Great philosophers and thinkers of the world have pondered the question of Fate v.s. Freewill for hundreds of years. Often times, the argument develops religious aspects which makes it hard for people to reach a sound conclusion. There have been so many different viewpoints about the topic, and reasons for why it sways one way or the other. No matter what viewpoint is being examined, the main goal is to fulfill life’s purposes. However, fate is the ultimate deciding factor in what happens in the world, and in your life.
By fate, I don’t necessarily mean that God is sitting on a throne in heaven pulling the strings behind the scenes of everyone’s life. I do, however, believe that everything happens for a reason. Every small decision you make and every event that occurs, has a purpose, which may never be known to us. Countless stories have been told about people who left their keys at home, which ended up saving them from a fatal car crash or collapsed office building. One woman was supposed to meet her friends for lunch at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, but ended up changing her schedule last minute. She lost both of them (Babakhan). All the people in these situations understand their near miss, and become grateful. However, millions of things happen, or don’t happen, everyday that have the power to change our lives, most of which we don’t even realize. If you trace back every step you take and decision you make, and think about all the alternate possibilities and outcomes, you would be stuck for hours. In fact, usually when you are meant to be doing something at a certain time, you don’t know the reason for a long time. Eventually, you will be rewarded or penalized for your actions in some form or another.
A relevant example of the importance of every decision, is the life of George Bailey in the movie It's A Wonderful Life. George wishes upon his guardian angel that he has never been born. He then sees what the world would look like had he not been born, and been in all the places he was at the times he was. He sees that his absence would have a huge effect on the lives of those around him, and may have even resulted in the death of some people. Every event is governed by fate, and plays a crucial role in the story of our lives.
Some scholars have argued that life can be a combination of both fate and free will. The base of our lives is controlled by fate, but ultimately we have to utilize our free will to make the decisions that govern our lives, and fulfill our potential. Sometimes this can be true. For example, it may be our fate to work at a clothing company, but we have to work hard and make the decision to work smart in order to be promoted and move up in the business. However, fate is clearly the dominant force in our lives. Our lives should not revolve around where we work and how much money we make. If we all led our lives by following our gut feelings constantly, this argument would be much more one sided, leaning unarguably in the direction of fate. It is important to live life passionately and do everything in the name of what feels right to you in that moment.
Although we are free to make our own decisions in this country, our lives are ultimately controlled by fate. Fate v.s. Free will is an ongoing argument that has been discussed by scholars and philosophers alike. Depending on what your religion teaches you to believe, whether it be God or the universe, there is a higher power above our own selves, that helps us along the route of life. We may think that we can prevent certain things in our lives from happening, but if it is destined to happen, there is no way to escape fate. Our day to day lives aren’t exactly written in the stars, but they are largely impacted by our destiny and what is meant to happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment