Dealing with destiny

Life is freedom. Destiny is slavery. I don’t remember exactly which one, but I read it in a book by Osho. After reading the book, a chaos stormed through my heart. I was confused about a lot of things I had held very close to my heart and believed to be true; as the sun and the moon came under the radar of doubt.

I am speaking of the life and the destiny riddle. The role of fortune and misfortune in one’s life. Star-crossed and lucky people. The successful and the unsuccessful. The winners and the losers. In-short free will and destiny.

Does life turn out to be destiny-driven or our conscious efforts steer it to its end? Can we blame ourselves for all the failures that we had to encounter in the past, or it was the only way it had to be; just because of the script penned by our destiny. Should a cigarette smoker be blamed for his lung cancer or it was his destiny to end up so? Do we have to surrender to fate or wrestle with it? Should we suffer silently in our lives or pry into the door of life to look for the cause? These, and many more such questions baffle me and I am yet to satisfy myself with a valid answer. And yes, my dear reader, allow me to inform you that not only me and you but a sea of cerebral people have stumbled on such questions since eternity, but couldn’t arrive at a concrete and soul satisfying answer.

May be Albert Camus is right in saying there is no meaning in the suffering and this absurd show called life must therefore be lived without giving much thought to the pain it offers. And yet he may be all the way wrong for there may be a divine scheme of things which he was unaware of. One interesting case of destiny I can recall of is of Bill Gates and Kent Evans, the two students of lakeside high school in United States.

Kent Evans and Bill Gates became best friends in 8^th class. Bill Gates states that Evans was the brightest student in the class but destiny had stored contrasting stuff for the two as Bill was destined for greatness and fortune, Evans was doomed to death. Kent Evans could have been a founding member of Microsoft but he died in a mountaineering accident before he graduated high school.

In 1968, there were roughly 303 million high school age people in the world, according to UN. About 18 million lived in United States, and 2,70,000 of them lived in Washington state. A little over 1,00,000 of them lived in Seattle area. And only 300 of them attended Lakeside school where a computer was present. Thus, it is clear that Bill and Evans were lucky enough to attend a high school having a computer. Bill Gates experienced one in a million luck by ending up at lakeside school. And odds of being killed on a mountain in high school are roughly one in a million too that Evans faced. Who decided this scheme of events and why? I fail to understand. Destiny? God? Chance?

History is full of evidences where grit and unwavering focus crystalized in the form of huge success for the doer. Many accomplished athletes claim that years of focused practice and discipline overcame the shortcomings in their natural talent that ultimately made them successful in their field. Perfection in any field is accumulated through patient struggle against the odds. Lack of natural talent, or say luck, can thus be compensated through mindful practice, discipline and positive mindset, claim many sports legends and entrepreneurs.

Michaele Phelps, the legendary swimmer and the most decorated Olympian ever, who won a staggering 28 Olympic medals (23 gold medals), once suffered from foggy goggles during swimming in a competition as water had leaked in; that made it difficult for him to swim, but years of dedicated and focused practice helped him in such hostile situation.

He completed the race by following the instincts that were imprinted in his sub-conscious mind during years and years of dedicated practice and he swam effortlessly without seeing the finishing spot and emerged out as winner even when luck was not on his side. So, for Michael Phelps, destiny can be crafted through conscious effort and for Kent Evans we cannot control the outcome of life reigned by destiny.

Thus, the best way to deal with the question of destiny is to avoid it. Do what is right with all your heart and soul and be hopeful that your attempts shall cultivate success. Whatever has to happen will happen so be very sure about the fact that trying your best and throwing your entire being into the act you perform is the most effective way of doing things, letting destiny do what it does.  Don’t lose hope, nor be sad.

By: DR. FAHAD SHAHJAR