This is a topic that has always intrigued me. My friend and I have had a lot of discussions on whether or not there is something called Fate. Well, here are my thoughts..
My belief is somewhere in between "Fate" and "Choice".
I refuse to believe in a world that is entirely predetermined - then what is the purpose of living? Are we just programmed robots? Without choices to make, there is no freedom, no purpose and no sense to life. I like to believe that we have with us the power to decide where our own life goes. If something good happens, it would be because I put in the work or did the right things that made it possible. And at the same time if something bad happens, its because I have not done something right. Fate, destiny, god's will, etc are terms that are quite often used by people who do not want to take responsibility for their own actions.
On the other hand, how many choices we make are open-ended? Truly in our own control? We are not the only variable in every situation. Every choice we make has a lot of external factors. Even our thoughts aren't truly our own!
We are in a way programmed by the kind of psychology we have - which is a combination of our inherent nature (or genes if you like) and partly our experiences/environment. This in turn is dependent on the history of those who raised us and all those who ever interacted with us.
Extending this net from human interaction to human interaction, from generation to generation, my psychology is a product of the history of the whole universe! And so is the case for every individual on this earth, and little green men floating around in space out there.
Now, extending this concept to future, every situation, every personality and every thought would be driven by the same force of history. The choices we made and the people around us made in the past determines what happens now, and that determines what happens in the future. So in a way everything is pre-determined!
This makes me extremely uncomfortable, and squirm in my own seat.
Am I a programmed robot, designed and developed by the phenomenol force of history? Is it the same programming making me write this article? Scary..!!!
Yet, my indominable will and optimism surface. I refuse to hand over my destiny to anybody or anything, however abstract it is. So I found a loophole in history's control over my fate! With a tremendous force of will, I can change myself so drastically that none of my previous life has any relevance to me now.. so then I'll break the chain and start changing my destiny, make it what I want.. and changing my destiny, I can alter the destiny of the world..!!!
