I heard a question a few days ago, 'What is 'fate''? I pondered for awhile and conclude 'fate' is a belief that all the events in our life is already planned out for us by an outside agency. Many, if not most, believe that our own fate is determined by ourselves. Our lives are mould by what we do, our characters and mindsets. Nothing can refute this belief, similarly no one can refute the possibility of our fate being decided the moment we were born. To what families we were born into, how our lives will be shaped by the events that will soon haunt us, and even to the extent of the outcome of the event. Another word commonly used side by side with fate is 'destiny'. The two words are used interchangeably by many today and it is hard to distinguish the two words. Nevertheless, both words have the connotations of a predetermined fate of a person or an entity.
As mentioned earlier, it is hard to define 'fate'. No one knows whether we can control fate or whether our own fate has already been determined for us. Steering away from religious arguments, where other factors such as karma will further complicate argument, fate to many people is insignificant. They deem it as a waste of time to engage in the discussion. To them, it is pointless to since it won't serve any beneficial purpose. I beg to differ though. If 'fate' is like what many ancient people propose, that the events in our life is determined already and the outcome will be the same no matter what we do, so what is the point of us working so hard or risk so much. However if 'fate' is like what many believe, that we control and shape our own life with what we do in the course of our lives, then why are there still those who put in as much effort but couldn't achieve as much as others. With respect to the latter point, many argue that it is the work of chance. Of course, that is justified, but how different is chance from fate. They are two separate words, but it is not hard to tell the similarities. Both words refer to the luck we manifest, something which we cannot control. If this is so, isn't fate like what the ancient believe that our life is already planned from the moment we were born? And if so, what is the point of working so hard. Hence it is definitely not pointless to discuss about 'fate'.
Using examples from my own life, I will show how 'fate' plays important roles in our lives, and how the difference in the mentality towards fate will cause huge impacts in our lives. Assuming that fate is indeed predetermined already, if I were a person who believe otherwise that fate is determined by myself, I would work very hard for exams and tests. Whole year round, instead of enjoying myself, socialising with other people, I will lock myself in my room and study non stop. Of course, I will definitely get good results, unless the person were really a retard or study wrongly. These grades will roughly determine what I will be in the future and it is a gauge of my success. However if my fate is predetermined that I will suffer in the future, no matter how well my grades are, I might still face possibilities of being haunted by diseases and early death when I am near 40 or so. If that were the case, shouldn't I have enjoyed my childhood and have some great fun since I would still die near 40, instead of mugging my ass off for 20+ to 30+ years and just when I get a good job with a good position, I die. However if fate is not predetermined, I would assure myself of a good life if I study really hard when I am young and I watch my health. As shown above, 'fate' really plays a huge impact in our life.
However it is indeed hard or even impossible to tell what exactly is fate; whether fate exist in the state where it is predetermined or will be determined by ourselves. There is no scientific research or any form of studies which will justify this. Probably this is the reason why many people don't bother about fate, but this does not show that fate is not important or discussing it is pointless. In fact from the above discussion, since no one can exactly tell what fate is, it is safer to believe that we can control our fate, however we must control it properly and not spend our lives in vain. What is defined as spending our lives fruitfully is by itself another controversial discussion. Oh well, I guess I should be back to studying for my promos since I have satisfied my sudden desire for blogging already otherwise I'll definitely flunk promos for sure no matter what my fate is or what exactly fate is haha!
~yoz~bert~yoz~
1:18 AM
