They say “everything happens for a reason”. This is a useful belief, even if we have no way of testing it. I will submit, though, that a large part of the reason is usually a perception we had or did not have, a decision we made or did not make, and an action we either did or avoided.
Personally, I have never been afraid to make decisions, and never afraid to act. But I have often failed to understand my motivations, which begins with perception.
As I look at our cultural landscape, and that of other nations around the world, I am increasingly persuaded that most all human activity is in large measure self destructive and unaware, for reasons traceable to common psychological faults, most beginning in childhood. Quite often, religion exacerbates these faults, rather than curing them.