In the very beginning, and although we have no way of knowing how long ago that was, scientists assure us that it was at least billions of years. At that time there was only “Chance,” although it had the “companions” now known as Luck and Fate. Chance was timeless because there was no time—if you can imagine such a thing. Chance did not come about because of anything or anyone. It was just there (wherever that was) by chance—hence the name Chance.
We think the “beginning” for Chance started out with fires, floods, storms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, scorching and freezing temperatures alternating with fog, wind, snow and ice. Everything that was not bleak was at least unwelcoming. To us, it would not seem like a fit place to live, and no one lived there—only Chance.
Things had begun gratifyingly for Chance on the first day (however long that was): amidst flashes of lightning, great tsunamis tore across the oceans and battered the shores of distant lands. Chunks of mountains fell into the sea and everything grew very dark. Nevertheless, this was of no concern to Chance because that is just the way things were.
Then on the second day, by Luck, the heavens split open, and clouds of noxious gasses erupted and spread over the lands. The gasses interacted with the rocks and formed icicle like pinnacles, so sharp that the seas could not breach them.
On the third day, again by Luck, the soil began to discolor and where trees and shrubs and grasses might have grown there became a vast desert. There were mountains of sand and then salt, as the oceans gave up their briny bits to mix with the crests of the once stately hills. The third day was fascinating, but Chance paid no attention to it.
On the fourth day stars appeared, then fell out of the heavens and shattered the dunes and ground them into dust. A great halo appeared where something had shone and became a collection of multi-colored gasses that smelled to high heaven. On the fourth day Chance breathed the bad odors deeply and was “satisfied.”
On the fifth day Chance filled space with hideous flying creatures: great bird-like beasts with three or four heads, fish-like animals that ate parts of each other, six and eight legged monsters that hopped and foamed at the mouth, some with fire mixed with their saliva, others with giant tongues that lapped up blood and excrement. All such beings hated and killed but it was of no concern to Chance. And so ended the fifth day.
On the sixth day Fate allowed humanoids to populate its territory—which, of course, was everywhere. First little worms and bacteria formed, by Luck of course, in mud pits and slime, for the sand and soil had become rancid and rotten. These “beings” grew and formed, again by Luck, into all kinds of two-legged prototypes.
Chance rested on the seventh day—after all it had been accidentally at drudgery for over 160 billion years and decided (if it could, of course) to let Nature take its course. Nature then become Chance’s closest companion. Nature claimed that Chance had done everything and Chance, needing no credit for anything, allowed that Nature was doing wondrous things as well. There was no collusion, just camaraderie.
It didn’t stop there—Chance and Nature are still permitting things to happen, sometimes with a bit of help from the biped archetypes. These bipeds became separated (they split) by an act of Luck, such that one part was considered “male” (and were called Chanceys) and the other part became “female” and were known as “Nanceys.”
The Chanceys and Nanceys lusted after each other and many offspring were born—so to speak. After a billion (or so) years, these little creatures came down from the trees and began to walk upright and, once their larynx was in the proper position, they began to speak. Their language was called Proto-Grunt, and it became the foundational verbal noise for all archetypes.
This first so-called language was a series of hisses and groans but, by Luck, a small group of bipeds learned how to write it, first with pictures of beasts on cave walls, but then lines drawn in the sand that represented boundaries. The bipeds also found large branches of trees with appendages on them and fashioned the first implements of warfare. Chance stood by—in a metaphorical sense—and was pleased with what it saw: Bipeds were killing each other and enjoying it—not that Chance had any interest in who won or why.
Chance and Nature became the dominant themes, and over the next billion years and even today, the two are found in the finest universities on “mother” earth. However, some bipeds who do not follow their teachings are doomed to mediocracy and the snake pit.
Unfortunately for Chance and Nature, there are some mavericks and renegades who have insisted on ideas like Purpose and Design. At present they have been relegated to obscure parts of the so-called planet and may be hunted and killed, once proper licenses are procured.
It is not clear that Purpose and Design will survive—Nature may take its course—and they may not have a Chance.
Karl Franklin