The Collected Writings of Sardonicus

Random Topic #1: Destiny vs. Free Will
(in progress)

Apart from the influence my family, friends, environment, the media, and other cultural and genetic factors have on me, I choose to believe that I act based on my own free will, subject to my capacity to reason and feel. Still, I am willing to entertain the possibility that everything in my life is pre-determined. That perhaps there exists some unfathomably comprehensive, grand unified design for the universe that assigns each of us our destinies.

A few months ago I had made plans to do outdoors activity X, which I remember really looking forward to. Unfortunately, on that particular morning there was a torrential downpour, thus effectively canceling X. Was the storm coincidental, or was it meant as a sign that I simply wasn’t supposed to go and do X that day? I hate to disappointment, but you won't be able to get a straightforward answer out of me with these questions. Actually, and this might seem paradoxical, but coincidence and destiny are actually not necessarily contradictory, and need not be mutually exclusive phenomena.

I cannot allow myself to be so arrogant as to believe that it rained on that day simply to prevent me from doing what I wanted to do. The rainfall served to replenish our streams and ponds, both which would then serve to sustain the livelihood of billions of organisms, big and small. Or perhaps it was a godsend for the nearby New York State farmers who rely on their crops (and billions in government subsidies) to keep a roof over their heads and feed their children. No less likely – if we were to believe that it was a sign or meant to be to someone’s benefit – that here in New York we simply received the eventual movement of a rainfall that was meant to be of service to the farmers of South Carolina, and simply traveled along the Eastern seaboard as typically occurs. To some extent, any comprehensive plan or design for all life on Earth must prioritize – sometimes interests conflict and choices must be made. So even if I did concede that it was destined to rain on that day, I cannot believe it was anything but COINCIDENTAL that it ruined certain aspects of my day… unless I truly delude myself into thinking the world revolves around me, and weather patterns are simply a function of how badly Fate wants to screw with me.

If we are only subjects to destiny and have no free will, that could suggest that everyone who does bad is meant to do bad. If there is a Heaven and Hell (or any analogous after-life), then some are simply predestined for eternal damnation while others are not. I refuse to believe certain people are predestined for a lifetime of crippling poverty. I refuse to believe young 5-year-old orphaned girls in some parts of Africa have to get raped by HIV-infected old men every time they make the trip from their homes to get drinking water for themselves and their siblings. I refuse to believe babies were SUPPOSED to be sold into prostitution and beaten to death after years of starvation. The Fates must have a completely disgusting sense of humor if I’m willing to believe these were all envisioned and allowed to occur, or were simply meant to be.

When it comes to destiny, the only thing I could ever begin to possibly accept is that those things were not intended to be part of any grand design for the universe, but must be instead violations of it. If you choose to close yourself off to the possibility that Free Will can explain why these things occur, then you must believe in some other outside influence that has the ability to change a person’s destiny (unless of course the design factors in all of these infractions in some perverse way). And if that IS in fact the case, then for every violation this third party commits against the grand design, everyone’s destiny must then also be altered slightly to accommodate it. After all, any change in one person’s life reverberates in the lives of everyone else in the world, however small it is – See Butterfly Effect. Which then comes back to the conclusion that our future is always in motion and our destinies are always in flux. So then what would even be the point of calling it destiny or fate? So unless you accept that a force of nature can foresee, yet chooses to allow all evil in the world, not even a god would truly know what events might transpire in the future.

And – following this logical progression – if a righteous god cannot predict which path the future will take with any level of certainty, then what would be the point of a human trying to do it (unless they feel like they can change it: Free Will)? What is even the point of thinking about destiny? Can you change it? Is it even possible to comprehend its complexities? Human minds - I believe - do not have the capacity to identify such patterns of a comprehensive unified theory of all things that are, ever were, and ever will be. So for the concept of destiny – in anything but the abstract – to even be a significant part of our political, social and religious rhetoric is laughable. All discernable evidence suggests that destinies are assigned arbitrarily. In fact, I wouldn’t even be that generous… It probably isn’t even random considering far more people in the world suffer than are comfortable. Would this be a case of Fate playing a cruel joke at our expense?

To finish this rant off, I will first share with you what I hope to be true, and then tell you what I know to be true. What I would like to believe is that ALL people are given at least ONE opportunity to make a positive contribution to at least ONE other person. I would like to believe that every life could serve a cause and fulfill a greater purpose. But I know this to not be true. Some babies are aborted. Some people live their entire lives in a state of perpetual misery. Perhaps all people are born for a reason, but not all fulfill their life’s mission. I’d argue that almost no one does. Why not? Who can say for certain? It could be fear… fear of taking a chance once and a while. Far too many people are too afraid to seize the opportunities they have, and because sometimes these opportunities are disguised, they’re too blinded by their biases to even recognize it, much less seize it.

The best option we have is to make our “Earthly” decisions using any wisdom we can muster together, gained through experience. And then hope we don’t get screwed.

Next Topic: Ignorance v. Bliss