September 7, 2001
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It's Just Meant To Be.
VeryModern made me think again. She talks a lot about astrology, and how planets and moons are in different houses and whatnot. Most of it (oh, alright, ALL of it) is over my head, but I'm feeling a rhythm in her discussions. When she speaks of her transiting Mercury and conjunct Mars, I'm starting to get a feel for what she means. I know not to be late for a date with a Capricorn.
My point, though, is this: In astrology, after a while, it starts to seem like people don't have much of a say in who they are or what they do. "She's a Cancer, with her moon over here and a transiting whats-it, which means she'll drop out of college and work fast-food her whole life." Or, "He's a Taurus, which means that he felt this way about the situation, and reacted in this typical manner." That sort of thing. I've started to wonder if astrologists believe we even have choices in what we do. Can we, in their view, alter the inevitable?
This line of thinking is certainly not exclusive to astrologers. In Christianity, there's the "predestination" school of thought. This says that God has a plan mapped out for our lives, or at the very least, He knows (being God and all) whether we'll be Christians or not, and what course our lives will take. Some hard-liners believe God's sort of made up a list of who'll be Christians and who won't. If you're not on that list, forgetaboutit -- you're not "in". Some folks take an in-between stance, saying that we DO have choices, but God just knows ahead of time what those choices will be.
Then there's fatalists. I don't mean people that think everything's going to be a fatality... I mean those that think "fate" rules everything we do. That we're destined to meet our future spouse, destined to get in a car wreck, and that fate will hand us our situation in life, no matter how hard we may try to change that course. "When it's my time, it's my time... not much I can do about it."
So what do YOU think, dear blog reader? Do you feel that you have total control of what direction your life takes? Do you think that life/God/the universe hands you life, and you deal with it the best you can? Do you feel somewhere inbetween?
Tell us. You're destined to.
Comments (23)
Astrologers believe in choice, at least this one does.
Let's see, you have made me think this morning.... I do believe that when it is my time, it is my time. But I don't believe that fate rules my life. Maybe God does know what is going to happen before you do, but also, I am the one that makes the choices in my life right or wrong. I am the one that has to answer for them choices. If God, fate, or whatever knows about them, we are not going to be able to change that anyway. I take life day by day and hold dear what it leaves me at the end of that day. Being good or bad, at least I have the comfort knowing that somewhere I gave someone a smile from my face and said have a good day. And hopefully I will be able to wake again tomorrow and do it again.
I tried to have an opinion about this when I was younger and finally just gave up trying to decide!
There's a passage in East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, that your question reminds me of. Three men are discussing religion. A particular scripture was interpreted three different ways: Thou Shalt, Thou Will, and Thou Mayest. I believe the latter; that God knows what I'm going to do before I do it, but has left me with the illusion of choice...that I may have the choice to do what I will. Yours is a difficult question to answer in words, as it's more of something you just feel, if that makes sense. One of those intangible issues of faith, in my opinion. Great blog...makes ya think!
Tee
I'd like to think I have total control, especially now, but I do think I'm ruled by my planet. From Virgo
Hmmm...some combination of them all...
First of all I think that there IS a grand plan...although we are able to veer from that path (free will and all) ...in addition, there also seems to be a series of "mile marker" events in our lives that are predetermined (one way or another, we get there) to have to experiences that will wind up teaching lessons.
So there ya go...my two cents.
Mitch
I like what astrologer Carroll Richter says (said?) in all his daily horriblescope columns...."the stars impel; they do not compel. what you make of your life is largely up to you!"......
since you ask and i love to answer i believe this- we agree to certain things, people and lessons on our arrival. heaven and hell are here on earth and it is for us to choose our path. and god loves us and wants us to be happy and we can screw that up as much we care to. in a nutshell.
Thinking about stuff like this gives me a headache. -o-
I don't really have a strong opinion on this. I think all sides are true. We do have the ability to choose our actions and words, but sometimes things happen that just seem beyond control. In other words, I can't make up my mind, and I don't see why I should. I won't know for sure until I have that interview with God I'm planning on having after I die.
My experience has been that when I choose a direction and it doesn't go well, I'm wasting my time to try and force things. Some things work and some things do not. I think the secret is realizing what you have control over and what you have no control over. Have a pleasant WeekEnd!
...k...
Although I wish I could believe I had total control over my life...deep down I know I don't control everything. I believe in fate.
I agree with cynthia
I think it's a bit of this and a bit of that...without the 'God' stuff...I don't believe in a single omnipotent deity.
peace
I believe in Astrology...
For Astronomy, I think VM is one of it's finest representatives! She has really made me read some of it!
VM does astrology.
i've thought a lot about this, and although i am an avid reader of horoscopes and i am exactly like many stereotypes of Saggitarius, I also believe somewhat that God knows what choices i will make, but i don't beileve that He has a list of Christians and if you're not one you'll never be. i don't believe that. i just think God knows what we're going to do. but astrology is fun to me.
If astrology were true, then identical twins would have identical destinies. Since they rarely do, this would be evidence againt astrology.
Fraternal twins, even. Even two kids born in the hospital at the same time to different mothers.
I like to think I have free will, although I readily admit I can only choose from the paths that I can immediately see. Is anything else determining the paths that I can choose from? Beats me... I do kinda subscribe to the belief that if there *is* an all-knowing God, then predestination has to be a given. Now, I suppose there *could* be an imperfect, flexible God who doesn't know everything, but knows more than us, and maybe we should worship him simply because He's smarter than us. But then that's sort of like we're all dogs worshipping our owner. We might still get smacked just because He's having a bad day, ya know?
I used to think we had more control over our destinies than I do now. Life has a way of showing us that our powers are very limited.
Free will. I don't believe in astrology in the slightest.
I like to think we control our own destinies... but I'm a sucker for reading horoscopes - both western horoscopes and chinese ones. I like to see how closely matched I am to the alleged traits but I don't like to believe that we are not in control of our destinies. If that were the case, I'd probably end up asking "what's the point?" and crawl under my duvet for the rest of my life
I don't believe that anyone else has control of my actions or that there is some form of pre-ordination surrounding what I do. I know I can't control the rest of the world - but it took me a while to figure that out
I control my actions and reactions in a world which is, to me, completely unpredictable... that doesn't mean someone doesn't have a masterplan for all that happens for me to react to! Have you ever read Ray Bradbury's Quicker Than The Eye anthology? There is a story in there about The Controllers (I think that's what he called them).. you may like it.