Providence by Inclination
You know that quote from the Terminator movie franchise?
“There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.”
From a ‘certain point of view’(a singular one at that), the quote is an oxymoron. A paradox if you will. Outright in just a passing glance, it is a normal view on anti-fatalism. Straight forward and true. You know, free will.
But take a step back for a second and look at what it is saying from the perspective of “the big picture”. The main sign is “…no fate but…” If we make our own future, isn’t that what we call “FATE” (the “but”) when in the past? Whatever choice we make is by our own doing and not controlled by any other, but us (given normal circumstances). We can agree on that at least. Physics tells us that time is relative. That it is a psychological concept that our minds spatially calculate to experience life and living. That the true existence we all live, have lived, and ever will live in; occurs all at once. That “time” isn’t anything more than abstract understanding.
Um… say what?
Our concept of time is basically and simply, point A being connected by a horizontal line to point B (Linear thought, linear life). We start at A and “travel” on the line to end at B. There. A simple explanation to validate my psychotic ‘ freight train of thought’ reasoning.
Now. If you were actually able to look at every decision you will ever make between point A and point B. You would be able to see that “fate” is pretty much sealed by our own choices. (Bar the idea in this hypothesis, that divine intervention doesn’t exist). The quote is true right? Well, it would be if that were even possible. For some, it is just a romantic string of philosophy. We can not see our “future” choices (keeping in mind you are not temporally gifted with foresight. And if you are, I have no defense). We can guess. We can plan. But we don’t know until it actually happens. Ipso-facto, we are linear beings that only live in the now. Was it fate by our own choices that got us this far? How the hell would we even begin to know the answer to that question? “Cause it already happened”. Case in point, I chose to start writing this nonsense and here we are. This wasn’t fate. Right?
… What?
If some swoop-y bloke says it is your destiny or it is just fate. You can’t do anything about it really. I say this because, from dollar to donut, if any of us were to know every single decision and choice we would ever make. We would want to change some of those paths (like this logbook post). We would alter what we haven’t even done yet. Makes you wonder if that is why we can’t predict the future, doesn’t it? That’s where the fascinating term ‘butterfly effect’ comes into play. On top of that, would those changes we made just be the same string woven by “The Fates” anyway? Side note: I do find that Greek myth absolutely glorious.
Anyway…
It doesn’t matter what we choose or do not choose (yes, willfully not choosing is a choice). What is “destined” to happen will happen. We can’t stop what will come because we can’t change what we will do. We know this because “we believe” that “time” will continue to “move forward” into infinity. No matter how many times we ask what if.
…
What was the point of this post again?
Ah yes, the point is, get off your ass and start living the way you want. We’re all gonna eventually die. Some more horribly than others. Might as well make living worth it.
(Didn’t have to bring physics into it dummy. Could have just said that to begin with. Then you just went and got all dark about it.)
But wait, there’s more. Bear with me, I am currently bored out of my mind…
If you know physics, then you know that everything in the void (up in space, including earth) is moving. ‘Our planet alone is moving at a speed of around 1.3 million mph’ (solar system is clocked at about 448k mph). This movement through space, directly causes how we perceive time. Is that why they call it space-time? Therefore, if everything slowly came to a stop, our perception of time would slowly stop. And… drum roll… we would finally and eventually get to see all of existence happen all at once. Sad part about this scenario is that once time completely stopped, so would our brains (BTW, we would never get past the 5-15% threshold since our planet would turn into lifeless ice cubes as gravity dissipated and the sun snuffed out.) But “at the beginning, while it was slowing down; we would get to see it. Another sad catch is that we would only get to see our own individual life.
Might as well make it a good life, right?
(You said that already. And what is it with you, physics, and death?)
‘Will’ it be “fate” if I ever decide to post this?
-3 months later-
Yup! Still breathing.
