mans search for meaning?

Question

What does he mean when he says "A reef that appears at low tide is certainly not the coause of the low tide"?

Answer 1

The symptoms of a problem are usually not the cause of the problem.

The reef appears because the tide is low. The tide is not low because the reef appeared. The reef is just the symptom.

As you may know, the moon is what has the greatest effect on the tides shifting.

Answer 2

When things are bad and then get worse, the thing that makes them worse isn't the thing that caused things to get bad in the first place?