FATE - Our Expectations & Nature's Ways.

What is Fate? This question was raised by one of the contributors on MSN-India's forum recently. When things don’t turn out the way we expect them to and we are faced with an unpleasant situation that we are not prepared for, we call it our ‘Fate’ or sometimes ‘God’s Wish’. Two aspects, of this situation that we find ourselves in, stand out. First, it is something that we did not expect and were not prepared for; Second, that the situation is somewhat unpleasant. An examination of these two aspects may help us to understand ‘Fate’ better.

With our power of reasoning and of logical thinking, we expect a certain result to follow whenever we do something. But Nature (or God) has its own ways. It does not always respect or care for our reasoning and logic and the result of our action is many times at variance from our expectation. The fact is that we do not always base our actions on any prior planning or analysis of available data; more often than we care to admit, they are impulsive in nature. Even when our actions are based on planning and are well thought out, the result may still not come out as we expect because in real life it is almost impossible to ascertain all the different factors that may affect the result of our actions. Further some external factor which did not exist at the moment of our action might crop up later to affect the result. I would say it is our expectation of a specific result that is to be faulted for our disappointment and not the result as such.

Now coming to the second aspect, it is quite likely that the results of our actions, at least sometimes, exceed our expectations. We never blame ‘Fate’ for it, nor would we call it ‘God’s wish’. Instead we attribute it to our superior skill or planning. It is only when the results fall below our expectations and we find ourselves in an unpleasant situation that we blame it on ‘Fate’. I do not believe that ‘Nature’ (or ‘God’) is partial in handling its subjects and would want to act against us. There is no reason for God to wish anything bad for us. The fact, I believe, is that whatever we do, our actions will have some result or the other; sometimes pleasant sometimes unpleasant; and the ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ results tend to even out over a time. Unfortunately the memories of the unpleasant results linger on while the pleasant ones are forgotten.

Fate, therefore, is dependent on our expectations of specific results for our actions. And the best way to deal with it is not to give too much importance to our expectations. Yes, we should have expectations of some desired result to act as motivation for our actions. But, this expectation should be tempered by the realization that things may not work out exactly as we expect. This helps us to deal better with the unpleasant situation, if and when it occurs.

Thus moderating our expectations is, perhaps, the only way to deal with or change ‘Fate’. The other way, if it exists, could be in the realm of interaction between mind and matter and the extent to which powers of the mind can be used to influence physical events.