When we think that every little bad thing that happens to us during the week is a result of some recent sin we committed, we project on God (and the world) the human trait of impulsivity. This tendency is often fueled by inner feelings of guilt and victimhood, rather than a strong theological or philosophical basis.
We sow what we reap. But not every daily hardship or “stroke of bad luck” comes as a consequence of our mistakes. This belief is called superstition. Superstition creates a false sense of hyper-order in the world based on an untenably strict concept of moral cause-and-effect.
Even the best of men experience hunger, elements, morning fatigue, physical ailments, and the discomfort of hard work and interpersonal conflict. It’s not divine judgment. It’s life.
But death and life, success and failure, pain and pleasure, wealth and poverty, all these happen to good and bad alike, and they are neither noble nor shameful—and hence neither good nor bad.
Marcus Aurelius
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