The pattern

Ann wrote something interesting about destiny and fate that got me thinking.

I don't know if I believe in destiny. Sometimes, when something is distressing me I will try to tell myself that if something is meant to be it will happen. But then I worry about what that does to my beliefs about free will. I do believe that I am free to make my own choices.

In Madeleine L'Engle's A Ring of Endless Light, one of my favorite books, a character wonders about this very thing and the wise grandfather, who says that "the pattern is closely woven," tells him that "Any one of us can cause changes in the pattern by our responses of love or acceptance or resentment."

I find the response soothing, and so long as I don't wonder about whether my responses are predestined, I can keep my head from spinning too much.

I suppose I do believe there is a pattern, or at least I want to.