How It All Works

As near as I can figure, from my narrow perspective…………

And I can’t emphasize this enough: I have a very narrow perspective.
Not the least because I am a human being.
I see through a glass darkly…….on a bright sunny day.
There’s no light at the end of the tunnel.
I can’t find the tunnel.
The perspective is very narrow.

And from this narrow perspective and on the basis of no evidence whatsoever, I have concluded that there are Four Ways Life Can Work.

It’s possible there may be more. But more is too complicated. And I’m betting that even if there are more, they are just derivatives of the Big Four.

So here’s how life has to work.
One of the following:

• All of life can be preordained.
• Life can be completely random.
• Life can be the result of choices that affect the outcome.
• Or it’s a combination of the second and third ways.

Now it’s important to understand that these four possibilities are devoid of religious (as distinct from Spiritual) implications. All four can be true or false with or without the presence of a Deity, or a deity. But life, in the big picture, must work one of these four ways, or in a minor variation.

There are, of course, advantages and disadvantages to each of them.

Preordained

Pretty simple. It’s all worked out before you get here. Probably before any of us got here. It’s all written down. There’s no changing it. We are on the ride but we are out of control. When you walk out the door, which way you turn has already been established. And no amount of mind-fucking yourself is going to change it.

“I want to turn left, but I am preordained to do that, so I’ll choose right, but wait, what if I’m preordained to change my mind, well then I won’t, I’ll go left after all, but wait, what if…………..”

You get the idea.

Now the good news is that if this is True, we can all just sit back and relax. Right?
I mean, what’s the point? You’re destined to do what you are going to do anyway. So just relax. And if you can manage to relax, well then, you were destined to do it. And if you can’t manage to relax, well, it means you weren’t destined to relax. Simple.

Apparently this is such good news that lots of people buy into Predestination. In fact, the August 2010 issue of Playboy quotes two religious surveys that found that 61% of Americans believe God has predetermined the course of their life. And 32% of those responding said they also believe there is no sense in planning a lot because ultimately their fate is in God’s hands.

So what’s the bad news?

The bad news is that it leaves us this: Out Of Control!!

This does not mean it isn’t True, by the way. It can still be True, but it just feels bad to be out of control. For one thing it’s scary. That means bad things can happen to me at any second and there’s absolutely nothing I can do to stop it….unless I’m preordained to…

For another, it’s boring. It’s the birthplace of apathy. I’m going to succeed or I’m not. I’m going to be great or I’m not. Either way, it’s preordained. So what the hell………
“Bartender, another glass please.”

At work, you want to move up the ladder of success. You want to make more money. You want the key to the executive wash room. So you work harder. But what’s the point? It’s already set in stone. You either make it up the ladder or you don’t. You’re a student, an aspiring actor, a painter, a car mechanic. You want to be better, to be at the top of your game. But really…what’s the point of trying?

Uniquely, if this one is True, it must be True all by itself. It cannot, by definition, combine with any of the others in a hands-across-the-sea-ecumenical-kum-bah-yah hug. It’s either completely True or completely false. There is no shade of grey.

The roulette wheel spins. Where the ball lands has already been decided. So has your bet, just before the ball bounces to a stop.

Totally Random

This one is almost as bad.
Or almost as good, depending on how you feel about it.

Anything can happen. Absolutely anything. Walk out the door. Turn left. Turn right. It doesn’t matter. Either way, your entire life will be different than if you had turned the other way, or if you had stood still, or if you had backed up. Or maybe not. Because it’s not only walking out the door. It’s every decision you make. Each one changes things that are completely unpredictable because, among other reasons, millions of other people are turning left or right as well. The world is one, giant random number generator.

As before, the good news is that I might as well relax.

The bad news is that I might meet the love of my life. Or I might not. I might get a better job. Or I might not. I might pass the class. Or I might not. It’s not preordained. It has not been decided. And worst of all: It’s-Not-Up-To-Me. Anything can happen. Anything. At any time. Completely random.

Spin the wheel. It’s all up for grabs.
The odds are exactly 1 over the number of options.

But there is……………one more bit of good news.

This way is NOT exclusive.
It can play-well-with-others.

We Have A Choice In Everything and Those Choices Affect the Outcome

I am master of my own fate. It’s all in my hands. I decide what happens to me. I make the decisions and those decisions control what happens to me next. I am not programmed to turn right or left. I can think about it. I can consciously analyze the pros and cons and I can make the choice that best suits me. Or, were I a self destructive person, the choice that worst suits me.

Or, of course, I can go through life and make choices without thinking about them at all. But those choices will have just as much affect on me as if I had analyzed them completely. They may not be conscious choices. But they are still my choices and they guide my destiny.

So what’s the bad news?

I’ll tell you.

It’s a tremendous responsibility. It’s a lot of pressure. It means I have to pay attention. It means I need to take notes in Life Class and apply what I learn, because whether I succeed or fail is completely, 100% up to me. Oh sure, I can slack off. But there will be a price to pay. And the price will be failure, resulting in pain and suffering that could have been avoided if I had just made the right choice.

Not that’s pressure, boys and girls. Relentless, crushing pressure of the most insidious kind. There is no wiggling off that hook. It’s all, ALL up to you.

So, what could possibly be the good news?
It’s potentially the most productive choice.

Let’s be clear.
It doesn’t matter what you believe about life when it comes to the Truth. One of these Four Ways is True. Your belief in it or against it does not change that.

(There is a defensible school of thought that actually makes a case for the contrary. What you believe DOES change reality. But I am not prepared to go down that road right now and further muddy the waters.)

I digress…..

One of these Four Ways is True. And whether it is the one you believe or not, it goes right on being True. So why not choose the one that is the most productive?

If “Having A Choice” is True and you choose to live that way, then you will have made the most out of your life. But even if it is not True, so what? You still worked hard and believed that what you were doing mattered and it felt good. And, of course, if it is True that you “Have a Choice” and you don’t believe it, well then, you have completely wasted your life.

Belief in this Life System gives you an enormous amount of power.…..and responsibility.

For example, one of the irrefutable conclusions derived from this theory is:
People have exactly what they want, or they would have something else.

That’s very powerful.

You’ve heard people complain about their lives. And as often as not, what did you think to yourself?
“If they wanted something else they would makes different choices.”
Right? They have what they have because it’s what they chose.
You’ve seen it…..in other people.

Choices come with very specific RESULTS. And most of the time we know exactly what those results are going to be. Further, the same choices inevitably lead to the same results. There is an unstoppable machine called Cause And Effect and it is always turned ON.

Oh sure, there are periods of transition in life. Moments when we are actively moving from where-we-are to where-we-want-to-be. But these moments are so brief as to be completely insignificant. To even admit they exist is to give them too much weight. They only become an excuse for people to use as a justification for poor choices. For all practical purposes, lightening fast moments of transition do not exist. We spend 99% of our life in a permanent place. Driving to the same job. Seeing the same people. Making the same choices. It is “Ground Hog Day!”

We have what we have because it is what we want. And we arrive where we are as a direct result of the choices we have made. To say we don’t like where we are and to go right on making the same choices is to spit directly into the hurricane of Reality. It’s very simple. If you Truly don’t like where you are, you will makes different choices and be somewhere else.

For the record, this is the way I raise my children. No they are not “just kids” whose brains have yet to solidify and are, therefore, not responsible for their idiotic and unproductive behavior. Choices always come with results and you need to think about those choices in order to achieve the results you want. As a consequence, if you fail or you are angry or you are bored or you are unhappy it is because of a choice YOU made, not because you are the hapless victim of oppressive parents.

My wife and I don’t always agree on this approach.

So what’s so “good” about this news?
You are in control. It’s all up to you. You have all the power.

Of course Helen Keller could spot the downside to this “good news.”

When things go wrong, there is no one else to blame. I can only look back and try to spot the incorrect choices. When I don’t have what I want, I can only comfort myself with: Yes I do.

As Charlie Brown said, “There is no heavier burden than a great potential.”
You got that right, Chuck. It’s a sword of Damocles that hangs perpetually over the head of the guilt ridden and the overly analytical.

If I had enough information and I analyzed it correctly, I would always know where the roulette ball was going to land. If I knew the speed of the ball and the speed of the wheel and the arc of the toss and the humidity and the temperature and the rotation of the earth and several hundred other things it would be possible to predict exactly how to bet. But I don’t know all that. But wait. Do I know enough? Is there a pattern? Can I spot it? Is there something I’m missing that can help me win?

Some people consider the unrelenting pressure of always having to make the “right” choice a small price to pay for being in control.

Some people don’t.

A Combination of #2 and #3

Maybe it’s a little of both.
My choices matter in a random world.

The choices I make always have results. But it’s hard to predict those results. There are so many random factors. There are so many other people making choices too. And I can only make my choices based on the information I have. But even under the best conditions, I never have all the information. And as long as I don’t have it all, as long as there is one random factor, can I ever make a perfectly informed choice?

According to the “Combination System” some choices, on the average and over time, will be better and more productive than others. You are rewarded for good choices and punished for bad ones………..usually.

Think of the game RISK.

There are opposing armies. The placement of those armies is up to you. There are better options, more powerful choices, than others. But eventually, after all the placing has been done, it’s time to attack or defend. And to attack or defend you have to roll the dice.

Sometimes the dice fall your way.
Sometimes they don’t.

Now if you have made good placements, it can, almost always, compensate for bad luck. But not always. Sometimes you make good choices and the dice don’t roll your way.

Conversely, sometimes you make bad choices and still come out ahead.
Not often.
But sometimes.

So what’s the bad news when it comes to a “Combination of #2 and #3?”

Things are still fairly unpredictable……with a dab of pressure-to-make-the-right choices thrown in for good measure.

If I knew the speed of the ball and the speed of the wheel and the arc of the toss and the humidity and the temperature and a few hundred other things I could, with the help of a powerful computer, predict exactly where the ball would land and could bet accordingly. But I don’t know all that. No one could. And so, from all appearances, the game appears random. But I do have some information and therefore I am obligated to at least try, in the face of random odds, to make the right choice.

The bad news is that my choices, usually based on, or ignoring, a great deal of information, DO have an effect. I am responsible for accurately analyzing the situation and the choices I make WILL affect the outcome. But I am NOT in control.

So what’s the good news?

Often, perhaps even most of the time, I do have enough information to make a good or bad choice. “Good” and “bad” relative to how much closer it brings me to what I want. I am in control of much of my life. A great deal of whether or not I succeed is up to me. I can change the way things are. I can establish goals and achieve results. I can place the armies where I choose.

However, when things go “wrong,” it MAY not be my fault.
It may have been an excellent plan.
The dice just did not roll my way.

Another of my favorite Peanuts cartoons has Linus saying something to the effect of:
“You get exactly out of life what you put into it. No more and no less.”
To which Charlie Brown responds:
“Sometimes, I wish there were a little more room for error.”

The good news is that built into the “Combination System” there is a little more room for error.

You can relax…..a little.

The finesse in life, of course, is to be as honest and accurate with your assessment of which outcome is the result of random error and which outcome is the result of a poor choice.
Get good at that and you can rule the world….if you want to.

In Conclusion

Please notice two things.

As I said earlier, God may or may not enter into it. You may believe any of the Big Four with or without a Deity involved. That gives you eight possible choices if you add or subtract God from each one of them. But it doesn’t further the case for or against any of them, or for that matter, for or against God. The Almighty, at least in most people’s image of him, has the option to set up the rules any way He chooses. Though I would argue that He is limited to the Big Four.

In addition please note that the Big Four only apply to the way things APPEAR. I have studiously avoided the argument for or against the theory that this-is-all-a-fairy-tale-anyway. That argument says life is a figment of our imaginations. Given our narrow perspective and our human filters we can never Truly Know anything.

But until I can embrace that theory in the ultimate sense of the word, it seems wisest to function as successfully as possible on the appearance-plane. Some would argue that approach dilutes and defeats the search for ultimate Truth. I would argue it is easier to mount a successful search when you are not hungry than when you are.

And so I lean in the direction of a “Combination of #2 and #3.” I like to think my choices matter. And I like a little room for error. It feels right to me. And as long as it feels right to me, that will be my choice.

If it ever starts to feel wrong, I’ll make a different choice.