Accidents Part 1
October 20, 2026
Welcome to this week’s Daily Reflections on Accidents.
We try to avoid accidents because they can cause all kinds of problems. Some are inconsequential. Paradoxically, others may even save the day. But one thing is certain: nobody plans to have an accident. Some accidents we know are just waiting to happen. Then there are the accidents no one sees coming: a slip, a fall, a car crash, or an unfortunate collision of events that throws everything off course. Some are minor; others are fatal.
Why is that? Because we have an outcome in mind—whether for ourselves, for others, or even for God—and we want things to unfold in a way that brings it about. No one can blame us for wanting things to turn out as we hope. How could anything be accomplished without a wish and a plan?
For example, when investors want to build a skyscraper, they consult architects and a host of other planners to give shape to their dream. Engineers then plan how to turn the drawings into a building. An accident at any stage can delay the project or bring it to a grinding halt. That is why industries employ safety managers and occupational health and safety professionals who study accident causes and work to prevent them. Yet even these highly trained people cannot eliminate accidents.
The word accident comes from the Latin accidere, meaning “to happen” or “to fall upon.” Something occurred that was outside our plan. So, from the very beginning of the formulation of language, the concept of accident embodied the concept of falling, of mishap, of faltering.
Accidents are not only physical. We may say something based on a misunderstanding of information we were given and unintentionally cause emotional harm. We may act in ways that unwittingly hurt ourselves or someone else. When a word or action is truly accidental, there is no intention to wound—yet the unwanted results can still be real.
The ego has trouble with accidents. An accident interrupts its plans, unsettles its sense of identity, and challenges its wish to make the world fit its mold of how things ought to be. The ego often needs to blame, get even, or even seek revenge. The unchecked ego must redeem an accident in its own way. But its way is not the spiritual way.
How, then, do people who strive for consciousness and the spiritual life respond to accidents? How do we accept them as part of the human condition? And when an accident changes our lives, how do we persevere and live with what has happened?
These are some of the questions we will reflect on this week.
Spiritual Practice and Inquiry
What accidents have shaped your life? Write down your spiritual approach to accidents. What may be your theology of accidents?
Prayer
Dear God,
I was sent into a panic when I thought there had been a devastating accident. This warned me of the ever-present need to have things go without loss or injury. It reminded me of my ego’s reaction. Help me to walk with You into the unexpected. Make room in my soul for the accidents of life that will always be with me and affect me. Help me humbly accept that my mistakes and accidents will affect others and teach me how to bring them into Your divine flow.
Amen
