The biggest concern in our life is what our future holds. The only future I am not concerned about is my death which is inevitable though the time and the way of death are not known. But I am least concerned about that. What concerns us more is the intermediate stage that is from now till death. A lot of our time and effort is devoted in trying to shape our future the way we want. A whole lot of pseudo science is dedicated to the ways of knowing the future in all parts of the world. In India it is mainly palmistry and astrology.
Is our life pre destined? Views and opinions differ on this. Some will say it is pre destined and some will say it is not. Some say that our karma our previous birth decides what we will be in this birth. Some say that through karma we can change the destiny. Some say we have free will to decide our destiny. Our general thought process is such that – if both our thoughts and what is happening to us are running in the same direction then we call it free will, but if our thoughts and the things happening with us are moving in the opposite direction then we prefer calling it destiny. So there are two aspect of it, one is our thoughts and second is what is happening with us. Which one is easier to control? I think it is easier to control what we are thinking albeit what is happening with us. What is happening to us is present continuous future. Suppose we are passing through a bad phase of life but our thoughts want a better present and future ignoring how to manage the bad phase then both are moving in opposite direction. If we are able to do something to change the bad phase of our life then well and good but if we cannot do so in spite of our best efforts then life seems to be pre destined. If we can align our thoughts with the bad phase with acceptance, clarity of mind and effort to change it in that case we are able to exercise our free will irrespective of the outcome. That leads to another question- can a person’s destiny be influenced by another person’s free will?
And what if we know our future? That would be a clear cut case of pre defined destiny, right? In that case no efforts would be required by us as destiny will steer us towards our future. Would we like to know our future before hand? Would we like to know beforehand what work we will do when we grow up, whom will we marry, how many children will we have, when our parents will die, how much money will we make, when we will be ill, where all we will go on vacation and even when we will die. How much I may want to know my future but still I will personally not like to know it. Life would become such a boring thing pursuit. In fact life would be such reckless with everyone knowing what will happen in future. Will I cross the road without looking left and right if I knew I will not die of a road accident? Or would my crossing the road recklessly is tied up with the destiny of the driver who would die in a rod accident because of me.
A person who is in abject poverty if he knows that he will remain the same way till his death then the first thing he will have is lose faith in God. Then God has not value to him because our primary relation with God is based on our uncertain future and our prayers for its betterment. What use is of god, if I know he will do nothing for me? A very rich person if he knows that he will die that way, what will he do?
Then there is a hybrid stage, one that of cosmic will and human will. Here it is said that the major incidents of life are pre destined and the minor ones are depending on free will and effort. For example, a person is destined to be a businessman or doctor or engineer or whatever it may be but how well and when he will achieve it depends on his efforts. A person may become a doctor due to cosmic will but he may become such a bad doctor that it will be difficult for him to make a living as a doctor. A person may be destined to become a criminal but maybe he will be caught after the first crime and then spend the rest of his life in jail.
Whatever may be the case but the uncertainty of future is what is driving us in life with hope and expectation. The unfolding of that mystery is what keeps us on our toes and gives a purpose to our lives.
Very good composition. You are great