There’s a couple of different ways of explaining why what happens to us happens, and why we get what we get.
One way would be to say, we created it. We had ideas, we had experiences, we had desires, and somehow these “attracted” the circumstances in our lives. We “reap the fields we sow.”
This may be the truth of how things work, but I would hope that everybody doesn’t buy into it. If everybody buys into it, you’ve got everybody expecting something. For example, according to the “attraction” hypothesis, if I want something bad enough, I will eventually attract it.
But this puts the idea, experience, or desire first. It suggests, “This is what you need to do, or think, or be, to have X.” But why would I want to have X in the first place?
The problem comes when I think X has anything whatsoever to do with my happiness. The problem comes when I think X has anything to do with the idea that I don’t have X, but I could have X.
Why not just start with Zero? Zero doesn’t create expectations. Zero doesn’t lead to disappointments. Zero is just Zero.
I am what I am, and I have what I have. Why? Because I am it, and I have it. The “attraction hypothesis” is flawed, in my opinion, because it mixes up our priorities. I believe the first priority should be figuring out what or who we are. Once we start there, we might find that our ideas, experiences, and desires have even less to do with us than we thought!