The Butterfly Effect

A Plane's Takeoff

When a plane takes off from one country to another, if a few degrees in its direction are changed, its entire direction will change to another country and another destination.

99 Hits on a Stone

When you hit a stone 99 times and it doesn't break, but it breaks on the 100th hit.

Changing a Bad Habit

When you change just one bad habit in your life, it will lead to a comprehensive change in other areas. For example, the last hour before bed and the first hour after waking up with no screens (from the book Ikigai by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles).

(The topic of habits is mentioned more strongly and deeply in the book Atomic Habits by James Clear.)

The Molecular Structure of Benzene

When the scientist Friedrich August Kekulé discovered the molecular structure of benzene through a dream.

And so on. The examples for this topic are endless, and each example can lead us to another deeper topic and another dimension.

Now we know what the Butterfly Effect is. But what's more important to me is why this idea is one of the most important existential points we need to understand. It has a complete effect on our lives, and as a result, we can work on it and benefit from it. Because this topic branches into other topics, I will focus on two parts. The first is its effect on personal life by taking each of the previous examples. The second, more important part is that "everything in this life has value, either positive and beneficial or negative and harmful," even if it's a bat or a turtle.

The Butterfly Effect in Our Lives

First, I learned about the plane example from the book Atomic Habits, because this example was originally applied to the importance of daily habits and how they can change a person's life for the better or for the worse. But what I want to clarify here is that anything a person can do will have a big impact on their surroundings, their work, their family, their friends, their life as a whole, and it may even reach the entire world.

Like what the video game company Sierra achieved when they developed the electronic game Mystery House in their home kitchen. 80,000 copies of the game were sold in 1980. This led to the creation of more games and other innovations, and as a result, the employment of other people and contributing to changing the lives of employees, their families, and even their friends. This is aside from the fact that they may have left the company later. The simple thing that started as drawing a game on a kitchen table changed into a big company with a reputation.

Second, hitting the stone 99 times and it breaking on the 100th time, or as the Iraqi proverb says, "A lot of tapping on iron loosens the solder." This example may seem inconsistent with the idea of one small action leading to a big change in another area, but it has a very strong link. The idea that the stone did not break from 99 hits and broke on the 100th time is not because of the 100th hit, but because of all the previous 99 hits. This indicates that every hit actually had an effect and did not go in vain because without them, the stone would never have broken.

This example shows that no matter how much we think something is worthless and has no effect, in the long run, it has a strong effect. This happens daily. Another example is my studies over the past five years. I have been studying remotely, and thank God, I now have only one year left to finish my studies. With every day that I put in effort and studied, I passed a part, and even if it was small at the time, today it is considered 75 percent, and only 25 percent remains.

Third, I learned the method of spending an hour after waking up and before bed without looking at any screen from the book Ikigai, and it has changed a lot in my life. First of all, not looking at an electronic screen immediately upon waking up and before bed will help your vision and give your eyes a rest from blue light, in addition to reconnecting with the "flow" of life (the basic theory in the book Ikigai).

The other effect is that, because I always love to read, and before this method, I don't deny that I wasn't reading, but after this method, I was able to find time in the morning to read no matter what happened during the day. As for the evening, I found time to write in my journal (one of the most important ways to develop oneself, from experience) and spend time for myself.

So when I changed a bad habit (browsing social media and watching TV immediately upon waking up) to a good habit (reading), I rested my eyes, reduced my phone use, learned a lot, and benefited from the books I read. I've read more compared to before. How did this simple act change a whole day? Or how did it affect my evening by getting better and deeper sleep, increasing my productivity, and expanding my ideas? And this is all in a short period of time, so what will happen after one or two years from now, and what will I achieve?

Fourth, the discovery of the molecular structure of benzene by the scientist Friedrich August Kekulé in his dream is another proof that even dreams or visions can have a goal for change for the better (far from the topic of the metaphysical). When he saw a snake eating its tail, Friedrich translated this scene as the ring that contains the structure of benzene. And with this, he made a qualitative leap in the world of chemistry.

Even dreams can convey an important idea to us, and its echo and effect can be felt throughout the world.

All these examples lead us to another theory, which is that everything in this life has value, either positive and beneficial or negative and harmful. I have presented the positive things, but just as a simple thing can build, another simple thing can destroy. And in both cases, they both have real value. In fact, I don't like to mention the bad things to avoid spreading harm.

Therefore, I will give one bad example that happened to me. My father was a cigarette smoker, and one day he decided to quit. But unfortunately, after about 5 years of quitting cigarettes, he returned to smoking, but this time he started smoking shisha. He started once a week until it progressed to daily. Apart from the negative effect of shisha on us, the biggest effect was on him and his health. And its effects did not appear at first; it took another 6 years to appear. The first of its effects was the presence of tumors in the colon, which led to a laparoscopic surgery to remove these tumors, and thankfully, they were benign. As for the second effect, it caused inflammation of the nerves in his left shoulder to the extent that he could not raise his hand, and after about a year of treatment, his left hand healed, and the inflammation moved to his right hand, and to this day, he is still treating it, and it has not completely subsided after more than a year of treatment. As for the third and strongest effect, we almost lost him one day. Suddenly, while he was smoking shisha, he trembled, convulsed, vomited, and everything stopped. Nothing saved him that day except prayers until he woke up and promised that he would quit shisha, but to this day, he has not quit, although he often gets dizzy when he smokes shisha.

What I want to say in this example is that the effect of shisha did not appear at first, but its effects appeared years later, and this is only what we saw (what was hidden was greater).

As for the value of things in general, we often ask why this thing happened. So always be sure that what happened was for a reason (refer to the article "It's all for the best"). Even coincidences have a reason. This person is destined to meet or face this person for their own good or for a specific action with them.

One of the questions we might ask is, "Why does a bat exist? What is its importance?" It is a scary creature in our eyes. But when we search, we see that it is very useful and important in nature and an active element in eliminating harmful insects that could lead to the loss of agricultural crops, which in turn affects the environment and the economy. Or, for example, why does a turtle live for hundreds of years, or what is its benefit? While it is an important element on land and at sea, it is responsible for cleaning the ocean and transporting fish from one place to another. As for on land, it provides fertilizer for the earth.

The point I want to emphasize is that everything created in this life has value. When we feel that we have no value, we commit a grave mistake against ourselves, and if we continue in it, we will be lost and lose everything. If a bat and a butterfly's wing have a great effect, then we certainly have a greater effect.

When you see a person and say, "Why does this person exist?" be sure that they are important and of high value in this world, for they balance between one thing and another or are an opportunity for other people to do the right thing. Nothing is without value, and everything has value.