Do You Believe in Destiny (DRAFT)

“Do you believe in destiny?”—a line that I encounter mostly from Disney movies and mythology films.  Destiny is often depicted by the media as something that is bound to happen. Something so unstoppable that all you can do is follow wherever it may take you. Some say it is something written in the stars, something that has been fixed even before we were born—our own personal northern star that will lead us towards our real purpose in life.

            

      Most people would often say that destiny and fate share the same meaning. However with regards to 19th century philosophy, the words gained inherently different meanings.

Although the words are used interchangeably in many cases, fate and destiny can be distinguished. Traditional usage defines fate as a power or agency that predetermines and orders the course of events. Fate defines events as ordered or "inevitable" and unavoidable. European mythology features three goddesses dispensing fate, known as Moirai in Greek mythology, as Parcae in Roman mythology, and as Norns in Norse mythology. They determine the events of the world through the spinning of thread or yarn.

In literature, many Greek legends and tales teach the futility of trying to outmaneuver an inexorable fate that has been correctly predicted. This form of irony is important in Greek tragedy, as it is in Oedipus Rex and in the Duque de Rivas' play that Verdi transformed into La Forza del Destino ("The Force of Destiny") or Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey, or in Macbeth's uncannily-derived knowledge of his own destiny, which in spite of all his actions does not preclude a horrible fate.

            Destiny is used with regard to the finality of events as they have worked themselves out; and that same sense of Destination, projected into the future to become the flow of events as they will work themselves out. In other words, fate relates to events of the future and present of an individual and in cases in literature unalterable, whereas destiny relates to the probable future. Fate implies no choice, but with destiny the entity is participating in achieving an outcome that is directly related to itself.

Destiny is something that is rarely defined mostly because everyone thinks about it differently.What one person may think of as destiny, some may perhaps regard as only an inevitable outcome of an action.In other words, destiny is subjective. People and different fields of studies view and interpret destiny in various ways.

According to Cornelius (1994), destiny is defined as a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a fixed natural order to the cosmos.

For Arthur Schopenhauer, destiny was just a manifestation of the “Will to Live”. For him, Will to Live is the main aspect of the living. The animals cannot be aware of the Will, but men can at least see life through its perspective, though it is the primary and basic desire. But this fact is a pure irrationality because then human desire is considered to be equally futile, illogical, directionless, and, by extension, so is all human action.

For Nietzsche, destiny keeps the form of Amor fati (Love of Fate) through the important element of Nietzsche's philosophy named "will to power", basis of human behavior, influenced by the Will to Live of Schopenhauer. But this concept may have even other senses, although he, in various places, saw the Will to power as a strong element for adaptation or survival in a better way. Nietzsche eventually took this concept further still, and transformed the idea of matter as centers of force into matter as centers of will to power as mankind’s Destiny to face with Amor fati.

            The notion on destiny today is based on the study of Determinism.  This philosophical idea implies the information in the universe today-- including all human action and decision-- was implicit in the earliest moments of the universe. It is consistent with the theological idea of God's foreknowledge (informationphilosopher.com).

According to psychologists, destiny can be explained in three ways: As a psychological medicine, as a means of satisfaction and as a scale of hard work.As a psychological medicine, belief on Destiny has proven to be a wonderful cure. Destiny helps  people to remain psychologically fit in situations that can bring about various mental problems. In a world filled with competitions, people, more often than not, lose ; and when they do the phrase “it's not meant to be” always comes up. Through this, destiny also served as a means to control dissatisfaction. When something wrong happens to us, we satisfy our negative emotions by believing that it was our destiny. In this way, one's negativity dies even before the depression seeps in.

            As a scale of hard work, people often say that destiny determines how much effort we put in. If a person works hard, people say that his stars are bright but if a person fails to succeed we call his stars “dim”.  In these situations, hard work and effort is converted to the measurement of stars which determine the possible outcome of a person's future.

            Given the fact that defining destiny is subjective, I might as well share how I give meaning to this short yet complex word.  “Destiny is the bridge you build to the one you love” as a character from the movie My Sassy Girl said describing his whole experience when he met his love. Destiny is not only limited to the idea of romance as most movies or shows would enforce it. It transpires in life in general. Destiny, for me, does not mean just sitting there and waiting for something or someone to magically happen or appear. Destiny is most definitely not magic. One’s destiny fully depends on that person’s actions and attitudes towards life. If I will put it in a mathematical equation it will be, work + will to accept change = destiny. This simply means that something happened to you because you exerted effort for it to happen. Just like how karma works, you do this and that happens to you. Furthermore, I say that destiny is not predetermined. It is not unchangeable nor it is something that is already etched in the skies.One’s destiny is not in the hands of the three old ladies waiting to cut off your “thread”. Destiny is something that could definitely change depending on what you do today. It’s in a constant flux, solely dependent on what you do.