When mental [illness] increases until it reaches the danger point, do not exhaust yourself by efforts to trace back to original causes. Better accept them as inevitable and save your strength to fight against the effects.

The challenge is in identifying the cause. The effect identifies itself.

Bad results are the symptoms not the causes.

It wasn't that she was sad—sadness had very little to do with it, really, considering that most of the time, she felt close to nothing at all. Feeling required nerves, connections, sensory input. The only thing she felt was numb. And tired. Yes, she very frequently felt tired.

It is often interesting, in retrospect, to consider the trifling causes that led to great events.

Can we say, in this case, that the cause of a cause is the relevant cause?