For many years I discarded ideas of fate, destiny, or that something greater could be guiding my life. I know that I have some degree of free will, and that I am capable of making choices, good and bad. Even so, as time goes on I grow ever more aware of a thread running though my life – drawing me continually down a path, the destination of which remains shrouded in mystery.
I have tried to ignore it. I have read books, acquired a degree, and learned how to cut through superstition with reason. I have studied philosophy, and asked the hard questions about free will. I even sought refuge in religion for a time. Unfortunately none of the tidy arguments can overcome the feeling that I am compelled to this strange life I live.
I have fought against it. I have rebelled, self sabotaged, and worked myself ragged trying to curtail the onward flow of my own obscure fate. Like a fish swimming against the current, exhaustion eventually takes me. In such moments of surrender I am reminded of Lao Tzu and the principle of Wu-Wei.
What I have come to believe is that some of us are either born with, or acquire a purpose that is greater than our own self interest.
Personally I see fate and destiny as two sides of the same coin. In the moments that we are aligned with our purpose, we call it destiny. And when we are frustrated or struggling we label it fate.
Destiny, fate, the river cares not what I call it. It is a river, and it flows ever onward, carrying me along despite my protests.
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In less than 8 hours I will be setting forth on another journey. It will take me far from Bogota, to a small tropical Island. A week ago I had never heard of it, and now I can only hope its agreeable 🙂
Stay Wild!

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