Is there such thing as "fate", "destiny" or "the one"?

Answer 1

Destiny is regarded by some as fate, a fixed timeline of events that is inevitable and unchangeable, and the future knowable through means of divination. This has led to an assumption of divination as fortune-telling, though the actual practice accounts for the self-determination of individual people and an unknowable future. In divination, destiny takes on a meaning different from its common usage.

Although the words are used interchangeably, fate and destiny are distinct things. Modern usage defines fate as a power or agency that predetermines and orders the course of events. The definition of fate has it that events are ordered or "meant to be". Fate is used in regard to the finality of events as they have worked themselves out, and that same finality is projected into the future to become the inevitability of events as they will work themselves out. Fate also has a morbid association with finality in the form of "fatality". Destiny, or fate, used in the past tense is "one's lot" and includes the sum of events leading up to a currently achieved outcome (e.g. "it was her destiny to be leader", "it was his fate to be executed"). Fate is an outcome determined by an outside agency acting upon a person or entity; but with destiny the entity is participating in achieving an outcome that is directly related to itself. Participation happens wilfully.

Destiny in divinatory practice has none of the negative connotations of fate. Destiny has the same root as "destination": destine, to direct something towards a given end ("she is destined to be leader"). Without a subject's wilful participation, there is no destining. Destiny cannot be forced on someone; if they are forced into circumstances then that is their fate. As an example, there was a scene in the movie Whale Rider when the whales had beached, and Paikea walked up to the largest one and gently kissed it. She had reached a state of consciousness where a message she had absorbed from the mythology of her people, that she had memorized, sang, and enacted in dance on stage, moved from her subconscious mind to conscious awareness, where she was informed by the myth of the Whale Rider. Until then, there was doubt in the mind of the audience that she would be leader; circumstances looked dim; but in that moment she knew that she was leader, and she knew her destiny. Events, as they played out, had guided her to this place and this time. Her next act was made with full awareness--it was what the leader must do; it was what the first Whale Rider had done.

"Why did the whales beach? Did they do it for her benefit? Because she called them?" That is fate: the objective events, the opportunities and the limitations placed before us, the circumstances we are bound to that are beyond our control, and sometimes even beyond our meager understanding as to how they happen, but are a part of our destiny in that they shape us. Fate is a backdrop on which we play out our destiny. "Why did she ride the whale and become leader?" That is her destiny, what she determined will be, by directly participating in what was happening. She directed circumstances towards a certain outcome, and in doing so determined future circumstances. By participating in our destiny, we shape fate.

Another notable mention is Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Tess is fated to the undesireable life any women in that century would hate to have.

Russian literature also countlessly refers to fate and existence in the universe. In Lermontov's Hero of Our Time, the protagonist, Pechorin rationalizes that he will burst into a room with a gun-wielding madman and confront him, on the assumption that the "chapter had already been written."

Answer 2

The ego is an accumulated phenomenon, a by-product of living with others. If a child lives totally alone, he will never come to grow an ego. But that is not going to help. He will remain like an animal. That doesn't mean that he will come to know the real self, no. The real can be known only through the false, so the ego is a must. One has to pass through it. It is a discipline. The real can be known only through the illusion. You cannot know the truth directly. First you have to know that which is not true. First you have to encounter the untrue. Through that encounter you become capable of knowing the truth. If you know the false as the false, truth will dawn upon you. Ego is a need; it is a social need, it is a social by-product. The society means all that is around you - not you, but all that is around you. All, minus you, is the society. And everybody reflects. You will go to school and the teacher will reflect who you are. You will be in friendship with other children and they will reflect who you are. By and by, everybody is adding to your ego, and everybody is trying to modify it in such a way that you don't become a problem to the society.

Answer 3

There's not one scintella of evidence of a pre-ordained plan. What makes a person stand out anyway?

Greatness may last a thousand years for a few and eternally for none. On the scale of earthly time, individual lives are but mere blinks of an eye. We're born, we live, we die and then you're not heard from ever again. There might be a tombstone or family tree made with your name on it, but eventually the tombstone weathers from age and who knows what media your family tree will be used. All the memories and accomplishments will be totally forgotten, unless you're a Hitler or Alexander the Great type person.

In a thousand years, your bones will be dust and no other trace of your existence will be seen, unless, of course you become fossilized for some reason, but even then, after thousands of years more, that will be disintegrated into dust. We influence the lives of our children and others, but they too will eventually die. So what's the point of living?

In astronomical terms, the Earth will eventually succumb to the supernova of our Sun, it's an astonomically certainty the earth will be burned to a crisp.

So does death render our lives meaningless. If we were immortal, that would be the ultimate in boredom, repetition, day after day, of doing the same thing for thousands of years (hundreds may be OK, but nothing beyond that)....but i digress, back to your question.

It all boils down to how creative we can be in the short period of time we have on this earth....Our activities need to be worthwhile for their own sake, not because they fulfill some supernatural transcendental purpose....LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST DAMNIT, YOU WON'T GET A SECOND CHANCE!!!

Answer 4

Predestiny probably does not exist.

There appear to be patterns of connectedness between nature and the individual within the "now"; and as we believe that what we do now affects the future, so all that happens to us now are the effect of what was done before. But our actions affect more than just our own sphere, they affect and transmute the totality of existence.

Destiny exists, and it is being formed by you and me this very moment.

Answer 5

I believe that there is someone for everyone. I also believe that if it is meant to be it will happen. Nothing happens by coincidence or by mistake. I have my beliefs in this and plus it just makes life so much easier when you see all that happens to you as happening for a reason. Believe me you can learn from every experience.

Answer 6

There is DEFINTELY a "the one" and the second you find him/her, hold on because you have grabbed the tail of a shotting star and what a rife it will be. But patience is inevitable to find your star!

Answer 7

i think everything is already planned out for us even before we're born. fate, sure why not. u gotta believe in something. everything always happens for a reason, no matter ho bad it is.

Answer 8

Only in movies:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix

Answer 9

theres probably many "the ones". problem being they both have to want to be "the one" at the same time.

Answer 10

depends on if you have faith....