“Into this Universe, and Why not knowing, / Nor Whence, like Water willy-nilly flowing; / And out of it, as Wind along the Waste, / I know not Whither, willy-nilly blowing”Omar Khayyam · Rubaiate · 1120 · catrenul 28
At both ends of life we have no say: we are carried, not piloting.
Existence is compared to water flowing wherever the slope wills and wind blowing across the waste: motion without chosen direction. It is a statement about our fundamental lack of control — at both ends of life, birth and death, we have no say. Anyone who has sat by a parent's deathbed, or held an unplanned newborn, feels this being-carried by larger forces literally.
Why it matters It frees you from needing total control: some questions have no answer, and life goes on anyway.