How Can I Turn From Effect to Cause?

I choose to imagine that everything that happens to me is based on a decision that I made in the past. I don’t choose to believe this because it is inherently true. It is not a metaphysical filter through which I interpret the world. Rather, it is a practical way of making myself more accountable.

Another way of phrasing this is by asking, "What can we learn from this?" There is a tendency within new age constructive thought that has been simplified and turned into a rigid framework to blame the victim.

To say, "Well, it’s your fault if you’re ill," or "It’s your fault you were abused as a child," doesn’t make sense or empower anyone. Turning from effect to cause is not about blame. There are times when this is not possible because the damage, wound, trauma, or shock is too great.

A more appropriate question to ask is, "How can I move from here and be stronger?"

Ask yourself, "Out of the horror of my experience, what can I learn? How can I move forward from here, empowered, freed from shock, freed from the wound, freed from the fear and freed from the resentment or the blame?"

I recently listened to an interview with a Turkish man who was held captive at Guantanamo for five years. He was completely innocent and had been captured in Pakistan so that the two Pakistani Police officers who turned him in could get a $3,000 reward from the Americans for handing him over.

He spent five years in captivity imagining life outside of Guantanamo. He often wished that he could be the next prisoner to die. After his release he wrote a book. In his interview it was miraculous and glorious to see how he had become the cause rather than an effect.

His focus was not on blame.

He certainly learned and wished for the United States Government to be accountable for how he was treated. The amazing thing was that he did not resent Americans as a whole or even the situation.

He embodied living in the cause in a way that may be inconceivable to many of us, given his experience. He was being proactive in how he viewed his past life. He was moving forward, not dismissing or denying it, but also not being a victim of circumstance.

This is just one miraculous example of how people can overcome unthinkable circumstances and learn from them without focusing on blame or bearing guilt.

Choosing to live in the cause instead of the effect will help you liberate yourself from circumstance, no matter how unfortunate, as a more empowered and informed individual.