Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Fate, Karma, and Luck: Fortune's Trinity
Because of a spur-of-the-moment decision, I got a puppy this past week. It got me thinking about many such moments in my past. How have they effected me? And those around me? As children, when we make friends, are those snap judgments? Perhaps its our intuition of those it would be to our advantage to be around. If that is the case, then one could say that friendship is natural selection of a kind. But what about those that aren't chosen? Do they simply live out their lives in inferiority, because of forces beyond their control? Is it luck? In other parts of the world they believe in Karma- that we have reaped what we have sown because of what happened in a past life. Thus we are responsible for our own actions. And what of Fate- the belief that all actions are predisposed? If that is the case, then there is no such thing as spontaneity. Such things are simply actions that were then unforeseeable. So what do you believe? That everything is fated to happen a certain way? That past lives determined who we are? Or do people just get lucky? In any and all cases, we must be aware of the consequences of our actions. If things are fated to happen, lets believe that we were meant to be good people. If past actions defined us, then lets put faith in our predecessors. And if what happens in life is simply the wheel of fortune turning about, then I guess we can do no worse by trying our hardest.
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It is difficult for some to differentiate between these. And, to be perfectly honest, i maintain that it depends on one own view of the driving forces of the universe, such as religion. One who thinks that there is no god is less likely to believe in something such as karma, which is in itself a hindu belief. And one who believes simply in lady luck, the roll of the die, is more likely to feel blessed when he/she gets lucky. In all, i think this is a very good point to bring up, which of these is more to your way of thinking?
I suppose I would argue that none and all of those are true. I don't believe totally in luck, I don't believe in the same karma as most parts of the world does, and I definitely don't just believe in fate. I know that God has a hand in our lives, which many people would call fate, but we are also in charge of our own actions. I do believe in the old adage "what goes around, comes around", And there are many times in my life when I have had what people would call a stroke of luck. So, to me, none exist and they all do simultaneously.
I love the wheel of fortune. I also like jeopardy.
What kind of puppy did you get? I want to see a picture!
What about karma on a more localized scale? Is it possible that what we sew in childhood or youth we reap in adulthood? Example: I was able to breeze through grade school all the way to high school with little or no studying. Concepts were easy enough to grasp. I stopped studying because there was no benefit. Others peers that I knew struggled; they had to work much harder at school to achieve similar results. Now in college I find myself looking to these peers and wondering why the gap closed and how they passed me up. Best guess: localized karma. I believe what I was able to sew in childhood I am now reaping, nothing. Follow-up question: was my ability to perform better in grade school up through high school luck or fate? That is a concept I am struggling to wrap my head around. If only I had done something earlier on perhaps to warrant localized karma that would then allow me to ascertain the answer to my question.
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