Book Of Ecclesiastes

Solomon, on temporality:

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 - 3:8 (as famously used by the Byrds, with a musical setting written by Pete Seeger).

See also ThisTooShallPassAway, WabiSabi.

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One generation goes and another generation comes, but the earth abides forever.

Ecclesiastes 1:4 (and subsequently the title of a fine SF book by George R. Stewart).

Or paraphrased for the current context:

One vandal goes and another vandal comes, but the Wiki abides forever.

:)

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Question: Solomon has much to say above (Ecclesiasties 3) about time, what does he have to say of chance?

Solomon, on ComplexSystems:

I returned, and saw under the sun,

that the race is not to the swift,

nor the battle to the strong,

neither yet bread to the wise,

nor yet riches to men of understanding,

nor yet favor to men of skill;

but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Ecclesiastes 9:11

As an aside, TheElementsOfStyle takes this powerful, concrete verse and rephrases it in the abstract (to demonstrate how superior concreteness can be):

Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must inevitably be taken into account.

See OrwellsParody

Ah, there's time again. Any more on chance?

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Solomon, on study:

Of making of many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

Ecclesiastes 12:12

Of making many web sites there is no end...

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See NothingNewUnderTheSun