A POSSIBLE APODICTIC END TO CASUISTRY

casual ... take the man who believes in chance ... not just chance every now and then but all the way through ... he believes in it ... he likes it ... he tweaks from it just enough rules to get him through a lifetime ... whether his life is by chance long or it's short ... it gives him as many good bets if not principles to carry him through ... he thinks of these few regularities as rules ... not many ... just enough to get him in the game ... and he plays by them ... just enough to keep him in the game ... and if you tell him there's at least a part of his life that cannot be called a game he will quickly and politely agree ... because he's not paying attention ... he's busy thinking of ways to play you ... when he plays well ... if he's serious he will often do ... others will see about his game what they will call a grace ... he calls it his luck and the closest accommodation he can reach with it he hopes is a mutual respect ... it is after all a dreadful monstrous thing ... a thing if you met it on one of its bad days would strike you as not accidental in the least ... a thing which just then wouldn't allow a casual attitude ever