#3 - Fate.

This is one of those tricky topics that I can't seem to find a definite stance on. My...confusion, for the lack of a better word, has caused much grief to those who have debated with me in the past on the validity and existence of this phenomenon of "fate." And I don't blame them, because I have no clue what to believe.

I was raised in a household that was very Hindu, and by a mother whose main philosophy consists of fate driving her life. She believes in divine intervention, superstitions, the evil eye - those sort of things that alter your life because "fate decided it so." Everything that happened was God's grace, or God's punishment, or it was "meant to be." At times, I feel she confused the idea of "fate" with the idea of God, a higher being, or a higher conscience that guides you through life, not determines your life. This is very different from the predestination, predetermined life, sort of phenomenon that Calvinists, and my mother, seem to preach.

Frankly, it's unsettling, the notion that we have very little control over what we do and that someone out there is delicately designing our lives. It's quite scary, actually. (I just got a chill down my spine, similar to how I felt after watching The Matrix). I like to think that most, if not all, of the events that occur in our lives are a direct or indirect result of our own actions. If you get run over a car (apologies for the gory example), maybe you didn't look both ways. And even if you did, why were you crossing the street in the first place, knowing it might have been a rowdy, unsafe crossing. Or if it isn't, maybe you were taking a longer lunch break than usual, so it caused you to be on that street at the same time the car was speeding (this is more a karma-related example, I guess - a debate I'll save for a later post). Although that was a pretty horribly thought up example, you understand my point. You, in a sense, build and mold your own fate.

Though, you have to wonder. Those medical miracles, tornadoes ripping apart brick homes, yet leaving the family intact inside, even true love and the idea of "soulmates", aren't they all too good to be true? There has to be some divine business going on - it's too perfect, right?

Or maybe, consider the following (totally stole that from Bill Nye): We just don't give ourselves enough credit. Everything miraculous that happens, that's "too perfect" to be true, may as well be our higher evolutionary smarts getting to work. We can clone sheep and perform delicate surgeries using a programmed computer, so why can't we take a little bit of credit for things that happen in our lives?

But at the same time, giving ourself credit for the good means we have to take responsibility for the bad, as well. Most people simply don't like to do this, and therefore, voila, the idea of fate and the fact that it is responsible for everything comes into play and makes everyone happy (or at least content). I suspect my mother falls into this category somewhat. But hey, I'm no one to judge... I do it to occasionally. I am my mother's daughter. Everyone does to an extent, I think. It boils down to the human instinct of taking responsibility for the good, and blaming anything and anyone for the bad. Fate just fits the bill for those who don't like pointing fingers at other people (God doesn't seem to mind, I guess).

It's just very interesting, and twice as more befuddling, this concept of fate. Alas, perhaps I'm not fated to figure it out after all.

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