Destiny

Many people believe that an invisible hand or a web of fate control our lives. Whether it'd be under religion, luck, or circumstance, the end result is the same. Different people are meant for different things. Or are they? Are we really being manipulated by higher powers to accomplish a goal that ultimately wasn't even ours to begin with? Are we nothing but playthings for a handful of beings we can't even see? Would that even make us real people anymore? Our choices would essentially be some one else's. Our freedom, a cleverly constructed illusion so we are still satisfied enough to play someone else's sick game. It could be worse. If our fates were decided already, it would be a little bit relieving. If what we are to do in life has already been pre-determined, why worry? Greatness or ruin will come to us whether we want it to or not. But is that all life is? Maybe. Maybe not. The alternative is that we are the toys of something much closer.

Self-fulfilling prophecy. The technical definition of this is when someone unknowingly causes their prediction to come true purely out of the fact that they believe it will. And this theory proposes another view on destiny. It suggests that the invisible hand that guides us belongs to no other but ourselves. If so, what is destiny? Is it just a clever construct of our minds to compensate for the purposelessness that we inevitably have to deal with eventually? Is it more comforting to think that we are our own master of destiny? If no hand but our own push us forward, what happens when we shirk our true path away? No hand could pull us back to said path except our own. If we had the ability to defy our destiny, should we not? If we're told all our life, that we can or cannot be something, should we not be that very thing as one big "F- you" to whoever said we couldn't? This brings up another idea altogether.

Have you ever met someone who you swear was a living force of nature? Whatever circumstance stood in their path, they blew through like nothing. The walls they face are nothing but another mountain they have to break through. And they will. Because that's who they are. That's what they do. So what happens when they face something so impossibly large like something like fate? Fate doesn't stop for anyone. Fate chains men and imprisons them and tortures them worse than any man can. Arguably, Fate is the biggest, cruelest villain of all. Unshakable, uncompromising and merciless, how does one face that? But the person we spoke of, the force of nature, they don't stop for anyone or anything. So what happens? What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? Let's say the unstoppable force does break through this trap. What happens? Is it a one time thing? Will Fate release its strings on this individual? Or will Fate come later, when the force of nature is no longer a force? When all the fight has drained from the warriors and all the brilliance has faded from the wise men, will it come?

So, what's the point? Why does it matter? Well, in a way, it doesn't. If our actions are controlled, anything we do or think cannot be altered. So why bother? If our actions are controlled by ourselves, then we live our lives according to ourselves. Our existence and therefore our definition of, is of opinion to others but reality to ourselves. But if it doesn't matter, what's the point of thinking about it? Because we can. We are given the ability to think. Why should we waste it? Take this with you. Even if it's in the back of your mind, drowning in your subconscious. Next time you make a decision that may affect your life, think. Is it an intricate lie? Or a complex inevitability?