Thursday, April 3, 2008

There is no hope, unless it is action, part 1: Happenstance

Anyone who thinks he (that is, “or she”) is in charge of his life, he is gravely mistaken. The factors that play an important role in our lives and are beyond our control are so numerous and influential that we seem like shipwrecked castaways against a wrathful ocean.

Of course, there are islands of cause and effect, but on the whole, we are at the hands (in the greatest proportion) of happenstance.

There is no doubt that everyone’s life would be completely different if something (big or small) had happened to him in some other way than it did.


If there is something to learn from this, that’s:

1) We are NOT Gods. Our accomplishments are due to our good luck* more than we’d like. The same is similarly true for our mis-fortunes.

2) We are not Gods. Our hardest effort is not enough if we don’t have adequate luck on our side.


[*Luck, Destiny, Fate, Statistical Behaviour, all these are words to describe factors that influence our lives and are beyond our (direct) control]


3) To achieve anything, the minimum effort necessary is inversely proportional to the size of the opportunity given. That is, great happenstance gives room for little effort and vice versa.

4) We need to appreciate our current position. Things could always be worse, so we need to enjoy the place we are. Also, things could always be better, so we should keep striving for improvement.

5) We need to be prepared for the best or worst. Anything is possible, which means that gaining or losing everything is a breath away.

What we do have control over (though not total, but we’ll talk about that another time) is our choices.
Barring the most extreme of situations, there is always a choice, a path to take or not and that is our best (and only) weapon against the chaos of happenstance.

No hope, unless it’s action.

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