By definition, Destiny would be a specific, predetermined future outcome stemming from an inevitable course of events. It may be a popular, wannabe belief but when used in the context of human experience I have serious doubts. The problem I have with Destiny is the predestination part. After the fact, one’s Destiny is a given. That's how it happened and it is what it is. In the summer of 1953 an 18 year-old walked into Sun Recording Company on Union Street in Memphis, Tennessee. He paid $3.98 to cut a two sided demo to give his mother. The ‘A’ side was titled ‘My Happiness’. Three years later he walked onto the stage with a $50,000 contract to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show. He sang ‘You Ain’t Nothin’ But A Hounddog.’ After the Ed Sullivan Show, Elvis’ destiny would be realized as the King of Rock’n Roll. But his destiny would continue to unfold for the next twenty one years. Every twist and turn in his life simply updated his destiny. Who could predict where it was going, how his career would play out. Who knew, 21 years after that first Ed Sullivan Show that the King of Rock’n Roll would die of a drug overdose, alone, sitting on the toilet, in the basement at Graceland? Great or small, famous or not, your destiny is about the present and the path you followed to become the person you turned out to be. As you age day to day, year to year, your destiny keeps measuring your life from just a step behind you.
My destiny has been that of a fair-haired, blue-eyed, curious little boy transformed over time and experience into a retired old educator, still curious but the hair is thin and the blue eyes are camouflaged under bushy eyebrows. If you plot my destiny with predetermined, future outcomes, it simply does not compute.
People continue to misuse the word and that’s alright. People have always been vulnerable to making up fiction to explain what it is they don’t understand. Curiosity is contagious, it always has been but our paleolithic ancestors lacked the experience and knowledge to solve for the unknown. After 20,000 years we are still hooked on myth and conspiracy theory. Our brain-mind hasn’t changed in structure and function in all that time but we connect the dots so much better now. But there are still throw-backs who swear by the unbelievable rather than do the math. The fact that we don’t understand everything may be inconvenient but it doesn’t require us to fabricate fiction just to satisfy the appetite.
In 1985 Back To The Future, a cinematic trilogy foreshadowed what might happen with time travel if the Space Time Continuum were to be disrupted. Going back in time gives one the advantage of knowing what the future holds. Christopher Lloyd (Doc Brown) and Michael J. Fox (Marty McFly) fell into that trap and it took three episodes to restore space & time to their original backstory. In the end, Jennifer, Marty McFly’s girls friend was disturbed over an alternative reality from a different but parallel future. Since they were able to go back in time as well, they were able to restore the Space Time Continuum back to its original condition. If you didn’t see the movie then this may be too complicated to explain in this space. Doc Brown reassured Jennifer that her dreadful memories from the distorted future had been erased. “Whatever you do with your life from here on is yours to choose.” that her future had not been written yet. I have watched the BTTF trilogy too many times to count. I especially like the way Destiny is weighed and measured. If you want to think destiny is out there in the future Doc Brown nailed it down; maybe it is but it has not been predetermined. Where it takes you is up to you and I would add, random chance is a wild card in the mix. I was destined to be here, now, just as I am, by the chain of events that got me here; destiny. There is a little expression I use; don’t know where it hatched but I’ve made it my own. It qualifies both the wiggle-room we get to choose for ourselves and the way we are driven like leaves in the wind. I say, “Sometimes you live life and sometimes life lives you.”
My destiny has been that of a fair-haired, blue-eyed, curious little boy transformed over time and experience into a retired old educator, still curious but the hair is thin and the blue eyes are camouflaged under bushy eyebrows. If you plot my destiny with predetermined, future outcomes, it simply does not compute.
People continue to misuse the word and that’s alright. People have always been vulnerable to making up fiction to explain what it is they don’t understand. Curiosity is contagious, it always has been but our paleolithic ancestors lacked the experience and knowledge to solve for the unknown. After 20,000 years we are still hooked on myth and conspiracy theory. Our brain-mind hasn’t changed in structure and function in all that time but we connect the dots so much better now. But there are still throw-backs who swear by the unbelievable rather than do the math. The fact that we don’t understand everything may be inconvenient but it doesn’t require us to fabricate fiction just to satisfy the appetite.
In 1985 Back To The Future, a cinematic trilogy foreshadowed what might happen with time travel if the Space Time Continuum were to be disrupted. Going back in time gives one the advantage of knowing what the future holds. Christopher Lloyd (Doc Brown) and Michael J. Fox (Marty McFly) fell into that trap and it took three episodes to restore space & time to their original backstory. In the end, Jennifer, Marty McFly’s girls friend was disturbed over an alternative reality from a different but parallel future. Since they were able to go back in time as well, they were able to restore the Space Time Continuum back to its original condition. If you didn’t see the movie then this may be too complicated to explain in this space. Doc Brown reassured Jennifer that her dreadful memories from the distorted future had been erased. “Whatever you do with your life from here on is yours to choose.” that her future had not been written yet. I have watched the BTTF trilogy too many times to count. I especially like the way Destiny is weighed and measured. If you want to think destiny is out there in the future Doc Brown nailed it down; maybe it is but it has not been predetermined. Where it takes you is up to you and I would add, random chance is a wild card in the mix. I was destined to be here, now, just as I am, by the chain of events that got me here; destiny. There is a little expression I use; don’t know where it hatched but I’ve made it my own. It qualifies both the wiggle-room we get to choose for ourselves and the way we are driven like leaves in the wind. I say, “Sometimes you live life and sometimes life lives you.”
No comments:
Post a Comment