Who, or what, weaves our fate?

And what is fate? Death? Destiny? Chance? Future?

What is fate?• 1 : the will or principle or determining cause by which things in general are believed to

come to be as they are or events to happen as they do : destiny2 a : an inevitable and often adverse outcome, condition, or end b : disaster; especially : death3 a : final outcome b : the expected result of normal development <prospective fate of embryonic cells> c : the circumstances that befall someone or something <did not know the fate of her former classmates>

• Fate is:• Our future• Human action• Our outcomes• Our decisions

Who or what weaves our fate?

• Human actions and decisions, whether of ourselves or others, are what weave our fate. No higher power or supernatural force can supersede that of society or ourselves.

But, how can we be so sure?

• We will delve into the minds of four figures from history and the present day to find the answer. On the surface, some prove my point, others counter it. But they all eventually show that human action and decision weave our fate.

Homer

Homer’s The Odyssey

• In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is plagued by fate: encountering a Cyclops, numerous shipwrecks, and eventually almost losing his wife. In The Odyssey, most of Odysseus’ misfortunes are shown to be caused by interactions of the gods.

What it Proves about Homer’s Thoughts

• Thus, Homer seems to show that higher powers have influence over our future.

• But Odysseus’ fate is always controlled, to some extent, by human action. He defeats the Cyclops through human ingenuity, he goes through shipwrecks because of the human nature to be inept, and saves the structure of his family with human ingenuity.

Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson’s Thoughts on Fate

• Jefferson believed that the actions of society and ourselves are what weaved our fate. He was not religious, and believed in the rationality of human decision, eventually authoring a new print of The Bible containing no reference to the supernatural.. He did not find humans inherently good or evil, and felt that our actions and decisions led to our life’s path.

Jefferson’s Morality

• But do Jefferson’s pleasant fate and unpleasant decisions and actions such as slave ownership belie his view on fate?

• Fate is decided by society and oneself, and the former led to Jefferson’s pleasant fate. Jefferson was viewed as a heroic figure by the people, and his popularity, not his own actions, are what weaved his fate.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Hanh, Religion, and Fate

• Thich Nhat Hanh believes that each individual weaved their own fate, and dismisses the thought of a “higher power” as having control of our lives for religious reasons (Hanh is an expatriate Buddhist monk).

Full Morality and Ethics

• Hanh believes that humans are able to reach a state of full morality, nirvana, with no ambiguity. He feels that it is possible to go beyond the constant scale of good and evil through practicing the proper views, intentions, actions, and concentrations.

Do we have control over our morality?

• Hanh believes that there are certain parts of our morality that are inherited as we are humans, but other parts that we must control ourselves. And these are what he feels weave our fate.

John F. Kennedy

Kennedy’s Sound Bites and What they Show Regarding

his Views on Fate• Kennedy believed that the loyalty and

nobility in a person are what guided their fate and actions. While he was a religious man, he believed in the human as opposed to divine intervention in life.

Religion and its Role on Fate According to JFK

• John F. Kennedy was a religious man, but he held the belief that we control our own fate with our own noble qualities, if any.

The Role of Government in Controlling the Lives of People• But at what point does society stop its

forced reliance on government and solve the problems with minds other than those who created them?

Another Point of View

• But how can we explain phenomena such as abject poverty or disease? Have the people living through wretched hunger, epidemics, and/or natural disasters brought their situation upon themselves?

A Rebuttal

• No. The decisions of ourselves are simply part of our own fate. Societal choice and action were certainly very involved in their fate. Many suffer from the effects of political corruption, or longstanding unjust inequality.

Why This Matters

• Knowing the boundaries of our fate, and that which decides it, will allow humans to “play god” through control and protection of ourselves and others by making the right decisions so as to maximize a pleasant fate for all.

The Power “Playing God” Gives Society

• If we as humans are able to “play god,” we would be able to solve the issues facing the world and ourselves in ways none of us could imagine.

What this Means about Human Condition

• But the power of “playing god,” if used incorrectly, could lead to catastrophic results.

Conclusion

• Human actions and decisions, whether of ourselves or others, are what weave our fate. No higher power or supernatural force can supersede that of society or ourselves.

Final Thoughts

• When we make decisions, or take action on anything, from deciding whether to sign our name on a business document or deciding whether to sign our name to free a country, that is what weaves our fate.

Ask Yourself…

• What is fate?• Who has power?• Is it related to fate?

Ask Yourself…

• What is the true balance of morality and immorality?

• Is there a formula for deciding it or is it ambiguous?

• Is morality related to fate?• And who or what weaves our fate?

Who, or what, weaves our fate?