It’s an age old question which has stumped many. Do we have free will or are we held to the ransom of a greater force? Whether it be fate, karma, destiny or kismet, the reason why so many people have difficulty reaching a conclusion is because they think it’s one or the other. The truth is, it doesn’t actually matter.
People are so determined to find a one dimensional and digestible answer but the difference lies in perception.
I don’t see it as my job in life to answer the question, I see it to be lived as if nothing is set.
I live my life as if I have free will but I understand that events arrive to me often without me having any say in them. All I can do is choose how to respond to them. The source of those events really don’t concern me; what concerns me is how I use my power of free will in that moment to override my reaction.
The trouble with fate is that it can leave you with a feeling of helplessness. I’ve heard people say that they are destined to be broke and to be a loser. Are you someone who thinks like that or do you know of anyone that does?
If you are, then through the power of choice, you are setting the outcome of your future events more so through your attitude than some predestined power.
Here’s a two step process by which I look at this whole debate in a way that serves me.
1. All events are fated in some way. That could be a short term fate relating to decisions recently made or through some higher power and unseen force. I don’t have control over the events.
2. I have absolute power of my attitude and the way I choose to respond to those events. At all times I have the power right now to decide how I think. I can choose to be grateful and cultivate the attitude of a decision maker.
There are also people who think that God has a plan for them. I don’t buy into that. Yes I do believe in a higher power but I believe the greatest gift bestowed to me by that higher power is the gift of thinking freely.
I don’t believe we are accidental beings; we were meant to live life on purpose. I have the gift of free will in world where fate and destiny exist.
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Interesting way of looking at things. I do sort of believe in fate but reading over what you’ve said has made me think a little. Nice blog by the way!
This is a cool way of looking at things. I have to do an essay for school that is titled “Destiny vs. Choice” and this entry has sparked some ideas for it!
Thanks.
Twitter: amitsodha
June 21, 2006 at 7:45 pm
Hi Danielle! Glad to hear it. If you want to chat more about it you can just email me or post another response. It’s pretty similar to the chicken and the egg debate. To be honest I think it’s one of those things we’ll never find an answer to but it’s always makes for a lively discussion. The best angle to approach this subject from is which way of thinking serves you best?!
to me god has a plan for all of us which is our destiny. You may make a choice but god already new that you where going to make that choice. He makes and writes your destiny it’s his plan for you.
to me god has a plan for all of us which is our destiny. You may make a choice but god already new that you where going to make that choice. He makes and writes your destiny it’s his plan for us.
Hi, that was a very insightful post, I too am writing a similar essay and found your view of combining the two interesting and logical. I had a similar view on the matter as I would find it hard to believe that my entire life is not my own. I really liked your escalator analogy too. Thanks for that and good luck with your blog.
I myself do not believe in fate.
I think it’s always our decision to be who we want to be.
I have never seen myself as a victim of any force, as I feel it is just creating excuses.
Faith in destiny or fate disempowers human beings. And then the real fun is in being in control of our lives, not in enacting someone’s else script. So, exercise control over your life and leave ‘destiny’ to be just a word in the dictionary.
Twitter: amitsodha
October 6, 2008 at 2:22 pm
As I’ve quoted before: “only the past is destiny, the future is free as you choose it to be.”
The future is not set, there is no fate but what you make.
Twitter: amitsodha
October 14, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Thanks John, I always loved that line from the Terminator film too!
heeeeeyyyyyyyy!!!!thnx a lot.nice oot luk of lukin at tingz!
Twitter: amitsodha
January 7, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Hi Vidhi, thanks for the comments and I’m so glad you liked the article! Hope to hear more from you soon!
Thanks for this blog. Sometimes I ask God if man has truly endowed with absolute free ill. You know what, the bible answered me of human responsibility. We can choose to live good and to die in hell. Because God did not make us a machine or a mouse controlled by a spiritual force or Spirit. Yet, In the Name of Truth, we shall only choose that which is good inorder not to die in hell. Therefore, in the strictest sense of the word, man has no choice but to live good because God is for the good. That is a sovereign will of God for all men to be with him eternally. So can you still choose otherwise? Of course, man still can choose but on the other side or contrary to goodness but you have to take the risk. We all get rewarded and get punished from the choices we make. If one wants happiness and success, then pursue righteousness. If not, then expect for a bad karma.That’s why many times many successes of man turned back to ashes because they have made it against His will.Maybe God made this way, simply because He is God and has sovereign will over man. I learned some pointers how to live successfully and meaningfully from my mentor at kamja which I am proud to be their clients.
.,tnx a lOt Of ur blOgs…it helps a lOt 4 me b’cOz Of sum ideas u pOst…especially 2 cris da lst blOgs dat i read…sir,i agree w/ u…w/ gOd
evrytngs gOnna be right…jaz kip On believing Her..,
tnx…..
You know you should always consider the past as destiny. If you think the past was free, you become guilty, you become regretful, you become remorseful. You are very upset thinking of the past: ‘Oh I could have done this way,’ ‘I could have done that way,’ ‘I could have… could have… could have…’ Useless! Past should be seen as destiny. Future should be seen as free will. This is wisdom. Wise people do like that. Otherwise what you think… You think the past was free will, so you regret the past. And future you think is destiny, and you do nothing about it. You simply sit! We must reverse this tendency. Just doing this one thing will help you to a great extent.
Twitter: amitsodha
December 2, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Hey Dominic,
This is one of my earlier pieces and I agree with you. If you look at my quotes you will see one by me – Only the past is destiny, the future is as free as you choose it to be – which is exactly what you’re talking about.
Thanks for commenting!
i just want to share that our only destiny is to live in this world with our own will and choice for us to know and experience the good and bad.but in the end what really matters is how we decide to fulfill that destiny and to choose to be with HIM…
Twitter: amitsodha
January 28, 2010 at 10:57 am
Well said there Nathanael.
Choose to be with whom?
Hi, my name is MasonSizzle and I too am writing an essay on this topic. Thank you for providing me with absolutely no new information on the topic. I found your essay to be very dull and unintelligent. I do like, however, your ability to con idiots like Lizzie and Amit into thinking you’re intellectual. I would like to know if you can do this to pretty girls you are pumping drinks into at the bar as well.
Twitter: amitsodha
April 12, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Hi Mason, your opinion is noted and your entitled to it. I am Amit and I wrote the article and many years ago in the early days of the blog when I was still a beginner. If it provided you with no new info, my suggestion, keep searching on google, you’ll find more info.
As for your final comment, I neither drink alcohol nor do I purchase it for others.
As for the topic of Fate vs. Free Will, I would like to discuss this between the two of us, from one blogger to the next. For the past twenty or so minutes, I HAVE been pumping drinks into some girl at the bar (yes, I am blogging to you via iPhone whilst doing a firsthand study). Now, if she goes home with me tonight, is it of her free will, or is it simply fate? Was she destined to become another girl with a hangover, sneaking out of my apartment at five in the morning?
Twitter: amitsodha
April 13, 2010 at 5:20 pm
I guess that depends on how drunk she is! What’s the title of your essay?
Sometimes some things are not quite the dichotomy that we want them to be.Things do happen, which are out of our control, but we always have a choice in how we respond to them.
Does she have to the free will to decide whether to accept drinks from you? Of course she did. After a certain number of drinks will she be coherent enough to make conscious decisions? Probably not – and that also answers the question of why I choose not to drink.
I got up this morning and decided to be happy! It was my choice, my free will. I’m a big believer that thoughts create the world we live in, after all everything around us was once a thought. Maybe God only watches from a distance and allows us to make whatever choice we want in life hence the actions of bin laden, sadaam hussein, mother teresa, princess diana…you get my drift. It could be possible that our thoughts and feelings manifest into actions (karma) and our subsequent life and its reactions. Oops, that doesn’t leave much room for the notions of fate and destiny…
Twitter: amitsodha
April 28, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Excellent point Milan. The subsequent reactions you mentioned are what could be referred to as fate – sometimes those events are out of our control but in this very moment I can choose how to feel, respond etc, I have the power to decide!
“I have the power to decide!”….Ain’t dat the truth! Excellent article btw.