It bothers me when I hear someone say that they were “meant” to meet a certain person or “destined” to get a certain job. It’s not that people shouldn’t have their own opinions (I certainly do), but such ideas of destiny seem counter-productive.
I will admit that when bad things happen, it might be nice to put all the blame on fate:
“It’s not my fault, the stars were in opposition.”
“I’m not the problem, it’s just not my destiny.”
But, if we think our destiny is the force behind everything that goes wrong, why try to make improvements? We can only learn from our mistakes when we realize that we’ve made a mistake. I think it’s better to take responsibility for what happens so that I am empowered to make positive changes.
And when good things happen I don’t think I was just lucky. I take ownership of that, too. It is through my belief in good that I experience good. My thoughts, beliefs, choices and actions are the causes of the good (or bad) that I experience.
In the Science of Mind, we believe that our thoughts and beliefs are causative. Our experience of the world is directly linked to our consciousness. Our thoughts become things!
When we attribute our experiences to kismet (or fate), it does two things:
- It negates the effectiveness of our choices
- It takes away our incentives for self improvement
Why try to make good choices if our fate is already sealed? Why improve our thinking or change our habits if our life has been ordained by the position of the stars?
I simply believe that I have free will. I get to make an infinite number of choices—and they matter! I can improve my thinking and expect my life to improve likewise. I may have to accept some of my failures along the way (we humans do tend to mess up now and then), but that just means that I can choose again.
The choices are mine to make. This life is mine to live. I’m “OK” with that.