My thoughts on Destiny

My thoughts of Destiny

Destiny is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “The events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future”.

The Collins English Dictionary defines Destiny as “A person's destiny is everything that happens to them during their life, including what will happen in the future, especially when it is considered to be controlled by someone or something else.”

This implies that the future is already determined and is “waiting to happen”.

I find this impossible to accept and if true, terribly depressing as it removes all incentives and promotes an attitude of resignation as “no matter what you do, what has to happen will happen”. Diligence, application, ambition, hard work have no real meaning as all these are attempts to shape the future.

Apart from that aspect, it is just inconceivable that everything that happens in this Universe, including mundane things such as missing a bus, or the number of times you visit the toilet involving billions of people are all part of a script that has been written already. Just imagine the complexity of a World where billions of human beings and billions of animals are just part of a preordained script being enacted day after day. It is so ridiculous and far fetched, it is hard to understand how such a belief is held by a lot of people.

Is the future totally unscripted? Clearly not, as reasonable predictions could be made which have a high probability of occurring but with no absolute guarantee. A heavy cigarette smoker is likely to develop lung cancer or heart disease or both. A diabetic who neglects his illness is likely to reach a premature end. Such examples are many and obvious. At the same time, completely random events occur and these are not predictable. To imagine that Tom was delayed by traffic and thereby missed his flight which subsequently crashed killing all its occupants was all part of a script which had already decided that Tom was not going to die and thereby be had to be delayed by traffic in order to miss the flight takes a lot of fanciful imagination to accept.

There are other aspects to consider too. We are all conditioned by our genetic makeup. Even simple attributes such as height, weight, the colour of eyes and more complex ones such as inherited diseases.

We are all affected by the environment in which we grow up and one could analyse all these factors and make some predictions on the future pattern of life of a child. We are not creatures who are totally free to determine our future, Even when we are under the impression that we are making a free choice, we are already conditioned by our genes, the environment we grew up. Two children of the same age asked to choose between two options, one of which is clearly anti-social may make “free choices” but the child who grew up in a loving atmosphere with caring parents operate on a very different platform from a child from a broken home with alcoholic parents living in poverty.

Even if we move on to a supernatural power such as a Deity, a predestined future does not make any sense. What is the use of prayer and good behaviour if the future is already determined? How can a Supreme Deity be all loving and forgiving if He has already determined the destiny of people? If destiny is not determined by Him, this implies that He is not all powerful and he cannot control events.

It is therefore evident to me that the future cannot be based on a rigid predetermined set of events which are inevitable. But it is perfectly feasible to postulate on possible and probable ways that the future may unfold taking into account factors such as :
Genetics
Family history
Environment.
Built-in longevity if that can be shown, in other words, you are programmed to last a certain length of time (bar unexpected accidents)
Upbringing and parents.
Habits and lifestyle
Exposure to risk factors
Predictable Natural disasters.
Conscious decisions on life events.
Availability or, lack  of, choices:
Living in times and places of danger and in dangerous occupations.


Religion. I have already commented on Deistic Religions.
Karma. A proper understanding of Karma will only show tendencies or probabilities, not an immutable future.

We know of Universal trends such as certainty that the sun will die and that the milky way and Andromeda will collide.