Monday, April 19, 2010

Fate part 1

It was suggested to me yesterday that I should try tackle the subject of fate and although I have been tempted in the past, the thought of it scares me. Fate is a huge subject. Fate is a curious topic and I'm sure it is considered closely by all people, from rich to poor, black to white and from the very very naive to the very wise at some point through the days of their lives.

Fate is a very huge subject indeed. Through insight I get very distinct pictures of it. Very distinct understandings about what it could mean and how I feel it's inclined to work out. "Everyday fate", is a relative subject in human terms and it's divine prediction can be attributed to God, for His timeless and omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent ways. I think it is insulting however, to assume that no human could understand the workings of fate and the ultimate destiny of mankind. It is extremely ignorant to leave fate in the clutches of the willing because you trust that God will guide you to paradise just for muttering a prayer every so often. Indeed, fate is considered more by the godless than it is the pious as life is taken to mean something a lot more important than just pottering about for 80 years and then dying, allotting all unusual experiences to "God working in mysterious ways". Philosophers the world over have been thinking of ways to deal with the flow of human life and even scientists and physicians have been looking for ways to explain the flow of time so man would better be able to understand his roots and his destiny. We're not talking of where man might go spiritually but first we have to consider where man is going physically. More on that later.

Creative Fate:

This much we know about humanity thus-far in it's concise terms; man was "created", man lives and has a brutal but curious nature and man will eventually die out. Understanding the flow of time, the flow of creation and the understanding of evolution, it is clear that man was "just meant to happen". The anthropic principle dictates that the universe is as we see it due to certain laws that make it so. This would all seem rather relative if you didn't take into account that the universe could exist in no other way unless we evolved to view it differently, therefore the anthropic principle would change so as to suit our very evolution and relative way of viewing things. Therefore this theory kind of falls into a certain circular logic which makes it an easy escape for those who believe their fate to be controlled by an alien life-form. It's fair to say that the anthropic principle was destined to exist either way, because the universe in it's vastness would require a law that allowed it's inhabitants to see it in a way that suited them existing in the first place! What I get from this is that we don't really accept destiny in it's useful state and try so much with our limited scope to understand what it is. And as I stand by it, fate is a relative thing only and can only be dealt with on a day to day basis. More on that later.

Free Will:

Fate is not just for the faithful, but also for the faithless heathens like myself. I consider fate a very strong motivation for living to the truth of my very being. I also consider myself to have free will. Too say that my life has been mapped out by a God in order to serve a better purpose is a cop out. If, for example, a pious man were to tell me I was destined to help a charity I could choose not to. He could then cop out by saying it was my destiny to choose not to. Religious fate is very escapist indeed. Free will means that it is possible for me to make choices depending on how I feel and I have found this method to be rather liberating and comforting at the same time. I can choose to do a thing and enjoy it, or I could do something and regret it, learn from it and move on. It was never fated for me to abuse drugs for example, for that was a choice I made once and learned from. It was also a choice that I tell people I care for not to bother doing it because it could make every day reality seem boring in comparison. Why would it be fated for some to die using drugs but not me? I wouldn't have learned from their deaths anyway, for it is human nature to be curious and to learn one's own limitations. Why would extreme sports exist if not for the people who are inclined to partake in them? You may bungee jump and live or sky-dive and land on your face, but it is your choice whether to take the jump or not.

The Death of Friends and Relatives:

Though it is strange to some point that I can still identify with fate on a very personal level. I had a friend called Mick some 10 years ago. We grew up together in school and got on really well and had a very personal understanding of each other's ways. We had bizarre jokes that only the two of us could understand. We had a very unique friendship chemistry. We could laugh at something through just a look we shared and traded off to each other. I was a little conservative in nature when I was younger but Mick just went right on and did shit and never ever regretted it but spoke very frankly of it. Mick had a way with his friends whereby his actions always earned him respect whether they were good or bad. Everyone could appreciate how much of a free spirit Mick was. And so it goes, he just did whatever the hell he wanted. He exhibited behaviour that every free-spirited individual could ever wish for. He died at 19. It was not through recklessness however, it was due to ill health, for Mick was born with very severe asthma and suffered it his whole life. He didn't get weighed down by it or ever claim he was fated to die by it. It just happened all of a sudden. And yet I could say it was fate that dealt him a card because he lived in a way that my life doesn't even rival for fun in any way. You could say that man is supposed to gain a personal momentum over the time of his life, like their is an enjoyment cap that is allotted by the great powers or maybe just that all the heavy stuff we deal with daily is just not even meant to be considered to the degree we consider it and never taken personally. I would say Mick considered things all right, but he certainly never took them personally. Maybe he just lived as much as anyone could. I could say it was fate in a very relative way, only looking at his life in relation to how mine is now and theorising in order to alleviate my own pain of loss or to justify his young death. But he would have died eventually anyway, just like me, so why not at his best?

Fate and relationship break-ups:

People generally don't give break-ups the merit they deserve. If you ask me and if I were meant to give you an opinion that was topical in it's very nature, I would say it were man's destiny to go through a lot of bad break ups. Fate and destiny could have no impact whatsoever if we could never gain personal experience from them. Why would we be "fated" to meet the love of our lives if we could not first feel the badness of the depths of loneliness? It's quite relative in it's nature to enjoy the company of our next lover based on how badly we suffered our own company (God forbid) when we split from our last lover. And so it too can be claimed, that you are "Fated" to meet the person of your dreams only in that man has an exhaustive nature as well as a self destructive one. We will meet the person of our dreams only as far as our will to and our determination will push us. You could claim that an overall fate determines who I or you end up with, but again that is a cop-out, for you could announce it on my silver wedding anniversary and I could end my relationship there and then, just to prove that I have the will to find someone who I have more in common with. Fate as an abused word and lazily expressed can indeed be a major cop-out. I am left with another anecdote for those inclined to read. I knew a girl who was married for a long time. She had a very religious life and followed it's doctrines to the letter. We met and talked about life and such. To cut a long story short, she said that it was through talking to me that she ended up wanting to end her marriage. Now I didn't intend on this or even suggest it. But there was no great hand guiding me that time. And there was certainly nothing indoctrinating about what I spoke. She is now trying to find the life she really wants and lives with no regret. I hardly think that the life she was leading was her fate and her meeting me was not fate either, but a chance that was made the day we both accepted a job where we worked. There was no plan. And I could ring her any time I want and tell her I was full of shit if I believed it so. It doesn't necessarily mean she has to believe it and go back to her husband. It was a choice. But in a relativistic way, it had to happen. I couldn't have predicted it, but at least I can relate it in a constructive way. If it was her fate to stay married to that guy, she would still be, or she would find a way back. But generally speaking, will trumps fate every time. Maybe you could say I was fated to call bullshit on fate in it's widely accepted terms.


Strangely Conclusive Fate and the Fate of Convenience:

And so it goes that one day I will die. It's likely I will be old when I die because I spend way too long trying to figure things out. I am careful in my nature and also very very aware of my surroundings and the behaviour of people. This much I know. That doesn't stop and 18 tonne tank falling out of the sky and flattening me or some guy randomly stabbing me to death on the street. But who could predict such a thing? Who could stop a madman going into a school and killing kids or extremists invading countries and killing in the name of a God who fates them to act in such a way? Well, real-time physical fate is not always justifiable is it? We could say our beloved handsome son is fated to become a high flying legal executive and earn the top awards in his college, but what if he flies so high that his plane comes down over the Caribbean and ploughs into a school and kills it's students? What if the police were looking through the wreckage, found his passport, told his parents, then they found the body of a dead prostitute under his floorboards? Stranger things have happened and have been more random, I tell ya. Why is fate so specific that some old coffin dodger can utter the immortal and timeless words "ah, sure it was meant to happen" when such a thing occurs. What calculating hand and creative alien mind conjures up such a plan? Fate is a convenience for the lazy minded to fall asleep upon. When those who try and figure every damn possibility their whole lives out come to the conclusion that they "could not have seen it any other way", like for example a dream wedding between a magnificent couple or something, they literally could not see it coming and are not anticipating the next step. They deal with it as it comes and then use relativistic fate to try explain why things happen should it break down or even should it continue. "Ah, look man, it wasn't meant to be, you'll do better again if you put your mind to it" or "Wow, I can't believe it's been 25 years and you guys look so in love". You see where I'm going with this. No one wants to predict where fate will take anyone in case they are proven wrong or their comfy circle of worship falls to shit. But what of it? Why can't we just accept that one day our big glowing friend in the sky will burn out and life as we know it will just disappear? We will all be long dead and gone or evolved to spread out further. It's not destiny that either should happen and it's not our choice or hope either... it is for those who choose to do so when they demand becomes necessary.

I was in my mother's home last week and I had a vision of being a kid, my age now and then suddenly time disappeared while I was talking to her. I didn't envision being older at any point, but the moment fell still and I just let the moment take me comfortably on to the next. I felt utterly complete just to be enjoying that conversation and I asked her about it and if she had ever had the same experience. When she said she did, that was us sharing our fate, I felt. Whenever that occurred to her, I had connected with that very moment and all was good for some reason, like it just felt that way always. I couldn't have predicted it. I don't know, I can't really explain.

I mean look at all this stuff here... I've been typing so long and I still can't explain anything.

Yet still I try. I have a feeling I'm not finished with this topic yet

for now, I will leave this subject.

2 comments:

  1. i think its fair to say this has been one of my favourite blogs of yours! ur very quickly becoming a philosopher to admire and appreciate!

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  2. Hahah, thanks for the nice words Janet :-)

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