Our Lives on a Stage

Do you believe in fate? That everything that happens, happens for a reason? Do you believe that if you behave in accordance with the teachings of (insert ambiguous religious or political figure here) that good things will come?

Have you answered yes to all of the above?

If you did, you are a hypocrite.

Well okay, let me take three steps back before I drag you along for this marathon. Perhaps it is me that is the hypocrite. I pretend to know better than to lose myself among the controversial arguments of competing religions - but admittedly, it's not like I have the solution either way. All I have is some time to think. A room of my own, if you will. If I were female that would have sounded better.

So, fellow hypocrite, explain to me how it is possible for a person to believe in fate, but also in their own power to make decisions and live life. Having been brought up Catholic, I've been exposed to many Christian teachings throughout my childhood. My most recent experience came at a funeral, where the priest preached a very good thing and a very bad thing. I feel like I'm conducting a session of "Good Idea, Bad Idea," so I'll just roll with it.

Good Idea: To understand that life is not over at death; it is changed.
Bad Idea: To believe that the goal of life is to reach the afterlife, and that once we have gotten there, we will have fulfilled our purpose.

Are you then telling me that our sole purpose in life is be 'good' so that we can be rewarded by God with this amazing and incredible promised land (heaven). Is that how selfish we are - that we attribute our entire existence to being rewarded? Methinks there could be something we are overlooking here. Life on Earth ain't so bad, even at the worst of times, why must we constantly be concerned with how green the grass is on the other side? What if there is no other side? What if the other side is as made up as the misery that we are led to believe we are constantly battling?

But going back to the fate thing: All of you who think that our destiny is predetermined - that our life experiences are a product of some cosmic storyline that has yet to be played out - you are robbing humanity of its agency. You are not just claiming, you are SCREAMING out that we are not rational, responsible, active beings... we are just actors. If fate really does have a place in this universe, then NONE of our actions are a result of our own volition. We have been written into life, like a script. Is our creator so cruel, to give us both consciousness and to staple our feet to the traintracks of life simultaneously?

No, I think not. And please, please don't try to justify your faulty belief system by claiming that you can change your fate because then you are no longer a hypocrite - you have, at that point, transcended the boundaries into the land of imbeciles and other incorrigible souls.

I guess the point of this blah blah blah is that I don't feel as though I am an actor. I don't feel as though my life is connected to some universal xbox, where my actions hinge upon the directions relayed to me through a controller or joystick. I am an active, rational, and intelligent human being. I can think, I like to think, and I only act after having thought. My own conclusion is that no one controls me but me, and I am the author of my own fate. The dude with the joystick up in the clouds controls all the external stuff. The obstacles, the challenges, the really crappy moment, and the big breaks or strokes of luck that many of us refuse or are incapable of recognizing. I believe that it's my job to adapt and to survive -- not to pray for salvation. I depend on no one, but I will remain respectful and I will work for the benefit of humanity because I believe that in bettering others I am bettering myself. If all of us were to take up this cooperative outlook on life none of us would have to be hypocrites in thinking that we are selfless because we go to church or political rallies and halfheartedly follow the teachings of our saviour.

Reality check: if you believe in a saviour then you want to be saved, which means you are selfish. Go help someone in need; be THEIR saviour. YOU are the one that wrote the script of your own life thus far so don't be afraid to add some stage directions to it as it plays out...