Chaos.

The universe we live in, the very ground we tread upon, was forged from chaos. Scientists almost universally agree that in the beginning there was little more than hot gases. Chaos, that limitless and unchecked agent of random change, brought these gases together. What happened next? Well...everything, I suppose. Here we are.

If you look around, it's clear that chaos still reigns. We're at the mercy of the random. The universe happens, and we happen along with it.

Have you heard talk of fate? Destiny? They're nice ideas, but I get the feeling they really aren't much more than that.

Human beings are creatures of habit and routine. It's just the way we are, and we've adapted that way for reasons we probably don't or can't fully understand. As infants, we crave a set routine. We crave repetition and familiarity, because these are things that bring us comfort. In essence, we are creatures naturally adverse to chaos living in a chaotic world. Combine these factors with an innate sense of self-importance, and you can see how a universe beyond our control is a source of considerable consternation.

Thus fate and destiny were born.

It's easier for us to think that our lives are, if not mapped out for us, at least under the power of some force that recognizes us as individual beings. Enter a personal god. Enter fate. Enter destiny.

The fact is, I could die at any time. I could be in a car accident. I could have an embolism. Someone could take my life. These things are frightening but very real facts. It's chaos at its purest. Life is literally beyond our control, to a great degree. This is recognizably unsettling and horrifying. This causes us to seek solace in something that promises to overcome the random. We are simply finite creatures, driven by fear and our own mortality to try and make order from chaos. We're content to bask in illusions of our own creation.

Sometimes in life, we're presented with wonderful things that appear to be serendipitous or miraculous. This is the flip-side of chaos. Chaos does not always destroy, as our own universe proves. Often chaos creates. Because this wonderful event was random, does that mean it's any less meaningful or beautiful? To me it makes it even more beautiful. It makes me appreciate it more for the fact that it just as easily couldn't have happened. Good and bad. Heads or tails. It's not up to us to decide.