paradox
my current state of being
a paradox is a seemingly contradictory statement--
perhaps both true and false ("i am happy.");
or perhaps apparently false but really true ("i am foolish.");
or vise-versa ("i know what i am doing.").
everything is random--
who we are and what we do.
but also nothing is random--
(assuming free will exists)
we all choose what we do next,
and simply the smallness of the fraction of
one individual over the entire human population,
makes everything seem random.
a "random" meeting is really a coincidental choice.
a "random" meeting is really a haphazard meeting.
yet the paradox is rooted deeper still.
A haphazard meeting influences decision thereafter,
and thus our lives are entangled in a web of
fortuity and free-will: a pseudo-random walk towards death.
tonight i realized the scope of fortuity--
that there is nothing that can thwart my pseudo-random fate:
free will, my only semblance of control, simply leads me
down another pseudo-random course.
i would have expected such an epiphany to foster felicity--
in a very real sense i understand my fate,
and can choose the happiest path;
but this expectation is just another paradox for two reasons:
- how do i know the right path to choose?
wik only one path, one choice at each moment,
how can i know, a priori, the best choice?
milan kundera calls this the
unbearable lightness of being. - no one seems to acknowledge their pseudo-random fate--
that it is inescapable;
that free-will is only a ditch dug to death.
one human biological fortuity is love--
if two people love each other,
and realized their fate,
then they could choose a path that they know,
somewhat a priori,
to be a reasonably happy path.
they could ignore the unbearable lightness of being.
i can sum these thoughts into one paradoxical statement--
you must live your life.
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