  Depends on the definition of Pattern.  In this case, it's more like a quilting Pattern, than a geometric Pattern. You can't look back on your quilting Pattern, and tell where you're going.  Why not? We know each life is a thread in the pattern, and that life is pretty much on a set course. A fisherman cannot become a king unless he is taveren.  And your right about the quilting pattern, but can you not look at a half finished quilt and predict with relative certainty what it would look like completed?  