Why humans believe “everything happens for a reason” | Clay Routledge

This interview is an episode from The Well, our new publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the John Templeton Foundation.

If you're a critic of religion or if you're someone who champions yourself as a strong believer in the power of rationality, you probably think 'supernatural thinking' is bad.

But according to existential psychologist Clay Routledge, supernatural thinking is actually an important part of being a complete human being. From a scientific point of view, all we know is what we have in this life- but if we're open to supernatural possibilities that allows us to at least explore or have hope that there's something about our existence, something about the human spirit, that transcends the material.

When we are dealing with anxieties about mortality, questions about purpose, and trying to understand our place in a large Universe, our minds naturally drift towards at least curiosities about the supernatural if not outright belief.

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About Clay Routledge:
Dr. Clay Routledge is a leading expert in existential psychology. His work examines how the human need for meaning in life influences and is influenced by different cognitive processes, self-regulation, momentous life experiences, personal and professional goals, creativity, social connections, spirituality and religiosity, entrepreneurship, and prosocial behavior.

Dr. Routledge has published over 100 scholarly papers, co-edited three books on existential psychology, and authored the books Nostalgia: A Psychological Resource and Supernatural: Death, Meaning, and the Power of the Invisible World.

His work has been featured by many media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, CBS News, ABC News, BBC News, CBC News, CNN, NBC Today, MSNBC, Men’s Health, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker. As a social commentator, Dr. Routledge has authored articles for a number of outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, USA Today, Scientific American, National Review, Entrepreneur, and Harvard Business Review. He was the lead writer for the TED-Ed animated lesson Why Do We Feel Nostalgia?

Dr. Clay Routledge is the Vice President of Research and the Director of the Human Flourishing Lab at the Archbridge Institute. He is also an editor at Profectus, a periodic web-based magazine focused on civilizational progress and human flourishing.

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Read more from The Well:
I put a camera on a monkey. Here’s how it shook my understanding of humanity
Atheism is not as rare or as rational as you think
System 1 vs. System 2 thinking: Why it isn’t strategic to always be rational

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About The Well
Do we inhabit a multiverse? Do we have free will? What is love? Is evolution directional? There are no simple answers to life’s biggest questions, and that’s why they’re the questions occupying the world’s brightest minds.

So what do they think?

How is the power of science advancing understanding? How are philosophers and theologians tackling these fascinating questions?

Let’s dive into The Well.

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[agentoffortune]

When I was heavily influenced by religion I saw the supernatural everywhere. After an accident I awoke and that religious aspect of my mental processes was gone. The supernatural that had surrounded me was also gone. Finally alone with only rational thought processes, life is simpler and more real. The fog of religion is gone. I consider that a good thing.

[ecollazo]

A comforting lie is still a lie.
We are better served by seeking truth.

If the truth makes you uncomfortable, don't blame the truth...blame the lie that made you comfortable.

[janicestevenson]

"It's when we're making meaning that we're often at our best." Thank you for this presentation on the human experience beyond rational thought.
Here is an excerpt from Steps to Knowledge on how beliefs can help us: "You do not understand the world. You only entertain judgments about it and then attempt to understand your judgments. The world will reveal itself to you as you look without these restraints and limitations. In this you will find that your beliefs can become useful in allowing you to take each next step in life. They need not limit your perception of the universe. You cannot be in the world without beliefs or assumptions. Yet your beliefs and assumptions are meant to be tools to serve your mind, to give it a temporary structure and to allow it to engage its natural abilities in a positive manner. You do not understand the world today. Be happy that this is so, for your condemnation is unfounded... This gives you an opportunity to witness the world... Remind yourself that you do not understand the world, so you are free to look again." (Marshall Vian Summers, Steps to Knowledge)

[das_fahrer]

The other side of that coin is that this belief can also be used by a lazy or ignorant mind to displace truth and/or to avoid seeking out a better understanding of the world around us.

[Alexandra_Wolf]

I think that the purpose for us saying “everything happens for a reason” -like let’s say the loss of a child or some other tragic loss- is a way to stay calm and not remain *angry and bitter* for the rest of our lives about something unjust or unfair. I see some comments saying “ it’s an excuse to not attempt to overcome our shortcomings”. This is like comparing apples and oranges. We rarely rest on our laurels and say “oh well everything happens for a reason”. We typically say it when there is something so horrible and unfathomable that if we don’t lean into the idea that there is a greater purpose for it we will forever live an angry life, angry at this world, the universe and the people in. It’s healthy way for us to say “I have to learn to accept this, if I lean on this mindset I can grieve without grieving my entire life, I can be upset but I can still have SOMETHING to look forward to or in some cases something shifty that we DO NOT have to look forward to after a big loss”.

[philblane]

When people tell me that everything happens for a reason, I reach out and slap them in the face. Then I tell them that I couldn't agree more.

[cavemanrob]

Nothing has to be "supernatural". Our perception is limited, but as we have invented more sensitive instruments for detecting the world/universe surrounding us, our scope broadens. If a thing exists, it is natural.

[JohnComeOnMan]

I prefer we attempt to overcome our shortcomings rather than coddle them.

[ziffulmyer]

magical thinking ...yeah, that's what we need more of. <eyeroll>

[janechambers]

Although I was raised in the church, confirmed, Bible School, etc. I never believed that "everything happens for a reason", . I remember in college, a boyfriend said "You were meant for me", and I replied, "I thought you chose me". If someone says, for instance, my child survived for a reason, I am offended and question, "Did God condemn others to die?" Did they even thank the doctors? How insulting!

[Berlynic]

My spiritual/supernatural thinking inclinations went away when I read a bunch of books on development and childhood trauma, childhood abuse, attachment theory, attunement, internal emotional regulation of absence thereof, emotional maturity, magical thinking, emotional incest, coping mechanisms we create as little kids in order to deal with parental abuse or neglect. I wanted to believe in something when I didn't know, now, as I know, that wish to believe in something supernatural just vanished. Its like looking at it from above.
Supernatural/magical thinking more often than not is harmful. Sometimes it can be useful for a little abused kid, but in adulthood it's more harmful and limiting than helpful, however mild it could be.
I have always been an atheist. Yet that didn't prevent me from wanting something spiritual. Until I got seriously educated about what creates a human personality, and how our earliest relationship with our primacy care giver and our earliest environment makes us who we are, creates our deepest beliefs about ourselves and the world around us and our relation to it. Subconscious doesn't seem to me supernatural anymore. Actually, supernatural thinking for me stood in the way of connecting the dots of my childhood experiences and adult life, choices and decision making processes. Supernatural thinking was something that kept me in the dark in terms of understanding what kind of therapy I needed and why etc. Now, as it's gone, I could chose proper therapeutic approach, find appropriate therapist, becomes assertive and not fall victim to charlatans.

[anjali]

Some events happened in my life that i couldnt control and i wouldnt even wish those upon my worst enemies, i just think to myself - "things just happen"

[Icedcoffee]

I understand what Clay was saying about how we tend to stick to supernatural thinking even if we aren't religious. I was never religious growing up so I was always atheist and stayed that way after some curious research into major religions but even as an atheist of religion, I would still say I have spiritual thoughts and choose not to deny interest in spiritual thoughts or beliefs because I don't even think we can completely lose those thoughts or beliefs, only deny we have those thoughts or beliefs. I personally like spirituality more than religion because it doesn't interfere with reality, it's just life philosophy. For example, I use meditation as a practice to help increase focus, relieve stress, and find a time to reflect and think about the future, and even though I'm not a Buddhist, just deeply respect the teachings in Buddhism, I still use it because it's been scientifically proven to improve/strengthen the brain and it helps me connect myself to everything around me in a spiritual sense and that's nice. So my spirituality is absorbing great wisdom from spiritual teachings like Buddhism, philosophers like Marcus Aurelius, scientists like Carl Sagan, and intellectual thinkers like Noam Chomsky, to help me become a deep thinker and have a connection to everything around me by accepting knowledge and philosophy regardless of the delivery system. Kinda like a Intellectual and a hippie combined into one I guess 😂

[tschorsch]

Most religions do not encourage any creativity in their "supernatural" beliefs. The most creative search for meaning is done by not making simple dogmatic assumptions like religions do. In fact, religions discourage exploration of meaning. When in the clutches of a religion, you substitute creative understanding with the already prepared happy meal. Choosing the supernatural is the least creative search for meaning, it is the god(s) of the gaps shortcut.

[dustinstorey]

Having or creating meaning in life doesn’t require any kind of supernatural thinking. I think supernatural is really just a term used when people don’t want to think things all the way through and realize what we actually know about our existence is far more incredible than any story that’s ever been told. The incredibly immense nature of the world and much more so the universe is is mind numbing and therefore anything we do on top of just the chance of having life is much more meaningful than if some silly god did this to entertain himself.

[sujimtangerines]

(Long comment, might edit or reply after completing video)
I paused after :30 Because I vehemently disagree with the assertion that with science, "what we have is all we have." The very nature and definition of science means questioning, testing, searching, learning. Striving to answer & understand the whys & hows feeds my curiosity. The thought of some ever unknowable, unseeable Being tinkering with the universe, with our lives, gives me extreme anxiety; it does not bring solace or relief.

I've never understood Magical Thinking, so I spent my teenage & early adult years seeking to understand, believing I was broken somehow for not having this faith in the supernatural existence of a creator. And I tried. I tried so hard, even stepping away from the dominant religion of where I grew up & I searched in most of the other Christian denominations. I've read the Bible & Apocrypha, and I've also read an English translation of the Koran. I took classes in Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, & Sufism, Sikhism & Shintoism.

I just couldn't make myself believe.

But the science? That made sense. That was concrete, provable. What we don't know, what science is searching for answers to, explanations of, is what I find astounding. And if I might hijack a word, miraculous. I don't need to be constrained by arbitrary rules, to be bribed by a spiritual reward or extorted into acting in my own or societies best interest.

But again, I still seek to understand why others do, even if I know I'll likely not ever completely comprehend. So I might be back after watching to add more.

[CastleKingside]

Well...
I was raised in the church. Sang tenor in the choir.
My grandfather was a minister.
Then I got older and started to believe more in rational, scientific explanations for everything.
I eventually became an atheist.
For a few years I felt this way.
Then I had an experience on the 91 freeway one night and I changed my mind.
I became agnostic after that.
I stayed this way until I finally asked for forgiveness for all the damage I had done to others throughout my life.
So then I accepted the gift of Mercy through Jesus Christ.
I wasn't there and I don't even know if it happened.
But I believe that the story itself is beautiful. It has helped me become a better person.
Whatever happens when we die, I don't know.
I just believe that it's gonna be great.
Whoever is reading this...
Thank you. I love you.
May you be blessed.
Peace.

[brownell.landrum]

I literally "wrote the book" on things happening for a reason (called Five Reasons Why Bad Things Happen.) Here's a tip: people who believe things happen for a reason are much happier than those who don't. (Check out Albert Bandura's work for confirmation).

[terrillmel]

I just went to "The Music Man" play today. I was bothered by the overall plot, but I realized it represented reality well. To summarize, an entire town decides that the con man that tricked them, sold them a lie and took their money, was actually a good thing, because the lie he sold them made them happy.

[TheMidnightBandit]

Hopefully we will evolve in an intelligent direction, and not rely on make believe.