I had a conversation the other day with another blogger and I made the casual remark that I believed in fate. His reply was, "really?" and then he went searching for a story he wanted me to read. He found the story and left me a note to read it. It was called, "The Story of Osmo" and it was about a rather plain man who leads an ordinary life and one day stumbles upon a book at the library with the same title as his name. Unable to find who authored the book, he begins reading in earnest, first with dismay and anxiety and then with interest as the contents of the book seem to be his life's story. Each chapter is a year of his life, and he is completely engrossed as he remembers more and more of his life, of things he had forgotten about in his childhood. He thumbs thru the book and is somewhat disheartened on seeing that there was only 29 chapters of the book. Already at the age of 26, he reads the end of the book, only to learn that Osmo dies in a plane crash in Fort Wayne, Indiana without renewing his life insurance policy. Osmo tells himself he won't be foolish enough to fly in a plane and he will remember to renew his policy.
As you can guess, when Osmo is 29 years old and is on a flight, an announcement is made that the plane needs to stop at Fort Wayne. Osmo, becomes panicked and tries to stop the flight, only to die when the plane crashes with him being listed as one of the main reasons for the flight's crash.
I can see why Um would want me to read the story after making my comment. It does give one a lot to ponder on, of fate, destiny and if we are in control or have any control of the outcome of our lives.
It got me to thinking a lot about fate, and how fate can mean so many different things to many different people. You hear the comment, "they were meant for each other, it was fate". Or you may have heard it mentioned for a person of huge talent, "he was fated for greatness". Mention of, "their fate was sealed", or "you can't change fate".
Fate seems to wear many hats. Believe in fated lovers and you are a romanticist. Believe in a set destiny of your fate and you are a pessimistic. Believing that you can change your fate makes you optimistic.
It's a lot to bend your mind around, this fate stuff. If you believe in fate and that there is a natural course that follows are you limiting yourself? If you believe in fate and that you can change your fate by the decisions you make does that make you unwilling to accept things in your life? And then if you do make those changes in your life was it really you that made those choices or fate stepping in and just letting you think you had some real choice in the matter?
Terrence posted a quote on his blog notes on liberals and conservatives and the correlation of their IQ's. I started to think of how that surely had to be tied in with the fate stuff. Perhaps our choices made by our spiritual, political, moral leanings are the groundwork for our fate. That is not to say a christian is going to live longer than an atheist, or a democrat's fate is better or worse than a republicans. It's the meshing together of those ideologies and beliefs that form our view of the bigger picture, that of fate.
Another blogger friend of mine, George, posted a video of a beautiful classical piece of music and wondered if any of those on his contact list could help him with the name of the piece. I listened to the music and it did sound familiar, but I didn't have a clue as to what it was. I could have tried to google on it if I had a basis for knowing where in the heck to start in the googling process. I went on to read the comments of the bloggers as they went back and forth on what they thought was the piece of music. All that ran thru my mind was, I know it's not "flight of the bumblebee"...
Thinking on those posts by my talented and brilliant blogging friends it struck me, that I am dumb as a post. Seriously,... dumb as a post. I don't know if I can blame my stupidity on fate, blame it on political/religious affiliation, or just blame it on not being that musically inclined. Maybe it is a bit of all of the above. Despite my shortcomings though, I enjoyed each post and each comment made by each reader of those posts.
Will any of that have a direct baring on my fateful outcome? Will it change my choices? How minute of a change or thought must we have before it becomes a factor? Is it just the big stuff that has the impact or the smallness of steps that lead up to it?
It makes one think a lot, reflect a lot, and eventually shrug ones shoulders and think, I will just have to take my chances.
oh yes if i had a plate of chocolateat hand --fate tells me that---------------------------viccles----------------------------lol
ReplyDeleteReminds me of that joke I heard an American Lady comedian tell. Her kid who was driving her mad asked her if she was so fed up with him "Why did you have me?" Her answer was "If we knew we were getting you, we would have had someone else" Some things you can influence, others you cannot. No one is really dumb, we all have talents, some more apparent than others.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a general direction of the human race itself which can be considered 'fate', i.e. there will always be dictators or bad guys, war, hunger, etc... only because of the way human nature is.
ReplyDeleteOn an individual level, I think people have the ability to alter the direction of their lives in the dimensions available to them. For example, an introvert could decide to become an extrovert through the sheer force of will, vomitting their own true feelings and thoughts to people around them. Similarly, an extrovert can decide to pull away from society and become a recluse.
It does take a lot of courage to do that though.
Was it fate today that one of our OPP officers went on a call down a back road to end up in a shootout with an 80 yr old to only then lose his life?...15 yrs on the force to end like that?
ReplyDeleteWill ruminate on your thoughts, and give mine in due time. Right now I've got some math to do!
ReplyDeleteI think everyone eventually is a victim of their own circumstances. Some are not victims though..as their ship of life sails through untroubled waters..and yes, such people really do exist, who have led a moderately ''almost perfect'' life. I've known a few closely. To some extent even we are responsible for the ''fate'' we are dealt with if we have made a few major choices. In my own case..I turned my entire life upside down by giving up a really promising career..and I can't bring myself to believe it was my ''fate''..because ..I HAD the luxury of choices and I made that choice myself. Death when its uncalled for..at an early age...could be termed as ''ill fate''..because that person did not make that choice..it was an incident or an accident. But I also know escapists who take stupid decisions and when things go wrong, they blame the whole thing on ''destiny or fate''.
ReplyDeleteI live in a country of very high and ancient spiritual values. The Hindus believe in " Karma''..which is a very deep scientific study by itself. Much as the Hindu philosophy is disregarded as hogwash by some...it offers a lot of answers to many questions. Personally, I believe we are just very advanced organisms..we have a life span and we perish like anything else that has cells.... and during our life time we follow the old jungle rules..survival of the fittest.
I wonder why Osmo took that flight at all? ( And No, you are NOT dumb..its just your pink hair )
We all make decisions that decide our fate, some are good some aren't so good in the end our life is what we make it..........Oh and we women are predestined to have 'dumb' moments their called hormones
ReplyDeleteHeredity (somewhat like fate) gives us the tools to build a successful life. How we use those tools is left entirely in our hands and will produce our actual fate.
ReplyDeleteVery much like gardening, in which God gives us the rain, sunshine and seeds. We must apply the necessary maintenance in order to produce the desired vegetables and flowers.
Great writing Vic. Ya had go and make me think didn't you ?
ReplyDeleteI believe in fate but so time you can give it a hand
ReplyDeleteThinks randomness rules our lives. You were expecting a book?
ReplyDeleteRandomness or fate or circumstances is just dumb luck then?
ReplyDeleteI dont even like the word 'random'.
ReplyDeleteI don't even have a comment for this. I have no idea if it is fate or our own decisions that control our actions and our life.
ReplyDeleteWow Vic....this is a wonderful blog and I probably have a million things I can say. I do believe we have free will on this earth...going along with what Zee said about choices. Many things can lead us into the choices we make....and sometimes the choices other people make hinder our choices. But that doesn't seem to be fate....it seems to be all about choices. Yet the race, country, culture, religion, family, etc. we are born into is not a choice...and all of that can affect our choices or the choices of those who might hinder us. Is that fate? This is a huge subject...and I am appreciating that you brought it up, Vic. Discussions like this can teach us things about each other and that can help us to grow.
ReplyDeleteWow now that is a deep thought about fate! Was it influences of my surroundings or fate? I think if you were to take a poll of a thousand people you’d get a thousand different answers Vic. Sometimes we are the creators of our worst fears if we are bound to fate as unchangeable. But then what is fate if fate is not a constant? Is it written in the stars? As far as I know stars are just hot gases of hydrogen into helium fusion and I haven’t detected that proverbial stamp on the forehead known as fate. Maybe at best we can say our actions and reactions are a bi-product of our experiences in life and whether or not we accept choices made for us in our earlier years or we chose to change our future by changing what is in our presence.
ReplyDeleteNo one is “all knowing” and experienced in everything and let me emphasize on you are not as dumb as a post. Everyone has something they excel in and that moment of epiphany of “Oh I didn’t know that before.”
Maybe the word “fate” along with its meaning needs to be put to rest and placed into the same category as throwing a virgin into a volcano won’t have an affect on the weather after all.
As always you bring out great and thought provoking posts Vic.
Thanks everyone for the comments and your views and thoughts on the subject. Each of you really brought out some great points and added a lot of insight...
ReplyDeleteTy. I worked hard on my thoughts, and appreciate you noticing.
ReplyDeleteDon't look now, but there is a large T about to crash on that dancing couple's head.
ReplyDeleteThat big T is Fête de Accompli.
ReplyDeleteI don’t believe in fate given that there is absolutely no evidence to support such a concept. I think that the idea of fate comes from the same place that religion does. i.e. our unwillingness to accept that there is no master plan behind our existence. I on the other hand am unwilling to accept that I am not in control of my destiny. Yes, there are those who want to have it both ways and have fate AND free will but that’s neither fish nor fowl.
ReplyDeleteAs to being “dumb as a post”, *I* have seen no evidence of that in you, you strike me as quite clever! As for the musical question, only one person knew the answer, one was massively wrong and everyone else admitted that they didn’t know. We’re, all of us, good at some things and not so good at others, we know a lot about some things and not so much about others. In this case you showed great wisdom by abiding by the old axiom that “it is better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt”!
Quite a thought provoking blog! Thanks!
Wow Viccles...Great blog!..I am actually sorry it took this long for me to get around to reading it. I immediately thought about the Robert Frost poem called 'Two tramps in Mud time' and the last two stanzas:
ReplyDeleteAnd all their logic would fill my head:
As that I had no right to play
With what was another man's work for gain.
My right might be love but theirs was need.
And where the two exist in twain
Theirs was the better right--agreed.
But yield who will to their separation,
My object in living is to unite
My avocation and my vocation
As my two eyes make one in sight.
Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
For Heaven and the future's sakes
Many people look to 'fate' as an explanation; whether it be in conjunction to their belief system, coping mechanisms, or intelligence. Either way, in my opinion, they see it as an end result as opposed to a journey. I agree with Zee about KARMA and the hindu beliefs of our journeys...I don't think you should separate any act as an 'end result' but merely a step along each of our continuum's. All any ones intelligence, experience, and choices can do is give that 'individual fingerprint' on each of their respective journeys. After all..when a word can be both a noun & verb.. both meanings EXIST for an individuals interpretation. Keep pushing the envelope Viccles!