1.) I have a long held assumption that fate in a secular culture lays claims to the position previously held by God or a deity/deities. It is not God directly but the unseen hand of the universe directing the actions and behaviors of all that is around in order to end at a mean that favors our future and outcome. “Love” functions in a similar vein. Those who are recently disgruntled by romance will say they fell out of love or that their love died. From a purely semiotic perspective the action and behavior responsible for the loss of love is love itself in this scenario. It is love that fades, not the expectations of the individual.
This is what we learn from movies, TV, and music. You don’t have to do anything except show up. By simply being in the right place at the right time, none of which you really control, you are about to participate in the fate that was arranged or you. Chick flicks most obviously make this claim. The guy is perfect for the girl but one of them has a tragic flaw (like everyone) that must be resolved. After they run away from each other there is an event that brings them together and the movie ends in blossomed romance and assumed forever-after bliss.
Less obvious but just as potent are action films. A simple look at almost any action movie will exhibit the same narrative: start with a guy with a broken history or past. After hitting a low point a situation occurs that forces the guy to jump into one action or another. Past situations or events that seemed meaningless suddenly become the answer or solution to an impossible or improbable situation. In the end he saves the day but only because fate confronted him with an impasse that resulted in the hero becoming his true self.
The danger with this ideology is that it removes the action from the individual. Rather than take action, the action is expected to happen to the person. We all know the value of hard work and dedication. But what is interesting about culture is what is not said but performed without conscious reaction. It is not what opportunity we option to take. It is what situation we must inevitably take out of lack of options.
2.) I and many of my friends wrestle with a simple question: what should I do with my life? More than career, the question is one of balance and opportunity. The what is not so much what will I do but what am I fulfilling and finding fulfillment in finding.
My guess that there are hundreds of thousands of us waiting, thinking, talking, and hoping “that thing” will appear from the sky and show us the future we semi-consciously believe we are “destined” for. We feel that we know there is something remarkable just around the corner just waiting to spring to life even if we don’t believe this is true in a purely rational sense.
3.) In the past you just found a job. You got married and had kids. You followed the rules and played the game and were rewarded as such. Further back than that you followed in your father or relative’s footsteps. If they were an ironsmith you were an ironsmith. With seemingly unlimited options comes unlimited need for navigating the confusion of option. There must be some balance between letting life hand you off to the next opportunity and completely steering your future and picking your options.
4.) I struggle with the idea of things happening for a reason. In theory I love the idea that there are no accidents and occurrences are not fully random. The idea that our life is a plot, a sweeping narrative that will lead us to our true opportunities keeps the self help industry in suits and Mercedes. Beside this romanticized notion is the idea that random is not satisfied with a conclusion, that there is no deep meaning to the occasions or moments that seem too perfect or to materialize in strange and wonderful ways. For actions to be meaningless or devoid of a greater, pre-conceived narrative seems dark and twisted. But why?
The Book of Job is a wonderful example of the meaning in meaninglessness. When faced with calamity, Job turned first to friends who told him that there was a reason such horrible things happened – like past actions or sins committed. But it was the figure of God who said, in many ways, there is no meaning to the calamity, good and bad happened despite the actions of the individual. In the end the only meaning to be gained was through reaction.
As G.K. Chesterton pointed out in much of his work, order is the greatest miracle. This is what I am starting to consider seriously. The actions and events of every day are miraculous in that they happen. The meaning we gain from our awareness is perhaps the propellant necessary to expand the opportunity with which we are inevitably faced. If this is the case, we live in the most miraculous period of human history. But with fate it is important to carefully and critically consider the work of what might be seen as an invisible hand as we just might see our fingerprints on the wheel or smoking gun.