In elementary school you might have performed a randomization experiment. Usually with a coin, you flip it many times and record the results. You test to see if the conditions of the experiment are really random. One experiment that I remember was with ping pong balls. They were rolled into a box, in which they bounced around and then one would come out. They were numbered and so we could record the results of what sequence they came out in and measure any predictability. Of course there was none. However, this was a bit perplexing. The tube we fed the balls in was pretty consistent, as was the box. We fed the balls in the same order every time, but no matter what we did the resulting order that the ping pong balls came out was always in a different order.
In this universe, even in a harshly controlled set of conditions, results are still going to be random. Unless you can run an experiment that removes all variables, but even then variability gets introduced. Most scientific experiments these days have allowances for this variability. You see the problem is that if there is one constant in our known world, is the unpredictability of it all. Even with all the fixed variables that we know about, there are so many more that we do not. The number of forces, and the variability of those forces that were acting on those ping pong balls were not able to be calculated, to the point of them almost to be considered infinite. The fact that we even have some order in this Universe of chaos is the true miracle of life. Life finds a way to thrive, where mechanical things will inevitably break down because eventually the variability will destroy it.
All of this is said to emphasize one major point. If you do not take deliberate action in life then you too will be victim to the great god of variability. We have often thought that the great evil is this mythical creature that opposes the will of our deity, but perhaps we have it wrong. Perhaps the devil is nothing more than the very concept that if anything sits idle for any length of time, the universal constant of variability will eventually find a way to disassemble, break down, and eventually destroy that which was organized. Erosion therefore, is really the opposing force of creation. Consequently if we do not move with a deliberate purpose then we leave our destiny to complete chance and I think we see the results all around us of what happens to objects that wait to see what chance will bring. The Great Wall Arch at Devil’s Campground In Arches National Park fell down, that was as we learned by scientists, as inevitable. So to will be the destruction of any object in this universe, eventually, the conditions of variability will take its toll and the object will no longer be able to sustain its structure.
Depressing? No not really. You see I see it is the opposite. I am obligated, but the very fact that I am alive, to continue to create. My one primary responsibility is to remain active. To continue to live, to create, to expand, to produce, to manipulate, to force the universal forces of variability to deal with the fact that I am filling this space right now and I intent to continue to thrive until I no longer can. As life builds upon life, we will collectively live forever locked in this intense struggle against the mindless conditions that seek our destruction. So when you wake up this morning, the one thing you must do at the very least, is to decide to make a move and when you do so, move with a purpose.
Guy Reams
