Destiny

I have always pondered whether or not we were preordained, or perhaps preprogrammed, for the life we have lead. Was there some master plan, laid out in detail in advance, yet unbeknownst to us? Or did we actually have something to do with it? Did we take that fork in the road on purpose? Or by mistake? Or were we prodded by some mysterious entity to take a different direction for some greater, unknown outcome? At the very end of our travels through life, did we wind up in exactly the same place we would have landed anyway? Perhaps that alternate route was meant to teach us something. Especially if it turned out to be the more difficult route, turning adverse situations into lessons learned along life’s journey.

Another ‘keep me awake for hours’ issue is the thought of what if we were born into this world with a different set of parents? Are we here intentionally, in this corporeal state? Or is it all simply happenstance, a spin of the roulette wheel? What if our parents had met someone else along the way. What if one of them did take that fork and never ended up with the other one in the end. Would we still be us? Somehow? Maybe in a different physical form, but would the soul within us be the same exact one?

The Existentialists tried to figure it out. And all of the various religions have attempted to give us some sort of answers. Some feel that there is indeed a plan by a higher power and that said higher power is actually laughing at our plans. Maybe that is it! Or maybe it is just that life is one giant and sometimes terrifying rollercoaster, and all we can do is throw our hands up in the air and go along for the ride.

PS. Too many questions. I wish I had even one answer! Sorry if you stay awake tonight after reading this. Call me. I’ll be awake, too!