Fate, God and Science

Fatalism is often referred to as "the doctrine that all events are subject to fate or inevitable predetermination."

Christianity can be described as a monotheistic religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

Science is a system of acquiring knowledge based on the scientific method, as well as the organized body of knowledge gained through such research.

Righto, now that is out of the way, I can make my point. I am using Christianity for the sake of this argument, but all religions can be applied here.

In life, we all form opinions, be they our own or someone else’s. Opinion is a very interesting subject; life after all is essentially a series of opinions. Our opinions make up our human conciousness. The funny thing is, the opinions of religious and scientific society often cross over substantially.

In the world of science, we have established that we are made of energy. Those magnificent men in their white coats have also told us that energy can be neither created nor destroyed. In the various faiths we have afterlife, reincarnation and ghosts. So need we be a rocket scientist to see the parallels here?

Time is continuous, space is continuous heaven, hell and eternity…spot the similarities anyone?

Now, there a number of theories to explain what I call fate. Mathematicians would refer to these occurrences as parallel synchronised randomness. Christians call it the will of god. Gamblers call it luck.

There are some things that are just meant to be. Events that will occur regardless of your actions, your ‘free will’ and your personal beliefs. You just won’t realise it.

I will give an example from my personal life. Almost seven years ago, I had a friend. We were best mates. Like Peas and Carrots as my man Forrest would say.

Now the universe isn’t perfect, that’s how we got George Bush. So every now and then, bad things happen. Or things we perceive to be bad anyway, sometimes there is a great reason, sometimes shit happens.

My friend and I had a falling out. Not a fight, not even an argument, just a parting. For six years, we continued on with our lives, in the one horse town of Adelaide, our paths crossing on only two reported occasions.

The first, I remember very clearly. I was on my own in Regent arcade, I spotted my friend, or former friend…and I did what everyone would have. I ran into a wig shop and hid. Brave I know, but at the time that was the best action to take. The ‘incident’ had happened only months before.

The second I think I remember but I can’t be certain. The human brain is an amazing thing. I had finished work; I was with a friend walking down Rundle Mall. I was sighted outside a major supermarket I won’t endorse, and I looked directly into my friend’s eye. Then continued my conversation and kept walking.

Was this the universe trying to throw us at each other? I think so. How many times did we cross paths with out realising? Probably thousands.

On the thirtieth of June last year, I was at a farewell bash, my bar was being closed, services were being removed and a lot of people were losing their jobs. Thanks Johnny.

I was in a bookstore. I was browsing bookmarks. I am told as I walked in to the store, my friend was walking out. She went and worked up some courage and approached me. I was shocked, didn’t recognise her, was in a state of disbelief. Then I was happy.

Only two weeks before I had told a friend I wanted to contact her and thought maybe I could write her a letter. We had coffee and chatted as though we had never been apart. It has been that way ever since.

It is because of this friend that I signed up for a MySpace account. Through MySpace I have been reunited with many a friend I thought were long lost, one in particular who I know will be a friend for life.

The point is this is a chain of events. A chain I could trace back further and link to more people and events. That is how fate works, how life works.

You may not believe this. You may believe it and call it something different. It really doesn’t matter. I have seen fate in action. It isn’t a perfect world. If something is meant to be it will be, eventually. I don’t think you can stop the Universal Forces that Be. Why try? Do you also try and stop Gravity?

Peace, Love and Destiny