The more that I do
I’ve taken to a bit of philosophy in my spare time. One has me hooked: fatalism and destiny.
These ideas are further explored in my research, by my mentor. He remarked that young folks today have lost their sense of fate. “What will be, will be,’ he says. Our massive grant is under review so he has been working very hard toward it. His daughter one evening asked what would happen if the grant were not approved. He told her that like an Olympic athlete, you train to finish the event, you don’t think about externalities. No person who has trained and planned thinks they will fall on the landing, they just do it. He has not imagined a scenario where failure occurs. This is destiny.
The Indian idea of Karma, the Kismet of the ether is that billions of possibilities occur, and each choice leads us on a determined path. A child is born with so many degrees of freedom - their upbringing and persona develop and they become specialized with time. I fear our sense of specialization has become lost to generalities. Students are pushed to be all-rounders, good at a little of everything, but great at nothing. Life is a tortuous path that converges in unknown ways; our cosmic purpose is one that is not as wide as we assume. It comforts me to cede to the cosmic theater.
It may seem ‘fate’ is a conduit to defeat, but I urge you to believe you can change your lot. Every man has a bullet with his name on it, but that shouldn’t stop you. The great endpoints are not even significant compared to the mid-point. We don’t give up or assume there isn’t hope. Like a lottery winner who only wins if he plays, we must perform our due diligence. We cannot go that far if we do not start walking, we may go further if we run. I have to assume my actions today have a profound effect on the future, or everything becomes meaningless.
I think the phrase, ‘the more that I do,’ is indicative of the overarching idea of determination. We, like all things, are serving a purpose. The goal of life is to increase your economy, your value – whether in monetary form or your value to another person. Hopefully you do both and live well, or you become despondent and fail the cosmic theater.
Of course the cosmos doesn’t give a shit about you, so you must forge your own ideals and become determined. For the more that I do, the more that I know, the more that I can.
