Fate

Fate is an outcome of human affairs that is not caused by humans. Fate exists, fate doesn’t exist, or Fate sometimes exists, all depending on how you choose to look at it.

We can’t control what happens to us. Everything is subject to chance; we can try to influence the sequence of events, but we don’t have full control of anything. Therefore, everything that happens is due to Fate.

BUT the forces that interfere with our plans are human. Other people bump into us and alter our course. We can blame them or thank them, for we know where they are coming from. They have a recognizable will, just like us, and there’s nothing mystical about it. None of it is due to Fate.

BUT when many human wills get entangled in a web of interaction, what comes out is no one’s will. The outcome is sometimes quite predictable, but often unpredictable. It depends on how many intermediate steps there are between a single decision and the result. If an outcome is far removed from anyone’s explicit will, we might as well call it Fate.

There is comfort in the idea of Fate. No one has the responsibility anymore and no one is guilty. What happened just happened.

The rich are rich, and the poor are poor. There is war; the market collapses, and then there is the virus. But whose fault is that? No one’s. Let’s call it fate then.

Do we want to mess with Fate? If we try to intervene, the burden of failure will be on our shoulders; the disaster that we have, may still feel safer.

Fate is what we have, the earth as it revolves around its axis, the shifting seasons and the government by the grace of God.

Do we dare to challenge Fate?