Continuities and Contingencies—Part 2

In the late 16th century, Spain sent a vast armada to invade England and force it back into the Catholic fold (as well as seize the top-dog spot in Europe). The Spanish fleet appeared invincible. Continuity would suggest that the English were in trouble, but storms and other unforeseen accidents helped them to win, even though they were weaker. A most unfortunate contingency for the Spanish!

When we look back on events that happened, I think we can lose sight of the fact that there was nothing inevitable about them. We rarely think about the multitude of other possibilities that could have happened. It can seem as if events are preordained, but they’re not. Once something happens, it gets locked into place (especially in our minds), but before it did, anything could have happened. It could have gone an uncountable number of other directions. Let me count the ways (Ms. Browning).

There are myriad other ways of perceiving continuities and contingencies. For one, the concept of karma (a way of perceiving cause and effect) expresses continuity in life. What is happening to me today is to a large degree caused by what I did yesterday. I mistreated Joe and he strikes back today. I reached out with loving care to a stranger yesterday and life is sweet today.

Similarly, an alternative way of describing contingencies is the expression “Shit happens.” (Or its flip side, “Grace happens.”) Most things are beyond our control. We may try our best to live a good life, hoping that continuities will take care of us, but bad fortune may befall us. The story of Job is such a tale. Likewise, we may make many poor choices (that otherwise would lead us to experience some bad karma) but find that providential things happen to us. Moments of grace come, even when we don’t deserve them.

Yet another (scientific) way to express the play between continuities and contingencies is the wave function that governs the behavior of subatomic particles in quantum mechanics. The state of an object such as an electron is defined by its wave function—which describes the probability that it exists in a given location and moves in a given manner; in essence the wave function addresses the electron’s myriad future possibilities. Once an observation is made of the electron, however, its wave function “collapses” into a specific, determinate state. It’s been locked into place. It has passed through the quantum bottleneck.

How we react to contingencies says a lot about the kind of person we are. Some of us rely on continuities; we expect that things will turn out pretty much as we had planned. We want to believe that the world is predictable, dependable, and explainable. We get upset when surprises come along. We even try to force things, by using power to control events. But contingencies will disrupt our lives, despite our attempts to be in charge. If we fight this process, we can become so inflexible in our desire to control things that these disruptions throw our lives out of whack. Life like this can be very frustrating.

The other extreme reaction is to give up any effort of thinking ahead or trying to plan. Why try to chart a course, when uncertainties seem to govern? My life seems to be out of control, so I’ll forget about trying to arrange anything. One can surrender to the vagaries of life and let chaos reign.

I think it makes sense to seek a middle path. Continuities do exist. Plans can guide one’s life in a coherent direction, so it is reasonable to prepare for the future and hope that continuities will generally prevail. But it’s not the interruptive contingencies in life that matter; it’s how we respond to them. If we relax and go with the flow, acknowledging that we can’t control everything, life can be happier. If we are open to contingencies, putting full attention to the present moment, as they pass through the “bottleneck of the now,” we can respond to their surprises much more wisely. Inopportune contingencies won’t knock us off balance as much as they otherwise might, and we’re in a better position to take advantage of opportune contingencies. In other words, we can roll with life’s punches as well as embrace its kisses.

Continuities and Contingencies—Part 1

Recently I was introduced to the concept of “continuities and contingencies,” as described in an interview with scientist Walter Alvarez in Discover magazine. I had never before thought to have linked these two words, so afterwards my mind was abuzz with numerous fascinating implications. As described by Alvarez, continuities are a logical sequence of events, a historical trajectory—which links the future to the past in a predictable manner. If we look at yesterday’s happenings, we can make a pretty good guess about what’s going to happen tomorrow. If I stayed up and partied last night, there’s a good chance I’ll suffer from a hangover tomorrow morning. Continuities can be good predictors.

A contingency is something completely unpredictable. It’s chance; it’s accidental. It may or may not occur. When a contingency comes along, it can blow your continuity out of the water. It utterly changes everything. Alvarez quoted Yale historian John Lewis Gaddis: “I prefer to think of the present as a singularity… through which the future has got to pass in order to become the past. The present achieves this by locking into place relationships between continuities and contingencies.”

I love the mental image that creates, of viewing the future as containing an uncountable number of possibilities that have to pass through the bottleneck of the present moment to become actuality. Many things might possibly happen, but right now, only this one thing actually occurs. Afterwards we look back and note what happened, and make our conclusions—some valid, some specious. A past event may be perceived to have been caused by either continuity (it seemed logical, given what transpired before) or by an unforeseen contingency (the roll of the dice). If I get run over by a truck on my way home from the party, I’ll never suffer from that hangover.

Continuities are what we rely upon; what we hope (or fear) will happen. We plan for the future, doing things now that we trust will lead to things we expect. We want life to be dependable, for there to be coherence in our world. The laws of nature are continuities—expressed as cause and effect. I hold out a ball in my hand, release it, and expect that it will fall. I go to bed, having confidence that the sun will come up in the morning. Our lives take on patterns and cycles that lean heavily on continuities.

But the best-laid plans can go awry. As the saying goes, “Life is what happens when you had other plans.” In other words, contingencies enter the picture and it’s a whole new world. Contingencies bring unexpected events—both favorable and unfavorable. The mate we end up with is not who we expected. The job we landed was not what we planned to do. The flood (or earthquake or car accident) throws us into a completely different situation.

Shortly after Earth was formed, it collided with a planet about the size of Mars. A major chunk of Earth’s mantle was blown into space and later congealed into our Moon. (The rest of the impacting planet joined with the proto-Earth to become a newer and bigger Earth.) Without the Moon’s subsequent steadying influence on us, Earth would not be nearly as life-friendly as it is. What a fortunate contingency for us!

Another example of contingencies and continuities next time…