Arvindus

Contemplations

Choice Chains Chance to Change

  • Title: Contemplations, Choice Chains Chance to Change.
  • Author: Arvindus.
  • Publisher: Arvindus.
  • Copyright: Arvindus, 2024, all rights reserved.
  • Index: 202401191.
  • Edition: html, first edition.

Content

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The English word 'chance' refers in principle to an accidence, a possibility and an opportunity.1, 2 Like its Dutch and German counterparts 'kans' and 'Chance' it is etymologically thought to be derived from the Latin 'cadere', meaning 'to fall', and together with the Sanskrit 'shad' thought to be eventually rooted in the Proto-Indo-European 'kehd'.3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Now fallings take place due to the pull of gravity and gravity is considered as "the universal force of attraction acting between all matter".8 So it is basically matter that causes chances, and this corresponds to what has been contemplated earlier. For it was contemplated that accidence is related to matter, choice to consciousness and fate (or destiny) to spirit.9, 10

Now related to spirit is dynamism, like staticism (or mechanism) is related to matter.11, 12, 13 And dynamism regards the principle of change.14, 15 And since spirit and matter are opposites, just like dynamism and staticism (or mechanism), we can now also posit change and chance as opposites.

Above the duality of spirit and matter was mentioned, but this duality is mediated by a third given, namely consciousness.16 And related to consciousness is choice.17 So alongside of the threefold of spirit, consciousness and matter we also get the threefold of change, choice and chance. It can thus be said that choice chains chance and change together.

This particular chain of words has of course been chosen due to the close phonetic similarities of these words. Their etymological roots are however considered to be different. As already mentioned is 'chance' through the Latin 'cadere', referring to a fall, traced back to the Proto-Indo-European 'kehd'. 'Choice', like its Dutch counterpart 'keuze', is however reduced to the Old-Teutonic or Proto-Indo-European 'kuz' or 'geus', meaning 'to choose' or 'to try'.18 And 'change' then is reduced to the Latin 'cambire', which also refers to a change.19 And 'chain' is, to conclude, like its Dutch and German counterparts 'keten' and 'Kette', reduced to the Latin 'catena', referring also to a chain.20, 21, 22, 23

Now although the semantics of the above words are different they are not unrelated, as we have seen. And thus a secondary etymosophical relation between these words may be posited.24, 25, 26 Choice chains chance to change. Chance is conditional for choice. When no chance presents itself then no choice can be made. And similarly is choice conditional for change, for when no choice is made change will not occur. Together they form the chain under contemplation, which regards the chain of evolution or cyclicity.

It may be objected that even without choices changes take place within matter and that such changes exactly bring about chances, but in such an objection 'change' is interpreted as 'modification'. Matter does modify itself, but always within its own closed circle.27 This is different from 'change' as interpreted as 'renewal',28 which is the sense of this word being used in this contemplation. Matter does not renew itself. Renewal regards the principle of spirit.29, 30

Let us insert an example here. Imagine someone driving a one way street leading to a crossing. The example of a one way street is chosen because one cannot go back in time. Arriving at the crossing three chances are presented to the driver: he can go left, right or straight ahead. He has to choose a direction. If he does not choose then his travel will be halted, then his evolution will stagnate. But his evolution, his travel, will continue when he chooses. Going left or right his direction will evidently be changed. However also when he chooses to go straight ahead the direction in which he was already going will be renewed. He will then travel a new street in a same direction. And vice versa: when the one way street has instead of a crossing a simple bend to the left or to the right the driver's direction shall be modified, however no choice about this shall be made, and the driver will still be changelessly traveling along the same street.

Let thus the conclusion of the present contemplation be that choice chains chance to change.

Notes
  1. Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0), Oxford University Press, 2009, chance, n. (and a.)
  2. Webster's New Dictionary of Synonyms, Merriam Webster, Springfield, 1984, p. 137.
  3. Note 1.
  4. Van Dale Groot Woordenboek Engels-Nederlands, Zoeksoftware, versie 2.0, Van Dale lexicografie bv, Utrecht / Antwerpen, 2002, chance.
  5. Van Dale Groot Woordenboek Nederlands-Duits, Zoeksoftware, versie 2.0, Van Dale lexicografie bv, Utrecht / Antwerpen, 2002, kans.
  6. Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, F-Ka, dr. Marlies Philippa / et alii (redacteuren), Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2009, p. 625.
  7. Monier Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Etymologically and Philologically Arranged, With Special Reference to Greek, Latin, Gothic, German, Anglo-Saxon, and Other Cognate Indo-European Languages, The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1862, p. 991.
  8. Encyclopædia Britannica, Ultimate Reference Suite, Version 2015, (software), Encyclopædia Britannica, 2015, gravity, Introduction.
  9. 'Contemplations, Destiny, Choice and Accidence Contextualized in the Ageless Wisdom', Index: 201309091.
  10. 'Contemplations, Accidence, Choice and Destiny as a Ninefold', Index: 201510162.
  11. Alice A. Bailey, The Soul and Its Mechanism, in: Twenty-Four Books of Esoteric Philosophy, (CD-ROM, Release 3), Lucis Trust, London / New York, 2001, p. 57. "Life is dynamic, substance static. Life is activity or spirit, and substance form or matter."
  12. Oxford English Dictionary, dynamic, a. and n., A, 1. "Of or pertaining to force producing motion: often opposed to static."
  13. Ibidem, dynamical, a., 3. "Applied to inspiration conceived as an endowing with divine power, in opposition to a 'mechanical' inspiration in which the medium is the mere tool or instrument of the Deity."
  14. Alice A. Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic, in: Twenty-Four Books of Esoteric Philosophy, (CD-ROM, Release 3), Lucis Trust, London / New York, 2001, p. 30. "This life principle, this basic essential of Being, and this mysterious elusive factor is the correspondence in man of that which we call spirit or life in the macrocosm."
  15. 'Contemplations, Being and Change: Implications of Heidegger's Thought', Index: 201010201, Being and Change. "So contemplating along the above lines it must be concluded that if Heidegger's thought is thought out consequently, then the being of beings must be understood as the change of beings, then it must be concluded that according to Heidegger's thought, being »is« change."
  16. 'Ageless Wisdom, Triplicities in Man', Index: 201308292.
  17. 'Contemplations, Choice, Karma and the Causal Body', Index: 202312251. "The concepts of soul, consciousness and choice belong together."
  18. Ibidem. "The English word 'choice' (as also its Dutch counterpart 'keuze') is thought to stem from the Old-Teutonic or Proto-Indo-European 'kuz' or 'geus', meaning to choose or to try."
  19. Oxford English Dictionary, change, n.
  20. Ibidem, chain, n.
  21. Van Dale Groot Woordenboek Engels-Nederlands, chain.
  22. Van Dale Groot Woordenboek Nederlands-Duits, keten.
  23. Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, Ke-R, dr. Marlies Philippa / et alii (redacteuren), Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2009, p. 50.
  24. 'Contemplations, (Etymo)logy and (Etymo)sophy and Past and Future', Index: 202103042.
  25. Such a secondary etymosophy was also applied in the Dutch contemplation 'Contemplaties, Leef lief lijf!', Index: 202310091.
  26. A similar line of thought is followed in: Geert Crevits, Morya Wijsheid 5, Het woord in de stilte, Mayil Publishing House, 2009, H. 7, translated. "So when joy comes in instead of haste and instead of hate – those two things I continually put together because they have a lot to do with each other – […]."
  27. Alice A. Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, in: Twenty-Four Books of Esoteric Philosophy, (CD-ROM), Lucis Trust, London / New York, 2001, p. 48. "b. The rotary motion of matter."
  28. 'Contemplations, The Problem of Self-Determination', Index: 201107261, The Problem of Self-Determination. "A self-determiner may be able to modify himself, but he will never be able to renew himself."
  29. A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 275. "[...] the Will or Spirit."
  30. Morya Wijsheid 5, Het woord in de stilte, H. 12, translated. "The will is something which is divine and which can bring ever more renewal in man."
Bibliography