I use "chance" as in a chance happening, something unexpected,
unpredictable and presumably uninfluenced by human behavior.
The fully alive person expects chance to appear from time to time. If
it is a desired chance and one has prepared for it, then it is
opportunity taken; if one is not prepared then it is opportunity
lost. If the chance happening is considered negative, the same
preparedness condition will determine the outcome.
Tornadoes are acts of Nature as are all factors of weather including
floods, droughts, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and
tsunamis. All of these are known to occur from time to time in
certain places so they are predictable and therefore not chance
happenings. It is unreasonable to live in Tornado Alley and to be
surprised by a funnel-shaped cloud containing high-speed winds
whirling like an atomic dervish. If a tornado flattens your
neighbor's house but not yours it may be that yours was properly
built for predictable high winds but your neighbor's house was not. A
tornado today may touch down five miles away; next year one may touch
your house. The fully alive person will be neither surprised nor unprepared.
You ponder the place of birth. Take it further and ponder the choice
of parents. The Soul's Code, by James Hillman, posits that our
soul/guardian angel/daimon chooses our parents for its own selfish
purposes. A provocative theory that changed how I muse on life. I put
factors of birth into my bucket of Interesting Stuff Not Presently
Known. I am comfortable with that bucket. The sovereign thrill of
life allows us each to choose our answers to these things. Some
choose spiritual or religious answers. Others of us choose to merrily
focus on what is known, have a beer and await further developments.
Re: [Homestead] Moving? - was Schooling issues
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