There are different viewpoints on what causes random events or extremely random occurrences. Some people mention Providence, while others, in a chain of reasoning, arrive at random processes at the quantum level, discuss the multiverse theory, recall Schrödinger’s cat, and demonstrate that the bullet’s flight around a potential and seemingly inevitable victim is not an incredible event, but rather a mundane yet highly unlikely phenomenon of diffraction, and so on.
However, when we talk about human destinies, it becomes clear that a person ends up in a certain event or avoids it simply because they were or weren’t in a particular place at a specific time before that event. For example: I didn’t board the plane that crashed because I got stuck in a traffic jam on the way to the airport. This brings up concepts like “fate,” and the idea of “providence,” and people often start saying “the ways of the Lord are inscrutable,” and so on.
It turns out that people’s destinies are managed by certain synchronizers of fate. These are places that everyone must visit at specific times. These places function like “air traffic controllers,” releasing people at precisely timed moments, down to the microsecond, thereby determining their fate for the near future. Programming fate for a longer period is technically challenging. It requires a high degree of precision in choosing the moments when a person exits from a “control point,” which is impossible due to the peculiarities of the human body: the push-off leg, reaction time to the urge to leave, heartbeat, and brain rhythms, among other factors. Additionally, the increase in population density leads to an even greater reduction in the time allotted for predetermined fate.
You may have already guessed that the functions of such dispatch centers were performed by churches or temples of other religions. People gathered in churches at least once a week, listened to prayers, and then went their separate ways. The church somehow controlled destinies. It was particularly effective in rural areas, where population migration was low.
However, during the industrial revolution, a rather unpleasant process with positive feedback emerged: churches, due to population growth and migration, were unable to manage people’s destinies even for a week. This led people to lose their need for the church; they stopped attending, which deprived the church of its control over these individuals. Consequently, the church could not provide a clear plan for the fate of the remaining parishioners. Providence ceased to function. People lost their need for the church.
The consequences of this are evident to the naked eye. People have come to see themselves as the masters of their own destinies. And, like an infant left alone with a dozen knives, humanity has only suffered from this illusion of control. Revolutions, genocide, mass famine, world wars, post-colonial chaos, nuclear weapons—these are just a few of the outcomes of Providence no longer overseeing humanity. Man has fancied himself the King of Nature. Death has become a ridiculous accident rather than a Design. The gates of heaven can no longer cope with the throngs of newcomers, whereas before, things were much calmer—it was, in fact, organized “by appointment.”
But what do we observe? We observe the world in developed countries over the last few decades. There is a practical absence of the threat of major wars or disasters. The emergencies that do occur seem to happen, as if by the will of Providence, and they influence destinies rather than being merely random and thoughtless. For example, any resident of Pripyat can easily tell and show me that the Chernobyl disaster is not just a technological catastrophe, but a factor of fate. Recently, there has been an increasing number of scientific works that justify fatalism, now attempting to incorporate scientific approaches, as well as cultural figures. all. more often. put, place the theme of fate as a key element in the plot. Folklore accurately notices The obvious things, and each reader can easily recall two or three instances in their life when some fateful coincidence saved them from death.
How does this align with the fact that people hardly use the churches’ dispatch functions anymore?
The answer to this question can be found by tracing how signs of progress, such as elevators in apartment buildings, have entered our lives. It is easy to notice that the more widespread elevators became, the calmer and more organized life was. More elevators meant fewer wars, famines, epidemics, and bloody revolutions.
After all, the elevator is indeed the very instrument of Providence. It is the one that controls your departure from home with microsecond precision. It is the one that can get stuck for reasons known only to itself. It is the one that opens the doors on its own, supposedly guided by the commands of a microcontroller, but in reality, at a fundamental level, by probabilistic quantum processes.
Providence has once again gained the ability to control and manage the exit of each person from “checkpoints” at precisely calculated moments in time. Moreover, this happens daily and even more frequently. Conveniently, elevators are “installed” in the busiest places and locations where crucial decisions are made. The elevators keep their finger on the pulse of humanity. They are a source of global control and Providence.
One could argue that not everyone lives in buildings with elevators. That’s true. However, they still encounter elevators at some point before they start to significantly impact the movement of others. And if they live in isolation, even Providence might be satisfied with just one elevator ride a month. It’s also important to understand that any automated transportation system is essentially just another form of an elevator. Trains, subways, air travel, and cruise missiles with precision warheads are all fully automated, and if they are operated by people, it’s usually those who have just stepped out of an elevator. Providence is increasingly taking control of the world. And if there is a need to address issues in Africa, the first thing to consider is how to facilitate daily elevator access for the populations of those countries. After all, the fewer elevators there are in a country, the greater the danger and uncertainty its people face. This is an obvious fact that requires no proof. Just remember that the country where the Otis Elevator Company originated managed to eliminate wars on its territory about 12 years after the company released its first elevator with automatic locking.
Now, as you step into the elevator, you realize that all your thoughts, all the faces you make in the mirror, can reflect on your fate. Enter the elevator with pure intentions. Use the time in the elevator for prayer. Leave the elevator with gratitude. For it carries grace. Remember the elevator operator—a humble priest of Providence. And feel pity for those who deface the walls of elevators with graffiti, unaware of the power of those inscriptions, who press the buttons carelessly and urinate in the elevator. They serve the devil, not knowing it.