I'll let you in on a truth, actually it's a pretty big one. You are a reality distortion engine. Not much, really just fractions of a fraction of a percent, the reality you interact with, but as anyone who’s seen Office Space or Superman 3 (jeez, that wasn’t a great Richard Pryor vehicle) can attest, fractions add up.
If you're wondering why no one has used this knowledge, I can tell you they already have and it's literally wrecking the world. I am a Pagan Animist, I believe words, symbols and ideas can have power, and it's a power we as people collectively allow them to have. Those that are truly pathological have cowered behind symbols people have relied on and they're using those positions of authority to manipulate and amplify suffering, jealousy, fear, and distraction from each other. They are flooding the zone with a miasma of putrefication and telling us we should be thankful for the worsening fate we’ve been given by them. That the rules that operate everyday life are “complicated but fair,” even as they pour gasoline and light the match like an arsonist. The truth for them is they also won't be spared from the seeds of destruction they’ve spread fecklessly.
I believe in a much simpler truth: leave a compelling story. What this boils down to is your engagement with others can be a blessing or a curse, and it's on us every day to make heaven — and not hell — around us. If that sounds rather parable-y and overly vague, I'll tell you it really isn't, it's less dogma and more just basic daily practical application. If you're asking me to account for bad things that happen randomly, I will tell you we can't fix those — but we can learn more to understand and prevent them where possible, and we can work on ourselves and our community.
One of my favorite written pieces is a commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace, "This is Water." In it, Wallace outlines his narrative by giving an analogy of two young fish swimming by an older fish, the older fish asking them, "How's the water?" and the younger fish swim past, then one turns to the other and asks, "What the hell is water?" The context for this being the younger fish are unaware of the very element they are both swimming in. The element we are swimming in is time. The patience we have for ourselves, for those around us, for finding joy in the little things in the world, and for small tasks we care about is the most valuable resource we have.
Invest wisely.