Fate

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have heard "Everything happens for a reason". I used to really believe that, and I guess from a purely physics level I still do. I mean if I drop something it falls, so reason dictates that it fell for the reason of being dropped. To take this to the next level however and say that there is this hand of fate, or divine intelligence that has a great master plan for us. That is the part I have trouble with at this point in my life.

Though out my life and my spiritual pursuits I have seen things and experienced synchronicity fare beyond what I could call normal. Because of this I cannot deny that there is some "force" leading us to "something". What this force was and were it was leading me seemed part of the big mystery. So when someone would say "Everything happens for a reason" it would go into that category in my mind. That possibility that lay just outside of my understanding.

Now I see things a bit differently for several reasons. The biggest reason has to do with what I have discovered about the nature of suffering. People suffer and so they inflict that suffering on others, the only reason I can find for this is to escape their own suffering. I see no divine plan here, only sentient beings trying to escape the pains of this mortal coil. So if i am heading in a certain direction and someone else is speeding ahead, trying to outrun their own suffering and slam into me, it alters my course. Many would then say "It happened for a reason". I would say that the reason was suffering.

So what is fate? What is that force that keeps us toward some mystic, incomprehensible goal? I look at pure natural physics for the answer. If you look at a stream making its way to the ocean it tells our story. The ocean is that great unknowable divine goal. We are the stream trying to make our way there. We do not know why we wind and bend and zig and zag. However if you look at the whole path of the stream you will see. It always finds its way around obstacles and heads toward the ocean. That is us, and as the Taoists would say, "The reed that bends with the stream does not break". So we find if we go with the flow and enjoy the ride we find peace. We do not suffer as much and so do not slam into the others riding this stream.

Perhaps one day we will figure all this out and build a boat in which we can all return to the ocean.

Caleb

The Photo Monk.