Arguably one of the biggest debates of existentialism is whether or not we’re in control of our own life. At a distance there’s one of two camps you can side with; the one where we are not in control, everything outside of our direct ability to manipulate is a result of some unseen (perhaps divine) force, and the camp that subscribes to the belief that every direct action on your part has both direct and indirect consequences both to the individual and to countless 3rd parties. While I won’t deny having myself experienced circumstances where “It was meant to be” could be applied, I’m still skeptical. We live in a world governed by the laws of physics, and those laws dictate is that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This by the way is part of the second encampment, which also happens to be the one I belong to. What if the events that unfold are nothing more than a series of “reactions” set forth by a preceding set of reactions which were intern set forth a set preceding them…and so on and so forth? Using a game of pool as an example; just after the break the balls scatter each time they collide it creates a reaction causing them to collide with another ball…etc. Is life so different? Was the white ball meant to hit the 8 ball, or was it random chance? IMHO one of the many reasons it’s difficult to wrap our minds around this has partly to do with the fact that this process started long ago (birth of the universe) and we’re trying to play catch-up. Another aspect (again IMHO) is as a species we’re lazy and generally speaking have an inclination to believe we’re special, above all others including our peers. This could contribute to the hands off approach, “I didn’t get the job, it wasn’t meant to be” while negating the fact that perhaps you didn’t prep for your interview enough, or showed up in sweat pants and tank top, smacking gum while answering your questions.
Overall I wonder if as whole we lost sight of those actions we can control, and those we can’t. In life we’ll be presented with situations, some positive and some negative, how we handle them is up to us. I simply don’t think that those situations are the result of some predestined manifestation. Without debating the existence of a higher power, if such a entity existed; wouldn’t they be far to occupied with greater issues than whether or not I got that job, or if my neighbor is going to get that new kidney? As I said, I can’t deny experiencing situations both good & bad where I couldn’t help wondering for second that it was meant to be, but this is me in my limited capacity of understanding trying to grasp a concept that for now is too big.
