Do the events of human life really follow a pre-delineated trait, or does chance sometimes produce oddly united circumstances? There are various possible definitions of the term “chance.” A chance event is one whose cause is unknown. A chance event is the concurrence of two independent casual chains. These and other similar definitions of the term do not grant chance events a distinct and separate ontological status but distinguish them from other events on the basis of whether or not humans can predict their occurrence. This typically leads to theories if probability that, it is claimed, provide an explanation of chance. Pure chance is when atoms, the ultimate constituents of matter, fall vertically through space at equal velocities but that sometimes makes an uncaused swerve (clinamen) and this comes into collision with other atoms. This produces a cluster of atoms and this a material object. Human’s free will consists of just such an uncaused swerve of atoms occurring in one’s mind. The swerve envisioned is not due either to an external force or to a change in the atom itself but is entirely uncaused. It is not just that humans cannot discover the cause because of its obscurity. There is simply no cause to be discovered. #RandolphHarris 1 of 6

Simonides was one of the most prolific of the early poets of Greece, but only a few fragments of his compositions have descended to us. He wrote hymns, triumphal odes, and elegies. In the last species of composition he particularly excelled. His genius was inclined to the pathetic, and none could touch with truer effect the chords of human sympathy. “The Lamentation of Danae,” the most important of the fragments which remain of his poetry, is based upon the tradition that Danae and her infant son were confined by order of her father Acrisius in a chest and set adrift on the sea. The chest floated towards the island of Seriphus, where both were rescued by Dictys, a fisherman, and carried to Polydectes, king of the country, who received and protected them. The child Perseus, when grown up, because a famous hero. Simonides passed much of his life at the courts of princes and often employed his talents in panegyric and festal odes, receiving his reward from the munificence of those whose exploits he celebrated. This employment was not derogatory, but closely resembles that of the earliest bards, such as Demodocus, described by Homer, or of Homer himself as recorded by tradition. #RandolphHarris 2 of 6

A belief in the existence of possible events in an instinctive feeling that allows one to view the future as other and better than the past, and only appeal to feelings can be decide the question. On one occasion when residing at the court of Scopas, King of Thessaly, the prince desired him to prepare a poem in celebration of his exploits, to be recited at a banquet. In order to diversify his theme, Simonides, who was celebrated for his piety, introduced into his poem the exploits of Castor and Pollux. Such digressions were not unusual with the poets on similar occasions, and one might suppose an ordinary mortal might have been content to share the praises of the sons of Leda. However, vanity is exacting; and as Scopas sat at his festal board among his courtiers and sycophants, he grudged every verse that did not rehearse his own praises. When Simonides approached to receive the promised reward Scopas bestowed but half the expected sum, saying, “Here is payment for my portion of thy performance, Castor and Pollux will doubtless compensate thee for so much as relates to them.” The disconcerted poet returned to his seat amidst the laughter which followed the great man’s jest. #RandolphHarris 3 of 6

In little time he received a message that two young men on horseback were waiting without and anxious to see him. Simonides hastened to the door, but looked in vain for the visitors. Scarcely however has he left the banqueting hall when the roof fell in with a loud crash, burying Scopas and all his guests beneath the ruins. On inquiring as to the appearance of the young men who had sent for him, Simonides was satisfied that they were not other than Castor and Pollux themselves. You cannot go through life doing people wrong and using them. Eventually the type of energy you put out will come back to you. God’s omniscience knowns the ends He wishes achieved, but not necessarily the exact means to these ends. At various points in God’s plan ambiguous possibilities exist, and it is here that human’s free will comes into play, deciding on means to already determined ends. For any sequence of events whatsoever a mathematical function can be constructed that states a correspondence between these events and the times at which they occur. This is not to say that each event might not be an uncaused event but that the disorder predicated of the entire series of events must be relative to another set of laws. #RandolphHarris 4 of 6

The development of quantum mechanics has led some thinkers to claim, on the basis of Heisenberg’s principle of uncertainty and von Neumann’s theorem, that certain subatomic events are inherently unpredictable and that the principle of universal determinism has thus been proved false on the subatomic level. Whether this be true or not—and physicists themselves cannot seem to agree—one must carefully distinguish between these two very different questions: Are events on the subatomic level uncaused? Or are these causes of these events simply too complex for humans to grasp?  The first of these questions can never be conclusively answered affirmatively, since no matter how much evidence there might be to suggest that a given occurrence is uncaused, no certainty can be afforded that new evidence might not be uncovered which does not determine the cause of the event. In addition, the second question cannot be conclusively answered affirmatively until the cause of the event in question has actually been uncovered.  It would this appear that any event whose cause has not yet been discovered may be viewed either as pure chance event that possess no cause or as a complex event whose cause is yet unknow but may be eventually discovered. #RandolphHarris 5 of 6

It is this difficulty—that one situation can be so interpreted as to support two contradictory theses—that lies at the heart of the philosophical problem of change. The key to the missionary’s devotion is that he or she is attached to nothing and to no one except our Lord Himself. It does not mean simply being detached from the external things surrounding us. Our Lord was amazingly in touch with the ordinary things of life, but He had an inner detachment except toward God. External detachment is often an actual indication of a secret, growing, inner attachment to the thing we stay away from externally. It is the innermost, personal area that reveals the power of a person’s life. The more precisely scientific observations are made, the more numerous are the irregular departures from scientific laws. Only by granting the occurrences of change events that one can account for the diversity of the Universe. It is only the assumption of Universal determinism that chance is unintelligible. It is no argument against chance to assume that no chance exists and then deduce from this that no chance exists.   God comes back and revives His call to us. God’s stride and His power alone are exhibited. #RandolphHarris 6 of 6