FATALISM OR FREEDOM 



ural sequence. We see something of this 

 pattern and we take delight in it. We 

 know that we are part of the flowing pat- 

 tern and we enjoy our roles, however hum- 

 ble. It is good to be alive, and the 

 broader the life the deeper the satisfac- 

 tions of life. As we look backward and 

 forward and see how our lives have been 

 shaped by events of which we ourselves 

 were part and how our present acts and 

 desires and hopes may share in weaving 

 vital patterns yet to be, the finest human 

 satisfactions come to expression. This is 

 our freedom. It is freedom to live and 

 grow, to know that we do it and to enjoy 

 this knowledge, to forecast the probable 

 or possible future course of life and of 

 personal development, and consciously to 

 participate in the control of the future de- 

 velopment. This natural freedom is real 

 and in it we take satisfaction. 



The fact that we can see some of the 

 patterns of the progress of natural events 

 and enjoy the process of intelligently 

 adapting our living with reference to them 

 makes us conscious partners in the drama 

 of creation and not merely tiny cogs or 

 wheels or pinions automatically and uncon- 

 sciously playing a minor role in the cosmic 

 mechanism. Indeed the eye of faiith QSii 



[88] 



