanding a reason everything that happens, even when the “why” serves no greater purpose than the knowledge. Now, I’m all for knowledge, but knowledge at the cost of sanity is too much.

For instance, if your engine explodes, and upon inquiring as to why, the mechanic explains that oil is necessary for the continuous operation of a car engine, then you can use this information to always remember to keep oil in your car in the future.

If you end up in jail for stealing a woman’s purse, you know you’re there because you stole a purse, but then she comes around asks why you did it. In this case, your answer will determine whether she finds your reasoning acceptable to her as a valid reason for theft, and even more bizarre, she will believe or disbelieve based on your answer. However, knowing your reason will neither encourage nor deter her from participating in her own purse theft. What she needs is some kind of validation for the crime. If you say you did it on a dare, she’ll think you’re lying and don’t want to tell the real reason. If you say that you need the money, she’ll want to know why you need it. If your poor mother is dying and you need the cash for medical treatments or to prevent repossession of your house or car, she also won’t believe you because it sounds legit. If you say drugs and alcohol, she’ll nod and figure that was the reason. In no case is the information actually useful to her.

Another useless why comes when the family of a murder victim demands a reason for their loved one’s death. They obsess over this desire for a reason and demand it of the killer who takes great pleasure is not telling his reason. And really, when he does tell, it doesn’t help. Some claim this is called closure, but closure can be gained for most things by simply moving on. I know that’s easy for me to say, but I also don’t obsess over why things happen to me.

This escalates to a far larger and more illogical scale when you deal with natural disasters. Our cost of sanity is usually perpetuated by the media after the disaster or other calamity when they describe the people as “trying to make sense of the situation.” If a tornado destroys a town or a hurricane ravages a coastline, there is no “why.” It is nature. The only “why” you get is a meteorological explanation of weather patterns. Does that really help?

Anyway, it’s a facet of human nature to demand reasons, but most of the time, they don’t get you anywhere. I always love a good bit of knowledge, but if that bit is out of my hands, I move on. Sure, I ask “why” on occasion just like everyone else, but I don’t demand it if there is no answer.

That’s the worst answer you can give someone who needs that validation. “Just because” or “I wanted to” or even “it was fun” don’t settle one’s mind, and therefore, it makes a “why-obsessed” person crazy. But it is a lot of fun to make the person squirm when you can give it to them.

Personally, I accept that some things have no explanation or the explanation is unattainable, as it is for many of the things that I do. For some things, you can never find a reason. And guess what? That’s ok.

Life is Like a Rubik's Cube

Or perhaps, it's like solving a Rubik's cube. There are many videos online where people "solve" the cube in 6 seconds and that sort of thing, but if you're fortunate enough to see this person also mix up the cube, you'll find that it takes approximately the same amount of time to "mix" it as it does to solve it. This is because they're following a particular algorithm to mix it and using the same one in reverse to solve it. From a higher perspective, they're creating the very problem they're endeavoring to solve, and since they created the scenario, they know how to fix it.

Actually solving the cube is a different matter entirely. You know, the cube that you hand off to the children to scramble and when they hand it back, it's a mess. That's more real. When you walk into any given situation, you have whatever life has tossed at you, and you have to take it from there to make it all right. A lot of people approach the cube by trying to solve one color at a time, and occasionally, they'll be able to swing one or colors doing it that way, but find when they try for the next color, they end up mixing up the ones they already finished. Solving the cube for this person is nothing short of frustrating because no matter what they do, they can't stop things they already worked out from mixing up again.

To solve a cube (and life) correctly, you can't look at one side or a single step. Sure a problem might have an immediate solution, but is that immediate solution the answer to the actual problem? A Rubik's cube has six sides. Are you only trying to solve one side or going for all six? If a file is corrupt is a program, are you only going to fix the one file or should you trace the problem back to its source to figure out where the corrupt file came from? A single step will involve doing the same thing over and over in vain. However, a step back to look at the big picture to define what the larger goal is will show what you need to do.

When you solve a cube, you don't do it side by side. You do it line by line.When solving one side, you have to remember the larger goal and solve the colors around the edges of that color as well by lining them up to the middle block as you solve the first color. This goal must be kept in mind while solving the first color, or it won't work. In correcting problems in life, you have to remember that bigger picture and ask yourself if this step is essential to the next and will it solve the bigger problem or achieve the larger goal? Is there something on this step that I need to do to assist the next step?

In the cube, you continue the solving sequence, by aligning the center line, followed by the center blocks of the side opposite from the one where you started. You continue until you finally have the final four corners almost lined up. The colors all match the corners where they are sitting, but it isn't aligned yet. In order to line up the final corners, you have to us a single algorithm over and over until one corner is aligned, spin the top to the next and keep going. This last step appears to rescramble the cube into a big mess, but when this step is done, all the layers are lined up, and it takes a couple of very obvious turns to bring it home to completion. This is honestly my favorite step because it looks a little spectacular. The application her is that sometimes, the final step of anything takes a leap of faith and trust in yourself. You can see what you need to do to get there, but it looks like it will get worse before it gets better. Sometimes it does, but as long as you have the goal in mind and press forward, you will get there and when you do, everything will fall into place until a few quick and obvious spins will present themselves and it is complete.

If your life is scrambled, don't focus on the mess. Work out where you need to be and see where the layers need to fall into place. Sometimes, it just takes a global perspective on the problem, and methodical working of the layers to find your way to the goal of having all your colors line back up.

A Story About A Passion Play Gone Wrong

I wanted to relay this story I heard the preacher at camp tell about when he went to see a passion play and the rather severe problems they had during the production. I'll do my best to remember all the details since it's been a few weeks since I originally heard it.

As you may know, a passion play is a story concerning the last week of Jesus' life on earth culminating in at least the crucifixion, if not the resurrection as well. Jesus Christ Superstar is a musical passion play, and Passion of the Christ is probably the most well know movie version of the story (as well as the bloodiest, only missing an NC-17 rating because of the subject material).

So, he was watching this passion play, and they reach the crucifixion part where Jesus was hanging on the cross. The actor was actually tied up to this cross and his final line is of course, "It is finished!" after which he bows his head, and the guards come out to stick the spear in his side, and then carry on. Well, after his line, he died and nothing happened. Apparently, the guards missed the cue and never showed. Jesus did the only thing a good Jesus can do in such an instance. He resurrected himself and cried out, more dramatically, "It is finished!" after which he bowed his head again and died. noting that the guards had not arrived, Jesus resurrected himself a second time, and cried out even louder and with more drama, "IT ... IS ... FINISHED!" after which, he died again.

By this time, the guards had apparently realized that they had missed their cue, and so they grabbed their spears and charged out to take care of business. Now, in order to achieve the effect of stabbing the spear in Jesus' side, the spear had a collapsible tip so that the Jesus actor would not be injured and real blood and water would not flow. Well, in their haste, the tardy guards grabbed one of the real spears and not the rigged-to-collapse one, and as they were in a hurry to catch up to their missed cue, they gave Jesus a hearty stab in the side ... where blood and water flowed. Jesus, was a really trooper, though, because the only way you knew anything was wrong was when he breathed in sharply through his teeth and clenched his fists.

Realizing they had actually stabbed Jesus, the guards rapidly got him off the cross and carried him backstage.

So for the resurrection scene, they pulled in second-string Jesus, as first-string Jesus had not had enough time to heal. The scene went on as planned, and at the end of the scene, they had this dramatic ascension whereby second-string Jesus was rigged to a tree behind the stage and slowly ascends into the branches ... or that was the plan. You see, rigs of this nature are carefully counter-balanced to the weight of the individual who is to be using it, and it turns out that first-string Jesus weighed a bit more than second-string Jesus. He told his disciples, "Surely, I am with you, to the very end of the a--" and the rig kicked in and pulled Jesus at blinding speed into the branches of the tree knocking second-string Jesus right out.

Fortunately, they didn't need a third-string Jesus because the play was quite over by that point.