Fate scares me.
The idea that all of your actions have been pre-set, and that you really have no control over your own life, freaks me out. And the scary thing is I honestly believe that, on some level, fate really does control you.
I'm a non-religious person, and so I don't believe that my decisions are influenced by a higher power. I do, however, believe that it is inevitable I will do certain things in my life. Let me try to explain to you a concept that I hardly understand myself.
Everything in this world seems to abide by a certain set of laws. Therefore everything, under the exact same circumstances, will do exactly the same thing time and time again. I don't believe that anything happens totally by chance.
Therefore, if we knew the state of every simgle atom in the universe right now, we could, if we knew all the laws, predict exactly what those atoms are going to do in the next few seconds. If we knew what they would do in the next few seconds, then we could assess their new positions and continue to calculate what they would do for years in the future.
And what's scary to me is that the human body is just a bunch of atoms. These are what give us our thoughts, our emotions. Given the circumstances in my body right at this moment, I think that it's inevitable that a certain signal will be sent to my brain within the next few seconds, which will them cause a different signal to be sent to my brain, which will then cause me to do an action... on that level, it is inevitable what we will do with our lives, and decision making is just an illusion.
And so, finally getting round to the title of the post... is there really any point in seeing the future?
As appealing as it sounds, I'm not sure that I would want to actually be able to predict the future. Because first of all; if you can see the future, where's the challenge in life?
To me, life is fun because life is uncertain. It keeps you on your toes. You don't quite know what's around the corner. If you knew what was going to happen, then that uncertainty would be taken away from you. And where's the fun in that?
What would I do, I wonder, if I saw myself in the future? If I was successful, and where I wanted to be in life, then I'd worry that seeing myself in the future would offset my course for that success. Or what if I was only successful because some terrible, yet avoidable tragedy in my life had motivated me? Would I let myself go through that tragedy again, even if it was at the expense of other people?
Alternatively, I could go into the future and find myself homeless, alone on the streets. In that case, I suppose that seeing myself in the future might be good for me. At least I'd know to change something about my life.
Let's just say, though, that I went into the future and did find myself to be successful, but, like I hypothesized earlier, some tragedy had happened. Although I'd like to stop that tragedy from happening, would it really be a good idea? Hardships in life make us who we are, don't they? Avoiding it would be like cheating on a video game. You beat the game and it becomes extremely easy, but the challenge has gone, and the fun with it.
And so if I could see the future, I'd want to do everything in my power not to do so. The future may be uncertain, but, really... that's the fun of it, right?
Thanks for reading,
-Mark
And so, finally getting round to the title of the post... is there really any point in seeing the future?
As appealing as it sounds, I'm not sure that I would want to actually be able to predict the future. Because first of all; if you can see the future, where's the challenge in life?
To me, life is fun because life is uncertain. It keeps you on your toes. You don't quite know what's around the corner. If you knew what was going to happen, then that uncertainty would be taken away from you. And where's the fun in that?
What would I do, I wonder, if I saw myself in the future? If I was successful, and where I wanted to be in life, then I'd worry that seeing myself in the future would offset my course for that success. Or what if I was only successful because some terrible, yet avoidable tragedy in my life had motivated me? Would I let myself go through that tragedy again, even if it was at the expense of other people?
Alternatively, I could go into the future and find myself homeless, alone on the streets. In that case, I suppose that seeing myself in the future might be good for me. At least I'd know to change something about my life.
Let's just say, though, that I went into the future and did find myself to be successful, but, like I hypothesized earlier, some tragedy had happened. Although I'd like to stop that tragedy from happening, would it really be a good idea? Hardships in life make us who we are, don't they? Avoiding it would be like cheating on a video game. You beat the game and it becomes extremely easy, but the challenge has gone, and the fun with it.
And so if I could see the future, I'd want to do everything in my power not to do so. The future may be uncertain, but, really... that's the fun of it, right?
Thanks for reading,
-Mark
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