Our search for answers in the face of evil

Unfortunately, the search for meaning can be frustrating and even frightening.  Psychologists say the randomness of terrifying violence is destabilizing to society. That’s why terrorists use it.  The math is always in our favor, but one cannot help thinking, “If it could happen there, it can happen anywhere.”

Dr. Ira Hyman, a professor of psychology at Western Washington University, has written that research shows that if we can understand a horrific event it doesn’t impact us as profoundly. “When you can explain an event that explanation makes the memory seem further away in time, further from the self, and removes some of the emotional content.”