You’ve heard and possibly used the expression “Nature abhors a vacuum.” It makes sense in science fiction and suspense movies when a pressurized cabin is breached. Actors fly out. “Sucked out” of spaceship or plane. Air and objects move from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure, and outer space makes the largest of vacuum cleaners with respect to a pressurized ship. Sure would be a convenient way of cleaning up the inside of your bedroom, wouldn’t it? Open the bedroom door and out fly the dust bunnies—and also that sock you lost about a year ago. “Was that under the bed that long?” you ask yourself.
To say that “nature abhors a vacuum” is to speak teleologically, but most of us, even many physicists, don’t mind.* You might even hear an atheist (or if you are an atheist, hear yourself) say it. Alternative expressions are usually less poetic and more verbose. So, in light conversation we accept that we can say Nature has some purpose or preference, at least for the convenience of the moment or for expediency.
Then there’s the expression “When your time comes” (or “If it’s your time”) to encapsulate the idea that you, like the dust bunnies or the evil villain (e.g., Goldfinger in Goldfinger), have a predetermined moment when the big vacuum of Eternity will “suck” you out of this world. Destiny is your destiny. There’s some agent (God, Nature, the Cosmos) that has determined when there will be a breach in the cabin of your existence. Nothing you can do about it. If it’s your time to go, then it’s your time to go. Again, you might even hear a scientist or an atheist say it. Definitely, you’ll hear the devout say it: “God has a plan.”
With that as a context, all of us need to ask ourselves a simple question that has led to the most complex philosophizing and theorizing. Is Nature determined? Is your life determined? If it’s your time to go, can you do anything to change the calendar? Didn’t Jim Fixx die in the best shape?
Well, you could argue that Jim Fixx, author of The Complete Book of Running and esteemed fitness buff, had an inherent flaw, like some Greek tragic hero, in his atherosclerosis and previous small heart attacks that he ignored. Had he paid attention to his arteries and not pushed himself—and his reputation that added to book sales—he might still be alive, showing up at very senior citizen races and being videoed for widespread YouTube distribution. “He’s just amazing,” we would all say.
So, was James E. Fixx’s demise determined? Did the vacuum of Eternity take him at the appointed time? Did he have from the time of his birth in the 1930s a moment that was his time? Was Fixx fixed? Did his initial conditions, say some genetic penchant, determine his 1984 demise?
Of course, there’s no way to know, is there? It’s a matter of belief. Even for atheists and physicists. Yet, there was Stephen Hawking, victim of ALS, who lived into his seventies, whereas famous tight end Dwight Clark—especially known for his Super-Bowl-winning catch from Joe Montana—died from ALS in his fifties as did Jim Fixx at age 52: Athletes succumbing to “their time” while a wheelchair-bound physicist seemed to defy “his.”
No, none of us can account for the coincidental juncture in the paths of a runaway truck (or a sudden heart attack) and an in-shape jogger. None of us can account for all the possibilities. We have enough to do in keeping the spaceship of our probabilities in order, accumulating dust bunnies and all. Each of us, however, is just a cabin breach from that big vacuum, so making teleological statements is generally acceptable. There’s no way to test the matter. “Had she not gotten on that space shuttle, she (teacher Christa McAuliffe) would be alive today. It was her time.” How do we know it was hers and not the time of one of the other astronauts? Was it their “collective time”? Silly ruminating, right?
Gosh, I’m sorry to have brought up the topic. Now, you’re going to spend the rest of the day asking whether or not your life is determined or arguing that your life is not determined, that you have control. Frustrating thought! And you have me to blame. You had already determined how you were going to spend your day, and now, like some accidental breach in your day-ship, you’re being sucked into a thought from which you believed you were protected by strong walls of daily affairs.**
“Do I determine?” you ask. “Am I determined?” you ask. “Can’t be the latter,” you say, “because I’m a sophisticated rational person. I know what I’m doing. Yes, it’s true that most of the 100 billion or so humans that occupied spaceship Earth are no longer passengers because they passed through the breach, and that like them I’m finite, but being determined is just a matter of chance for some, and not for me. Then, again, if it’s my time….”
What are you going to do the rest of the day? Go for a run? Go for a ride? See your doctor?
*Telos = “end,” “goal,” “purpose”
**Had you not opened this website to read this blog… Wait! Does this mean that reading this was determined? And by asking that, am I turning you against further visits? Or, was this visit a determined last visit? Now, I’m wondering whether or not I’ll even be around to write another blog. What if it’s “my time”? Or, what if it’s “your time” so that you’ll never see another brilliantly stated point of departure?
To say that “nature abhors a vacuum” is to speak teleologically, but most of us, even many physicists, don’t mind.* You might even hear an atheist (or if you are an atheist, hear yourself) say it. Alternative expressions are usually less poetic and more verbose. So, in light conversation we accept that we can say Nature has some purpose or preference, at least for the convenience of the moment or for expediency.
Then there’s the expression “When your time comes” (or “If it’s your time”) to encapsulate the idea that you, like the dust bunnies or the evil villain (e.g., Goldfinger in Goldfinger), have a predetermined moment when the big vacuum of Eternity will “suck” you out of this world. Destiny is your destiny. There’s some agent (God, Nature, the Cosmos) that has determined when there will be a breach in the cabin of your existence. Nothing you can do about it. If it’s your time to go, then it’s your time to go. Again, you might even hear a scientist or an atheist say it. Definitely, you’ll hear the devout say it: “God has a plan.”
With that as a context, all of us need to ask ourselves a simple question that has led to the most complex philosophizing and theorizing. Is Nature determined? Is your life determined? If it’s your time to go, can you do anything to change the calendar? Didn’t Jim Fixx die in the best shape?
Well, you could argue that Jim Fixx, author of The Complete Book of Running and esteemed fitness buff, had an inherent flaw, like some Greek tragic hero, in his atherosclerosis and previous small heart attacks that he ignored. Had he paid attention to his arteries and not pushed himself—and his reputation that added to book sales—he might still be alive, showing up at very senior citizen races and being videoed for widespread YouTube distribution. “He’s just amazing,” we would all say.
So, was James E. Fixx’s demise determined? Did the vacuum of Eternity take him at the appointed time? Did he have from the time of his birth in the 1930s a moment that was his time? Was Fixx fixed? Did his initial conditions, say some genetic penchant, determine his 1984 demise?
Of course, there’s no way to know, is there? It’s a matter of belief. Even for atheists and physicists. Yet, there was Stephen Hawking, victim of ALS, who lived into his seventies, whereas famous tight end Dwight Clark—especially known for his Super-Bowl-winning catch from Joe Montana—died from ALS in his fifties as did Jim Fixx at age 52: Athletes succumbing to “their time” while a wheelchair-bound physicist seemed to defy “his.”
No, none of us can account for the coincidental juncture in the paths of a runaway truck (or a sudden heart attack) and an in-shape jogger. None of us can account for all the possibilities. We have enough to do in keeping the spaceship of our probabilities in order, accumulating dust bunnies and all. Each of us, however, is just a cabin breach from that big vacuum, so making teleological statements is generally acceptable. There’s no way to test the matter. “Had she not gotten on that space shuttle, she (teacher Christa McAuliffe) would be alive today. It was her time.” How do we know it was hers and not the time of one of the other astronauts? Was it their “collective time”? Silly ruminating, right?
Gosh, I’m sorry to have brought up the topic. Now, you’re going to spend the rest of the day asking whether or not your life is determined or arguing that your life is not determined, that you have control. Frustrating thought! And you have me to blame. You had already determined how you were going to spend your day, and now, like some accidental breach in your day-ship, you’re being sucked into a thought from which you believed you were protected by strong walls of daily affairs.**
“Do I determine?” you ask. “Am I determined?” you ask. “Can’t be the latter,” you say, “because I’m a sophisticated rational person. I know what I’m doing. Yes, it’s true that most of the 100 billion or so humans that occupied spaceship Earth are no longer passengers because they passed through the breach, and that like them I’m finite, but being determined is just a matter of chance for some, and not for me. Then, again, if it’s my time….”
What are you going to do the rest of the day? Go for a run? Go for a ride? See your doctor?
*Telos = “end,” “goal,” “purpose”
**Had you not opened this website to read this blog… Wait! Does this mean that reading this was determined? And by asking that, am I turning you against further visits? Or, was this visit a determined last visit? Now, I’m wondering whether or not I’ll even be around to write another blog. What if it’s “my time”? Or, what if it’s “your time” so that you’ll never see another brilliantly stated point of departure?
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