“With free will and destiny, we are but living revolutionary clay,” Muhammad Iqbal said this when he was asked about what he thought of destiny. People view the topics of free will and destiny as two opposing forces that could never intertwine; contrary to this idea, these things are two sides of the same coin. Having a destiny allows people to have hope that they are meant to do something great with their lives, and free will allows people the belief that they control their own future. Both of these concepts allow people to feel hope about the future, which at the end of the day is all someone wants to feel. All people are destined to have their own version of a happy ending; however, it is their job to make the right choices to get there. …show more content…
Two examples were given that involved both destiny and free will, but take a moment to imagine each situation with only one of the two. Without free will, the man who cured cancer would not feel fulfilled. The drive and the ability to self affirm what he wants to do is what made the journey worth it. In that situation, how the man feels at the end result is directly impacted by his choice to pursue the cure he hopes to find. On the other hand, without destiny, the couple would have never met. Whatever drove them to be in the same place would not have existed. Their numerous choices would make it statistically impossible for them to meet. In order to live a happy and fulfilled life, one must be both effected by destiny and free …show more content…
However, when one examines any situation, they can see that both affected an event. Religions also have conflicting ideals when it comes to these concepts. Some believe that a divine plan is in action, while others believe that it is a simple goal of humanity to tend to the earth. Just as with any concept, one cannot exist without the other. There is nowhere that exists only in light or darkness; they need each other to balance out. Destiny needs free will to give it purpose and meaning. At the same time, free will needs destiny to give it a push in the right direction. In the end, when one contemplates their future what they see is a ball of clay; it was given to them for a purpose, but it is their choice what they sculpt from
The outcome of things depends on both the power of the individual and destiny because they tie in with each other. Things do not just happen, randomly, they happen for a reason only to be seen at the end of things. For example, Jim was raised by his parents in Virginia until they died, upon which his relatives shipped him west to his grandparents. This is part of his journey through life which was predetermined. Jim, as an adult writing, realizes that Destiny makes our decisions and nothing need be worried about because he "did not say my prayers that night [the first night on the farm in Nebraska]: here, I felt, what would be would be." (7) The next big chance Jim takes where his is unsure of what will happen is going to college. Over there he befriends Gaston Cleric, a Classics Instructor. Later on Cleric gets a job at Harvard that "he would like to take me East with him. To my astonishment, gran...
A main example of fate would be when Billy is on an airplane. In Slaughterhouse-Five, it states that "Billy, knowing the plane was going to crash pretty soon, closed his eyes, traveled in time back to 1944" (198). Soon after, "the plane smacked into the top of Sugarbush Mountain in Vermont. Everyone was killed but Billy and the copilot" (199). Instead of doing anything about it, Billy just waits for the plane to crash. If Billy had free will, he would have tried to warn the others on the plane, or not gotten onto it at all.
Destiny, also known as fate, is said to control the outcome of one's life. However, does destiny really determine what occurs in people’s lives on a daily basis or is it just a made up word to be used as an excuse when things don’t go as planned? The Truman Show is a 1998 film directed by Peter Weir that shows us that the decisions we make define our destiny rather than our destiny defining our decisions. Without knowing, Truman Burbank has been the star of a reality tv show since birth. Having no control of the events that happen in his life, Truman decides to get out of the town that seems to keep him hostage. Truman could have decided to let Christof, the creator of his world, keep him in Seahaven for
Fate vs Free Will has always been one of the most controversial topics from early history, and for no surprise because everyone is fascinated about their future. Many people believe that life is predetermined and anything you do won’t transmute your future. Others believe that you are sanctioned to mold your own destiny and optate your own path. Your mind, for example, has total free will up to the point where you believe that everything you think is controlled by faith. Then you wouldn’t have a free thought because all that you will think was always going to be thought, and thus making faith decide you. Whatever the case may be, one thing is for certain and that is that we’ll never know the future because it is beyond our ken.
Another thought that exemplifies the significance that free will holds, is seen in elements of Sophocles' classic, which revealed that Oedipus had more knowledge over the details of his dilemma than he let himself become conscious of. The last idea will reveal how the onset of fear will push people down a treacherous path of risk and pain, which is also seen in the play through multiple characters. Free will is an attribute that all people possess. It could work as a tool to get individuals through the scary twists their lives may entail. It could also work against them in many ways, which depends on the level of human weakness and ignorance. But, the most important assertion that can be made after considering the argument of, "fate vs. free will," is that...
Does destiny exist? If it does, does it be applicable to everyone? Destiny and fortune might exist. However, these beliefs do belong to all African American people before the Civil Right. “King of the Bingo Game” - Ralph Ellison emphasizes a similar case in his story. In this story, an anonymous African American man believes in "fate and free will". He is determined to win a bingo game. But fate would not let him have his way. Fate appears to take the course from the beginning, as he is breaking. Faced with a predicament of brokenness and a sick spouse, he decides to try his luck at playing a bingo game. No matter what how lucky he is in the bingo game, the fact that he is a black man playing a white’s game automatically makes him become a loser.
Imagine starting your day and not having a clue of what to do, but you begin to list the different options and routes you can take to eventually get from point A to point B. In choosing from that list, there coins the term “free will”. Free will is our ability to make decisions not caused by external factors or any other impediments that can stop us to do so. Being part of the human species, we would like to believe that we have “freedom from causation” because it is part of our human nature to believe that we are independent entities and our thoughts are produced from inside of us, on our own. At the other end of the spectrum, there is determinism. Determinism explains that all of our actions are already determined by certain external causes
In this class one key point kept coming up in the readings for me, and that was fate. Fate is an idea that nothing you do will change your final out come in life. Are we able to truly have free will in the way we live and die? Or is it fate and our life’s outcome is out of our control? Is the characters desire to go against fate what truly lead them to this path? In the readings I was never able to say either way but I lean in favor of fate. My three examples of this are the charters Loki, Odin and Oedipus. These three are said to have been fated on how they live, die and even kill in a way that is predestined.
Destiny or fate is a controversially talked about subject that has arised for many years. ‘Destiny is referred to as a predetermined course of events.’ Many people, especially in Shakespearean times, believe that God has a life plan for every individual. A sense of destiny in its oldest human sense is the soldier’s fatalistic image of the ‘bullet that has your name on it’ or the moment when ‘your number comes up’ or a romance that was ‘meant to be.’ Many Greek legends and tales teach the futility or trying to outmanoeuvre an inexorable fate that has been correctly predicted. Today we have people that can ‘predict out future’ whether we nowadays still have the belief in the stars and the ability to read them is another controversial matter. Elizabethan astrology fascinated many prominent Elizabethans. The subject is mentioned in every single one of Shakespeare’s plays. At the time the play Romeo and Juliet was published Robert Burton was the astrologer of the era. In Shakespeare’s plays astrology was often critical to the plots when the actions and events surrounding characters are said to be ‘favoured’ or ‘hindered’ by the stars. In the tempest the main character is said to be based on John Dee, who was a famous astrologer and scholar in the Elizabethan era. Destiny is the idea of necessity ‘everything in the world is conditioned and takes place according to necessity.’ ‘Fatalism is based on the assumption that everything in the world and in peoples lives is predetermined by natural or super natural forces, that God set everything out.’ Destiny also mans ‘dragged by force.’ If Romeo would have stayed in his, not gone to the Capulet’s party, left the party when Capulet saw him would all this of happened? That is the idea of destiny...
Fate is non-existent as one's future is based upon their own personal decisions. It is believing
Fate seems to defy humanity at every turn. A man may have his life planned out to the last second, but then some random force intervenes and he dies the second after he has completed his life plan. Some believe in fate, believing that our lives are predetermined from the moment we are born. Other people believe that everything is random, the result of some god rolling the dice in a universal poker game. Still other people believe that each and every person is in total control of his or her destiny, every step of the way. Who is to say which viewpoint is false? Every culture has a unique perception of the role of fate in our lives, and no group has the "right answer," simply a different answer. Taking into consideration the views of other cultures can help an individual refine his personal viewpoint on this inconceivable subject.
Destiny has always been locked into a connotation, an idea of something spiritual or ethereal. Something out of our control. My faith stops at the recognition I have for the "gift of my life", my birth. I have to have a wondering faith about that because I -- none of us -- know in an absolute way that is provable. Destiny, in it's literal meaning does not presuppose faith as I recognize it. I have no "blind faith," when it comes to determining the outcome of my life - fulfilling my destiny. If it were meant that we were not to use our capabilities as a human, then we would not have been. If we left it all up to fate then why exist?
Fate may state what will be in one's life however, how that destiny comes about is a matter of man's own choice. In other words, incidents don't occur because our destinies are written. In the play Macbeth, Shakespeare expertly uses the theme of fate vs. free will and raises the pre-eminent question of which holds power over the characters. In Shakespeare’s tragedy, fate is not the cause of his downfall, his own desires and choices prove to be the deciding factor.
Fate and free will both have a strong rooting in the play Macbeth. The role of fate was to tell Macbeth that he was one day to become king of Scotland. Fate was not the cause of Macbeth’s downfall. The actions made under Macbeth’s free will are the sole reason for his own downfall. Macbeth was afraid that he might not become king, so he took matters into his own hands to be absolutely sure he would attain the throne. He decided to leave out chance and take the throne for himself by killing Duncan. By leaving out chance, Macbeth left out the chance for fate to bring his downfall.
This paper will critically discuss these theories and how human beings are capable of freewill. The theory of determinism rules out the claim that human beings have free will. If fate did have something to do with certain coincidences and does exist, then does this mean we have free will? Or are our actions controlled by the theory of Fatalism?