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...With So Many Disparate and Roving Free Moral Agents...

  At the Tuesday "positivity meeting" in the evening at the facility where the patients gather weekly in the dolphin room and Dr. Cressgold and Nurse Amanda pass the microphone to whomever wants to share with the group, the elderly Synderman (real name Przywara) was on a tear trying to explain his view of this, our perfectly just and orderly universe, based upon his understanding of infinite numbers of angelic intelligences working behind the scenes, rushing to and fro, working like dogs - as he never tired of saying, invisible, undetected, like so many clicking wheels or crickets chirping at some higher frequency, appearing and disappearing into momentary crevices in the space-time vortex - at various coordinates across the known universe, tweaking and repairing, calibrating and adjusting relations among entities so as to - in his words - "keep everything in balance..." These "friends" of ours - unbeknownst to us - are laboring tirelessly on our behalf - making sure that each one's destiny is allotted its proper span.... performing multiple calculations as they go (picture engineers in white robes all sitting at long rows of desks) -  preventing countless mishaps from occurring... "A daily miracle.... one has no idea!"  - "So it seems if I may intrude," interrupted Q - that you (or they rather) take into account more than just HUMANS in this infinite calculus of needs - eh?" A good point to make, Synderman agreed with several furious head shakes in the affirmative - because after all - do we not tend to measure our own happiness and wellbeing in a vacuum without thinking of outcomes, impacts, long-term consequences seemingly unrelated to our individual life-spans.  But Q was not satisfied... "Taking the exclusive side of the humans just for the sake of argument ..." - he went on - "looking at the "demographics of suffering" as I like to call it - that is to say - the sheer number of those poor wretches whose lives end on a tragic note - whether from loneliness or depression or prolonged ill health, (you name it) or perhaps some reversal of fortune (like a financial collapse or being abandoned by one's children), or the simple, relentless toll of dash hope and regret... In a nutshell - suffice it to say - it doesn't end well for so many folks on the planet.... "And you were wondering?" Synderman interrupted with just a hint of indignation. "I was wondering - well - for example - do these angelic intelligences - shed a tear now and then for the neverending supply of "sad cases"? - "Well... ha, ha...." and now Synderman found himself laughing - "as it happens - these hidden friends of ours- and yes they do see themselves as our beneficiaries else why would we call them angels - are almost to a tee - lacking any hint of emotion or sentimentality... They go about their work - with steel determination.  It is not in their job description to cry or bemoan anyone's particular situation  - just as we go out of our way to feel sorry for this frog or that elephant on a daily basis..." - "So - just to clarify - they are concerned with the aggregation of effects - as opposed to individual destinies...?" - "Yes - but you see - if individuals themselves could only but "see the bigger picture" - if we had any appreciation for the sheer effort being expended - the application of pure intelligence to this and that impasse of conflicting agendas - we would not take such umbrage at our own "allotments" of suffering... " - "But again -" Synderman pushed back... "are we to believe that with all of this higher-level brilliance being expended by invisible beings tinkering with every aspect of creation - that one could not envision some sort of dramatic reduction in the overall amount of misery .... I return here to my earlier remarks - emphasizing the manner in which lifespans END as opposed to the omens of promise and good fortune that may attach to a person during their early years on the planet..." - "This is a point that so many have misunderstood..." - said Synderman "so I will not single you out as the first to have reached a point of bitterness - as a result of this way of seeing..." - "Bitterness?" - "Yes - underlying these philosophical musings - we cannot ignore the emotions that lurk underneath, namely: bitterness, disenchantment, agitation, morose incredulity and nonbelief in...." - "In?" - "In the overall goodness of the divine plan...but back to my original point - I would say that such a restless posture tends to ignore the "balancing act" that is necessitated by a universe full of so many disparate and roving free moral agents.... To orchestrate a universe of blindly obedient automatons is one thing - but to allow for the amount of willfulness and incorrigibility is quite another..." - "And it sits well with you, then, that such a universe is more perfect and more satisfying - having this degree of internal volatility and potential chaos - than a more docile cosmos made up of willing and pliable agents?"

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