Does every event have a cause?

Question

If so, can there be a begining?

What is more, if every action has an equal and opposite reaction, can there be an end?

Answer 1

Personally, I believe in the concept of infinity in both directions.

Answer 2

I believe it is safe to say that every event has a cause, but this leads to some deep questions and confusions. First of all, the fact that every event has a cause does not necessarily imply strict determinism. It is possible that some causes imply probabilities of outcomes, rather than specifically determined outcomes. Virtual particles "leaping out" of the Void, for example, are in some sense caused by the intrinsically energetic nature of the Void, but this intrinsic energy is indeterminate in the sense that there is no way, even in principle, to predict exact what kind of particle will pop out, exactly when and where it will pop into existence, and exactly when it will disappear back into the Void. This process is (so far a physics can tell us) purely random – albeit a sort of randomness that is somewhat structured by basic probabilities – some events are more probable than others.

Now concerning beginnings and endings, I would say this: There is no "ultimate" beginning or end in an absolute sense. The big bang may have been the beginning of the process that we know as our universe, but the Void from which it sprung had no beginning, so for all we know an infinite number of physical universes have sprung out of it. And perhaps some day our physical universe will run out of energy and "die", but once again this doesn't affect the void. The Void has no beginning or end.

So now you might be wondering: "What the heck is the Void?" And the only rational answer can be: "Heck if I know!" Supposedly, enlightened sages can experience the Void directly, but then they walk around saying it is indescribable. Of course this doesn't stop some of them (or us) from trying to describe it anyway. All I can say is this: The Void is indeterminate, and is "pure potential". Sorry if that doesn't seem like a helpful description, but there is not much else I can do. I use a metaphor of white light. Physics tells us that white light is a combination of all colors. So if your friend is having trouble deciding what color to paint her bedroom, tell her to paint is white, because then she will have all of the colors, and thus she doesn't really have to chose. Don't blame me, though, if she kicks you out of the house for being a smartazz. Anyway, the Void is sort of like white light in the sense that it contains all possibilities in a sort of indeterminate mixture. Of course white light is still thing-like in ways that the void is not thing-like, but it's the best metaphor I can think of.

So the bottom line is this: All THINGS have beginnings and ending. All THINGS are impermanent. By the word "thing" I mean to reference anything that has any sort of determinate nature – anything that you can say something intelligible about, including material objects, concepts, abstract ideas, processes, etc. Then on the other hand we have the Void. The Void (aka: "nothingness", "emptiness", "Sunyata", "vacuum energy", "God" or whatever) has no beginning or end. It is just a concept that we use to try to get at the un-get-at-able, which is the "source" of all beings, although by calling it a "source" – indeed, by giving it a name of any sort – we've already screw ourselves up because this assigns a certain determinate nature to that which has no determinate nature whatsoever (which is why I say it is indeterminate). So there you go; that's existence in a nutshell. So now we can all lay on our backs and wiggle like Austin Powers saying "Help! Help! I'm in a nutshell!"

Answer 3

Every event has the same "cause." The idea of a cause is about our experience of action and reaction; it's like an artifact. Every beginning is the end of something else. No, there was not a beginning, and no, there cannot be an end.

The Big Bang is not even as solid a theory as evolution. Creation is not a thing that happened in the past, causeless -- it's a thing that is happening in this instant, and continues for as long as there is an instant happening (eternally).

Answer 4

From 2 different perspectives, there seems to be 2 different truths, but from the perspective of the whole, everything, even 2 different things that seem to oppose each other find their own place in the whole perspective and both becomes part of the Whole.

From the point of view of the mind, through which we see things from our senses, there is time and there are boundaries. Everything in this world seems to be finite, according to the mind.

Consciousness, because it does not depend on our senses
is boundless, timeless and is infinite.

Because we perceive events from our senses, we'll use the mind to answer your question. Yes, there is a beginning...and Yes, there can be an end.

From the consciousness perspective, because it is timeless,
there can't be no beginning and there can't be no end.

Beyond the realm of the mind, there is timelessness, infinity and yes, infinite happiness!

Beyond the realm of the mind, there is a reality that we forget
to acknowledge. The cells divide and multiply always, but not many accept it as part of their reality, only because it can't be seen by the eyes. Unless we see these as part of our reality,
and accept the reality of both the seen and the unseen,
we will have confusion about life. What will happen is, we will see it from one perspective and deny the existence of the other. We need to observe the correct data from the right perspective to see the truth!

Janaki

Answer 5

If there will be a sea battle tomorrow, and someone says "there will be a sea battle tomorrow" then that sentence is true, even before the sea battle occurs. But given that the sentence is true, the sea battle could not fail to take place. This argument can be rejected by denying that predictions about the future have to be true or false when they are made - ie, rejecting bivalence for sentences about the future. In other words, if there is a fork in the road, it can be said you will go left or you will go right. So;

1) There exist now propositions about everything that might happen in the future.

2) Every proposition is either true or else false.

3) If you accept statements 1) and 2), then there exists now a set of true propositions that, taken together, correctly predict everything that will happen in the future.

4) If there exists now a set of true propositions that, taken together, correctly predict everything that will happen in the future, then whatever will happen in the future is already unavoidable.
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The beginning of everything in our reality is the Big Bang. It is a point of singularity that is the 'Mother of Everything'. There is a law called Entropy. It says that everything tends from order to disorder. It can never go from disorder to order without causing more disorder. It can never be equal except in theory. So, if you look at the timeline of Entropy and trace it back to the point of the Big Bang, at that point all potential was as orderly as it could have ever been. We could call it 'perfect' and has become less and less 'perfect' as time passes. And 'yes', every action has an equal reaction. In fact, if you add all the positive energy, forces, and mass in the universe to all of the negative energy, forces, and mass - the total comes out to be zero.

Answer 6

Causes can be so minute that they appear to have not happened, I.E. You blow at on end of the room, who's to say that one little tiny hair didn't move n someone else's head? Religious people would say every event started with a creator where-as the scientific portion would say that a large bang "Big Bang" was the first cause. And in terms of an end there is most likely no possibility unless every planet and star and debris floating in space were to all of a sudden vanish, and since this is a highly unlikely possibility there shouldn't be and end of events. At least none that will occur in your great grandchildren x10,000's life.

Answer 7

All my life i have heard there is a reason for every event in our life it is already written in our path or maybe i should say journey through the trails we are to endure........ God has a plan for us all.I lost my son 1 year ago march 14,
he was 19 in a car accident but i have not found the answer yet to this day that I am suppose to learn something from this path... I still am grieving from this loss I see no beginning
I feel this was the end
I am waiting for my path to meet up with him because a part of me went with him The day God called him home

Answer 8

To be strictly accurate, we would have to say that everything humans have observed on this planet appears to be part of a chain of cause and effect.

From this observation, we believe we can trace larger patterns, and even find universal or cosmic meaning. We also can imagine the chain of cause and effect stretching endlessly into the past to the "Big Bang" or to "Creation" (and the two might be the same thing). Yet this is a matter of belief and faith, not a matter of science.

Answer 9

yes, is the simple answer. like everything in life it will eventually die so there is you end but the beginning can start where you like, or in some cases you have no choice where it begins, not every action has a reaction

Answer 10

Event and cause are to be understood under the traditional psychological rubrik of soul, because that is where they have a terminus.*

*By terminus I denote boundary, not mortality.