Serendipity has always been one of my favourite concepts. A happy accident. But are there really such things as accidents or is there some grand plan for all of us and we are all merely chess pieces?
Suppose you are sitting on a bus and you see a guy a few seats back. He is really cute. He's dressed nicely. As you look at him, he looks up and yours eyes meet. He smiles. You smile back. You convince yourself that he is what you need to make you happy and begin planning how you will make this happen.
Is it fate? Destiny? Or are you writing your own story by taking control of things yourself?
Let's further suppose that you find yourself getting off at the same bus stop (fate? coincidence?) and so you strike up a conversation with the guy. You find out you have a lot in common and you agree to go out. You are even more convinced that having him in your life will make you happy. Maybe you even pray to whomever your God is and ask him/her to make it happen.
You might say that you are definitely carving your own path because you have actively gone after what you wanted. But did you really? How do you know that you are not really following some predestined path set out a millennium ago for you and really, there is no such thing as free will at all?
But let's say for the moment that there is free will. You saw what you wanted and you pursued it and now you have it. You are happy. But maybe not as happy as you thought you'd be. Maybe he's not quite as perfect as you'd originally thought (no one is) and now you are second guessing yourself. Maybe you would be happier without him in your life?
So you have free will, but you've totally messed up your life. Is it worth it?
Let's go back to that bus for a minute. Suppose a couple of seats behind the "man of your dreams" sat another guy. Maybe not quite as good looking or nicely dressed, but if you had only noticed him first, he really was the one person who could make you happy for the rest of your life. What if he was your fate, but you circumvented it by taking your own path. If we are by our nature tempted to want what is shiny and bright over what is right for us, who are we that our "fate" should be left in our own hands.
What is the answer? Do we just sit still and wait for things to happen to us? By that logic, we might not have ever got on that bus in the first place. I can't quite fathom a life where I just give up all control over what happens to me...while being fully aware that any sense of control I have could all be an illusion anyway. I like to think I have free will, that I make my own way (and yes my own mistakes) but it's also kind of comforting to think that there is a plan underneath it all and that someone is picking up the pieces when I mess up.
Stephen Hawking once noted that even people who claim to believe wholeheartedly that all is predestined, still look before they cross the road!
Suppose you are sitting on a bus and you see a guy a few seats back. He is really cute. He's dressed nicely. As you look at him, he looks up and yours eyes meet. He smiles. You smile back. You convince yourself that he is what you need to make you happy and begin planning how you will make this happen.
Is it fate? Destiny? Or are you writing your own story by taking control of things yourself?
Let's further suppose that you find yourself getting off at the same bus stop (fate? coincidence?) and so you strike up a conversation with the guy. You find out you have a lot in common and you agree to go out. You are even more convinced that having him in your life will make you happy. Maybe you even pray to whomever your God is and ask him/her to make it happen.
You might say that you are definitely carving your own path because you have actively gone after what you wanted. But did you really? How do you know that you are not really following some predestined path set out a millennium ago for you and really, there is no such thing as free will at all?
But let's say for the moment that there is free will. You saw what you wanted and you pursued it and now you have it. You are happy. But maybe not as happy as you thought you'd be. Maybe he's not quite as perfect as you'd originally thought (no one is) and now you are second guessing yourself. Maybe you would be happier without him in your life?
So you have free will, but you've totally messed up your life. Is it worth it?
Let's go back to that bus for a minute. Suppose a couple of seats behind the "man of your dreams" sat another guy. Maybe not quite as good looking or nicely dressed, but if you had only noticed him first, he really was the one person who could make you happy for the rest of your life. What if he was your fate, but you circumvented it by taking your own path. If we are by our nature tempted to want what is shiny and bright over what is right for us, who are we that our "fate" should be left in our own hands.
What is the answer? Do we just sit still and wait for things to happen to us? By that logic, we might not have ever got on that bus in the first place. I can't quite fathom a life where I just give up all control over what happens to me...while being fully aware that any sense of control I have could all be an illusion anyway. I like to think I have free will, that I make my own way (and yes my own mistakes) but it's also kind of comforting to think that there is a plan underneath it all and that someone is picking up the pieces when I mess up.
Stephen Hawking once noted that even people who claim to believe wholeheartedly that all is predestined, still look before they cross the road!
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