437. Natural Disasters

We expect a person’s actions to follow from choices they have made. We do not always expect these choices to be rational or good, but we do expect the person to understand that they have wilfully decided to pursue a particular course of action.

But sometimes the ability to choose is completely impaired by the physical circumstances of the body. In such a situation, a human being cannot choose to do anything and their actions are no different from those of a wild animal. There is no act of will here, as these actions are outside the realm of control and possibly even outside the realm of consciousness. If these actions are also harmful to the person or others, we might consider them a kind of natural disaster. Here the conditions of nature work to produce a particular outcome over which there is no possible control or decision.

Such an outcome worries us because it contests our understanding of human behaviour, which we take to be fundamentally rooted in choice. It also seems to require that we accept that there are instances where a human being is unable to make a choice. This brings with it the daunting possibility that we ourselves might not be able to make a choice in certain situations. We do not want to accept this, because it seems to violate everything we believe about ourselves and the kind of beings we are.

We have a strong aversion to seeing ourselves as mere implements of nature, completely lacking in control, and we are strongly attached to it. A consequence of this is that we are often not able to accept that someone who has caused harm might have acted not only without choice but without even the ability to choose. Driven by attachment, we end up placing blame and demanding accountability where none can be justified.

To overcome this, we must expand our awareness of what a human being is and can do. We must allow ourselves to see that the world and ourselves are more strange and complex than they seem. And we must also recognize that there are things people will do that lie far outside the simple models of human choice and action that we want to be true.