Fate and Destiny
First
of all, what is the difference between fate and destiny?
In modern
usage, both the words are being used interchangeably to mean what is in store
in the future. However, in actual sense both the words have different meanings
and cannot actually replace the other without altering the context. Fate and destiny are among the most
perplexing concepts confusing our minds due to their almost synonymic nature.
Fate
as per standard definition is the assumed predefined course of one’s life which
cannot be altered; while destiny is what one is supposed to do or achieve in
life and can be changed through one’s actions. In general cases both the words
are used to symbolize the belief of a predefined future. There is a popular
belief that the future is already planned by God or a divine entity. Some
religions and philosophers even preach the concept with strong conviction.
But
I chose to differ, Let me simplify…
The
meaning or concept is however not as interesting as the question of whether the
concepts hold any water as being real. Fate means the course of events in life
or in time which are bound to occur irrespective of what we do. Fate is the
course of events caused by forces beyond our control and which cannot be
stopped from happening. Well, to some extent, yes it is very much an orthodox
belief. But to believe that our whole life is knitted together with threads
called fate is just absurd. There are of course some things in life that
may seem predefined like when, where and to whom we are born to, but that doesn’t
mean someone already decided on that. It can be a totally arbitrary happenstance.
For
instance, you were born in a particular country, to a specific couple with a
particular religion of faith. That is your fate; you have no control over those
situations. In fact, till you reach such an age when you can decide things on
your own, most of what happens in your life is your parents’ choice or
decision. E.g. which school you attend, what foods you eat, which dresses you wears
etc, for some it goes to the extent of whom you marry! But once your conscience
is fully matured and you are ready to make your own choices ‘fate’ seems to
fade away or stop existing at all. You start steering the wheel in the
direction you wish to move. Whatever happens from now on will depend mostly on
the choices you make and the steps you take, not to mention the influence of
your surroundings (friends, families, environment, situation etc). So
there is nothing predefined or out of your control to change the course of your
life. It’s almost all about your choices, except for the external influences…
Whereas,
if you were born to a wealthy millionaire couple. There is a 90% probability
that you would grow up to be wealthy in life. If you were born to a religious
couple there is high probability you would grow up to be religious in life. And
most probably 99.9% chances that you would become a Christian if your parents
were Christians; you would be a Muslim if your parents were Muslims and so on….
But, the above situations are just versatile probabilities and may change as
per certain circumstances and the choices you make in life. Maybe you grew up
and make an investment putting everything at stake and your investment fails.
Maybe as you grew up, you get into the wrong company of friends and ends up
becoming a drunkard or a drug addict in contrast to your religious parents. You
grew up under the teachings of a particular religion and one day just got
enlightened enough and decides it is not the right religion and embraces the
one you felt is the right one. Here, the chances you had may be called your
destiny which is not permanent but variable as per circumstances. You had good
chance of being rich like your parents but you messed up your destiny by making
the wrong investment, savvy?
In
short, whatever happens in our life and around us is a consequence of our
collectively pooled actions. Life is full of surprises and I believe it’s the
same for God too! I believe God enjoys watching the mystery unfold before him just
as we enjoy watching movies. What is the point of God creating us if he already
decides plans and enforce his will on our life? What is the point of reading a
book or watching a movie if you already know the story in its minute details?
What is freewill if God already knows what choices we are going to make and
what actions we are going to take? And if we don’t have free will then where does
it leaves God? On the other side of what we called God is good?
There
are a lot of things that are beyond human comprehension. On the top of the list
is the question of “God’s Existence”. The way we fail to understand “The
Creation” and the way we are awed at the
wonders of the universe, we cannot help but believe in the existence of a
divine being responsible for all the wonders (though some may still not agree).
And
the idea of God being good and all loving makes us believe that we have gift of
‘freewill’ from him. Free-will which is a concept that we are free to
make any choice without any interference from anything or anyone, not even God.
The
very existence of free will itself is a subject of controversy among the most
learned in the universe. And without freewill, the existence of God doesn’t
even make sense. At least without freewill God won’t seem good at all and we won’t
accept a Bad God, would we?
To
sum it up, I would say God exist because I believe all these wonders just
cannot be by chance. I can’t just imagine that this grand design doesn’t have a
designer. I can’t explain further because it’s a belief. All I know is like
casting a dice our lives were given and the things we call fate are all but
random occurrences. Fate and destiny are but words to cover up the randomness
of life.
So
pick up your pen and begin to write your own definition!!!!!!!!!!
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