Sunday, August 22, 2010

Destiny

The theme of destiny is something many people think about; it is one of the questions of the centuries.  Some only talk about this subject in earthy terms, like goals or hopes or despair.  In this way some speak of fate.

They talk of possibilities and things they will never see in their lives, like walking on the surface of the moon.  That which, yes we can do and that which no, no way, is immovable.

When I was a teenager, I asked my mother and aunt if it is not predestination if God knows what we will do.  If He knows all that's going to happen, is that not predestination?  They became angry and explained to me forcefully; they wanted to ensure that I understood that yes, God knows everything, but that is not predestination.  I did not understand, but did not want to discuss the subject further with them and said "Ok, I understand."

But I thought of many things.  The biggest question that I carried in my chest was where does this big idea of God come from and the stories of the Bible?  Who wrote this foolishness, pardon, these miracles?  The most important information, the hinge on which the door swings, this information is withheld.  It is not something they repeat in the churches every Sunday; the history of this great idea that everyone declares out loud, together, that they believe.  They believe in one God, all powerful...no they do not speak of the origin-it always was and ALWAYS will be.  Understand cousin, HE's GOD.  And that explains everything.

Well, in this business of astrology that question of destiny often arises.  And it gives me an opportunity to go back to a work of Tolstoy: War and Peace.  Right now I'm not reviewing the whole book, just the ending, Part II in which the author talks about the history of humanity and the concepts among humans about will and necessity; liberty and reason.  He talks about how we feel that we do something of our will when we are in the act, but later we are convinced it is something that happened because of fate.

It is a very illuminating discussion about the theme "what force moves people?"