Have you ever thought about fate?

I still remember when I was still a trainee medic and me and some of my bunkmates used to talk about all sorts of stuff. Even philosophy. Yep. When we aren't poking needles into each other or splashing Hartmann all over the place or having canteen breaks or sleeping, we talked.. Even about life and the oh-so-wise matters that we humans call philosophy. We discussed all important issues that were dear to us. " Eat what at canteen huh?" , " Dunno today got night off or not.." and "How come the vein can siam ! " are just afew of the many very real philosophical questions we asked ourselves as we trudged through life.

Of course, im not going to talk about EVERYTHING we talked about but rather one topic ( about philosophy of course) that had emerged while we were waiting for our turns to fail the Primary Assesment Module Test. It was about fate.

Is there such a thing as fate? Are our lives already planned all the way right till the end such that there is only one actual route we are able to take ? Is destiny for real ? Or is life simply just a sequence of random events that we can only assert little pressure on ? Can we actually take control of our lifes?

Let us take a stand first shall we ? I believe in fate. I believe that ultimately there is only one path that each individual follows and no matter how much you try, you'll always end up on the same path. Take for example, you throw a rock into a pond. What happens ? The rock sails through the air, hits the water and eventually settles onto the murky sand. What happens if you throw the rock again .. will it land in the same place? Of course not ... Many factors affect the path of the rock. The wind, the water currents, the mud .. Heck , even the shape, size and density of the rock affects the ulitmate position of the rock. But what if ALL factors were kept constant ?From the swinging of your arm to the tiny fish scurrying away ... wouldnt the rock end up in the same place? Lets move on to a less complicated example.

Many of us like to play pool ( pool as in billard, skimpy clothing and bikinis optional...) and train hard at it by reapeating the same shots over and over again. Lets imagine you taking a shot and hitting 3 balls in at once ( hurray ! ) . If the same shot were given the same angle, same force, same cue, same table and every ball in the same position, wouldnt it make sense if the end results would be the same ? Now, take these 2 examples with you, and apply it to real life. Tink of a decision you have made, any decision. Whether you have made the decision by flipping a coin or replying on past experience, the decision that was made would be made over and over again if ALL factors were the same. The combination of each factors reproduces a certain result, which could in turn become a factor for another result. For example, your 3 in 1 shot may cause your opponent to get a heart attack.

Now imagine this .. If factors were produced by factors of their own, wouldnt it all boil down to one combination of factors? Whether you call it Creation by god or The Big Bang, its the same. our decisions of present are affected by factors of the past. Our genes, our environment, our interactions all determine our actions. You wouldnt be reading this post if I hadnt posted it or if I hadnt the urge to write a blog or if past exprience tells you this is just a load of crap. Whatever the case, the fact is that the action of you reading this post has already been determined even before you knew about this post. Cause and effect. One turn leads to another. The actions of today will determine tomorrow.

So ... does this mean we have a choice in whatever we do? after all, everything has already been decided right? There's only one ultimate path that each of us will travel down... Split roads are only imaginary, thats because we THINK we have a choice when we actually dont. Its like dealing cards. In a deck, the top card has already been fixed, and it will not be changed no matter how many times you rub the card ( ala the gambling god). But not having a definite path doesnt mean we actually 'just leave things to fate'. This thought and action in itself is its own path. We are able to 'choose' between 2 paths, but in the end we will always choose the same one. Thus the deceit of choice.

After all that's said, the moral of the story is just to live life the way you want it. Destiny , fate? Even if those exist, you wouldnt know the ending. So make your choices and live it! You'll still end up at the end of the road, but at least we do it with optimisim ! Hurray ! We have gone one big round to conclude that we should just go about our usual lives ... Ah ... the wonders of philosophy.

Btw, I didnt come up with this. Read it somewhere, though I cant remember where, and added some inputs of my own as well. Felt like writing bout this since I stumbled upon some facts while studying for physics awhile back. Hesienberg's uncertainty principle, something which I feel challenges this school of thought in a huge way. But thats another story. Shalln't write bout it.

Cya next time !