Isn’t Everything Happening by Chance?

One of my students asked me this question in reference to the following quote:

“Everything is ruled by chance. If only we knew who rules chance.” — Jerzy Stanislav Lec

Everything is not happening by chance though. It is incorrect to think so.

Nature has a definite program and runs by laws that are unchanging and absolute. It has paved a path for humanity to evolve through, and we are under its rule as clay in the hands of a potter. Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) elaborates deeply on this concept in his article, “The Freedom.”

Therefore, there are absolutely no accidents in life. Everything that happens to us, life’s tapestry of encounters and situations, is not by chance. The paths we undergo lead us eventually to realize that nature completely governs us.

What does this realization of being under nature’s laws give us? It should form a sensation that we wish to cling to nature’s higher governing program and not let it go, like a baby who clings to its mother. If we give ourselves over to nature’s higher governing program in such a way, then we can be confident that we will be completely safe in our lives.