Fiction & Nonfiction

Why do certain things happen in a certain way?

I have a propensity to engage in philosophical musings. Often I find myself thinking about things beyond logic such as the connection between the soul and the Universal Spirit. Is the soul a separate entity? How do we define it? Is it deathless? And so on.

I would like to share a few musings of my own, on Free Will, Determinism and Fate or Destiny.

As individuals, we have many responsibilities. Family is a priority, a meaningful part of our existence. Children, their schools, studies, jobs and their marriages occupy our thoughts and we make plans accordingly.

The question is, is it always possible to implement well-laid plans?
Looking at it from the orbit of my experience, the answer is “not always”.

What then is Free Will if there is one?

According to Greek philosophers Free Will was “"the fact that nothing hindered us from doing or choosing something that made us have control over them".

An example comes to my mind.

When we go to a restaurant, we order per our wishes. Imagine we order Chinese fried rice and then we would also ask for a Japanese Sushi. We consume both. It is as we wish.
Similarly, while shopping for clothes, we choose what we like, be it formals or casuals. We decide our budget and spend accordingly. Thus we exercise our free will.

But is it always possible in our day-to-day existence to exercise free will?

At this juncture, it is worth our while to examine Determinism.

Determinism “entails that, in a situation in which a person makes a certain decision or performs a certain action, it is impossible that he or she could have made any other decision or performed any other action.”

The two types of Determinism I read about are, Soft Determinism and Hard Determinism.

In Soft Determinism we tend to think we can change the situation according to our wishes.

Here's an example.

A few days back a friend and I have started in the early dawn to pay homage to our guru living in an ashram located in a remote village.

It was still pitch dark outside. Suddenly, we came across an accident that might have taken place some time ago. A young man, probably a software engineer, who usually worked in the night shift from 10pm to 4am, had collided with a truck, lost control of his motorbike and fell on the side. A crowd gathered and probably an enquiry would be ordered by the concerned authorities.

We continued to drive on. We did not want to get stuck on the way. Then we saw a bus fallen in the valley. Another accident. After having come across two accidents in continuum, my mind immediately cautioned to be careful in driving. So I warned my friend to drive slowly and cautiously. What if a similar accident fell on us?

The above incidents make it clear that it is not always possible to implement free will or act as you like. We need to take note of society and the circumstances into consideration and change your views and act according to a given situation. This is the way Soft Determinism works.

Whereas in Hard Determinism people are fixed in their ideas. They think that nothing can change their thinking and that it has already been decided by something beyond control.

To cite an example, on a recent visit to a friend’s house, I came to understand that one of the family members had a health problem. I suggested I could cure it with the help of homoeopathic medicine, which I practiced. I assured them that they could continue with their allopathic medicine and that there would be no clash between the two.
Later, I came to know that they did not use the medicine I had sent because they were fixed in their minds that it would not work for them. They were not ready to change their minds under any circumstances.

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Fate or Destiny is an equally interesting philosophical topic.

Fate or Destiny according to a Research Paper “is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual”.

Let me give an example from my life to show how it operates.

After completing studies I got a teaching job. Subsequently, fell in love or so I believed. I was persistent to get married to this person I met. But my parents were against it. We argued for a long time. Then they stopped arguing, leaving it to time. A few months later, I noticed that this person, whom I thought I loved, started avoiding me and stopped writing to me. I was frustrated and heartbroken. I did my best to reconnect with him. Nothing happened. Then the whole issue petered out. After a gap, it dawned on me that I was causing undue worry to my parents by being irrational and obstinate.

After mulling over the matter, I agreed to the marriage proposal they previously suggested.

The point is, however much you want a certain thing, sometimes you cannot get it. Some force works against it for some reason beyond our ken at that time.

I could see a similar pattern through the events. I couldn’t have been happier with anyone else sharing my life other than the man I was married to finally.

If instead, I were adamant, would I be as happy as I am now? I might not have been as happy if had tempted fate.

Now, if you ask me what is tempting fate, It would lead to yet another interesting topic.


For now, thank you for listening to my philosophical musings.



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Word Count: 940

Prompt: Do you ever sit and wonder what’s outside the universe? Are there multiple dimensions in which different versions of us are living their own lives? Is the mind separate from the body? Are human beings rational? Is there such a thing as free will? What makes nature beautiful... if anything does?

Written for Philosophical Musings. May 2024.

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