The Universe appears to consist of endless variety, but the more it is studied (whatever else remains a mystery), this one fact becomes plainer and plainer.
Everything acts in unison.
The Universe is One Perfect Whole.
The Universe can, even with our limited knowledge, be reduced to a few simple elements, governed by a few simple “laws.”
It is, from a solar system, to a sub-microscopical organism, subject to the same “laws” and working as one whole.
Probably, it will be ultimately discovered that there is only one “Law” and one Element in the Universe.
All has to obey this “Law,” there is no such thing as “luck,” “chance,” or destruction. All has always existed through incessant permutation; and will exist, from all eternity, through all eternity.
The ancients, and the modern Mahometans knew this. The ancients called it Fate, the Moslems call it Kismet. If a man tries to make an automatic pistol contrary to the Laws of Nature, it naturally will not operate properly, he loses his temper, says it is just his luck, but he reasons wrongly.
If he studies the laws of mechanics, which are one form of the Law of Nature, and complies with them, his pistol will act properly; if not and he is ignorant of the laws of mechanics, his pistol will not act properly; it is not his “hard luck” but simply that he is trying vainly to work against Nature, and Fate holds him in a steel grip.
If he obeys the Laws of Nature, which are another name for Fate, he can go on like a train following its rails, but he can no more make a pistol constructed on wrong principle function properly than he can stop the sun in its course.