Faustus

I don't think I believe in fate. It feels to me like an excuse, an explanation, the same way the gods of old were explanations for the weather and a baby's death. But now, instead of plugging the hole in our knowledge with gods, we fill the emptiness up with "fate".

It's the worst thing in the world, being responsible. Not only because you feel compelled to meet and exceed expectations, but because if you don't, nothing else matters. And then there are the people who feel no such obligation, who would rather enjoy their own life than improve the lives of others; and if someone says that's selfish, well, we're only human once. I think there is a lot I would give to be one of those people, but then I'm responsible, so if the choice were presented to me I'd do the responsible thing. In that way we choose our fate, and we say it is fate because we don't realize we've chosen it and we continue to choose it until we change or we die.

I guess you could say it was fate that things exist because without things there would be no fate, but what's that matter anyway? It's all rather pointless semantics, which is probably why I hate theoretical philosophy when it has no relevance or impact on anything modern. At the same time, I adore the question of coincidence vs. fate because while I don't believe in fate being preordained, I do believe in choosing fate. So while a baby's life isn't mapped out for her from the moment she's born, whether she is responsible or not becomes her fate. Like Faustus, we choose our damnation, whether that be to irresponsibility, hell, or just an early death. In this case, it's the path, not the destination. No matter what a person believes in, I think sometimes we have to put aside our fear of endings because there are more important things to us, to mortals, than the end, even if everything we do leads to it. It's how we get there, not where we end up.