Free Will or Destiny

Free Will or Destiny

I believe that you can have free will and a destiny. What I mean is, just because you have free will does not mean that you cannot have a destiny. Or, just because you have a destiny, or fate, does not mean you don’t have free will.

Destiny
1. Something that is to happen or has happened to a particular person or thing; lot or fortune.
2. The predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistible, course of events.

dictionary.reference.com/browse/destiny

Free Will
1. free and independent choice; voluntary decision:
You took on the responsibility of your own free will.
2. Philosophy. The doctrine that the conduct of human beings expresses personal choice and is not simply determined by physical or divine forces.

dictionary.reference.com/browse/free+will

There are a couple of things we need to agree on before we can seriously look into this topic. First off, does anyone know any prophets, soothsayers, prognosticators, oracles or anyone with the proven ability to accurately predict the future? If so, that is freaking AWESOME…. Please put me in contact with them as soon as humanly possible. I have so many questions that my curiosity goes on about all the time.

Second, is that time as we experience it is linier. Meaning, what has happened is the past and now only exists in memory, art, books and the internet; what exist right now is time as we know it; and what is going to exist, but doesn’t yet is the future. Note, I wrote “time as we”, meaning you and me. Not gods, time travelers, multi-time-dimensional people…. whatever those might be.

Most of us agree that we all have free will. Even throughout history man is spoken of as having free will. And man was said to have a destiny. These things have been fought over, argued over and debated for a long time. I have no desire to try and reference an exact date, but it has been a long time.

Let’s start with an example of how free will and destiny work together. Or at least aren’t contrary to the other.

Let us say that a prophet came up to you one day and said how there was going to be a terrible man that would do terrible things. And that it was the destiny of an individual who had (insert parts of your past here) to destroy him before he was able to put his evil deeds to seed. He goes on to tell you how much better the world will be without Mr. X in it and how you will be the savior of millions. Does that mean that now you are only able to do this one thing? What about your free will?

I will tell you now that you still have your free will, and that the prophet was telling you the truth, hypothetically. Reason being is that we are corporeal beings that experience time in a linier fashion. The future does not exist yet. We could decide to jump in a pool… the prophet never said anything about that. But going along, ten years later, you are out with friends at a party. You are a responsible person and the designated driver for everyone that wants to have a few drinks. The party winds down and you are taking everyone home. After dropping off the last person you are a bit tired and drifting off a little. Not bad, just enough to where you had to shake yourself and make sure you’re paying attention to the road. While approaching a green light you start to drift off one more time and right at the last second you become aware, notice the light turning red and slam on the breaks just letting the front end of your car barely enter the intersection. You here the squeal of tires lock up and the next thing you know you are waking up in a hospital being asked question by people in uniform that you don’t know.

They ask if you’re okay and if you know what happened. Then proceed to tell you how a guy named Mr. X was drunk and speeding and slammed into the side of your car causing his to careen across the intersection, slam into a telephone pole and die instantly.

For years you have exercised your free will; made choices that would keep you from killing anyone. Been the good guy and done the right thing. And in the end, it happened anyways. How can this be if you have free will?

Let’s pretend that TV isn’t scripted, for the sake of making an example. You watch the TV show all the way to the end. You know what will happen to each character on the TV show; but you were distracted and not able to pay attention to every little detail but you remember the gist of it all. And now you can rewind back to the beginning and tell the main character that he will get caught cheating on his taxes. Of course the TV character isn’t going to believe you. They will tell you how they have free will and make their own destiny. And you say, “yes, and because of the choices you make exercising your free will this is the destiny set before you.” You did not decide what he was going to do. All you did was told him what you knew. You just became an oracle.

Think about it.

Of course, knowing your destiny does not mean you ‘have’ to do it. Even by definition your destiny is, predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistible. Usually is a pretty strong qualifier people tend to overlook. So, by knowing what you destiny/fate is, does this mean you can change it? That becomes a bit tricky to prove one way or the other. If one argues that because they knew the outcome they could change it. One could argue that they knew the outcome but not the circumstances that led to it so they couldn’t change it. One could argue that because they knew the outcome, then they must have been armed with that knowledge when the destiny was revealed therefore setting it in stone that whatever choice they would make was the one seen by the prophet. And, if you don’t know your destiny/fate, how can you tell if you are moving in accordance with it or against it? To me, this is an argument that cannot be proven one way or the other till we invent time travel.

So... back to free will and destiny. As far as I can tell there has been no reason why the two can’t coincide with each other. And a lot of people for a long time have been arguing... uh... because they like arguing? LOL

Our platform design seems to agree with you. Subconscious processing affords a measure of destiny to the extent of free will we will have, in a similar way as our causal footprint defines where we're at as a limitation as to what we can do. Then on top of that there is the social dimension which is a blend of them both.

We 'feel' things often because of things we've decided previously (most usually indirectly and not obviously connected)... tending to be fated to the repeating of mistaken associations and subsequent experience of 'wrong' - because of that void between cause and effect by virtue of the different natures of its progression.

Does a snake know which way its body is going by the way its parts are facing.... I mean, half of its body is pointing off to the left, and the other off to the right and the whole thing goes forward somewhere in between those aspects. It's too easy to define ourselves by a set of self, when a whole body approach might be more representative of ones actual movement.

Great quote, thanks for the share! I've always looked at this from a not mutually exclusive view as well. Outside circumstances when working in unity with our choices determine the results. In an analogous example, it is akin to the way quantum physics works with classical physics to give rise to the universe. Things in the universe exist in a wave-particle duality, were observations collapse the wave function into something definite and deterministic. Making choices has a similar effect and like the physics example, there is a composite effect based on the summation of choices and the outside influences already in place. How we make the choice also influences the outcome.


We look at all the potential outcomes that could be available based on one's circumstances and make choices based on those circumstances. They all work together in an undetermined superimposed state. Choice becomes the mitigating factor, but not choice alone. It is choice based on the circumstances that are already present when the choice is made.


Some have a firm sense of destiny and make choices that lead them in that direction. I think most of us are unaware of it though and follow the path life lays out for us. However it is looked at, they both seem to work together one influencing the other, existing in a dualistic/ unified relationship. Another way to look at it would be choice representing dualism and destiny representing unity or the summation of all our choices. Just my thoughts

During conversations about destiny and free will, I often return to my favorite quote from Forrest Gump.



This character sums up my feelings about destiny and free will very well. It seems he is destined to be in places and times of historical significance, and his actions sometimes actually help to determine the outcome of those events, but all the while Forrest is making choices without any real understanding of that destiny. In his innocence and naivety, he does not understand the significance of the events occurring around him, so he is able to make choices that others would not likely make. This both shapes and contributes to his destiny, but also gives him a particularly unique form of free will. He does not act out of a sense of duty or social pressure, but from the heart. His free will springs from a truly free spirit unencumbered by bias and social norms. To me, this is free will in its purist form and allows one to fulfill their destiny without feeling like events are predetermined.