Serious Business

Patterns. Paths. Fate.

Most people in life tend to follow particular trends and patterns, and with good purpose and reason. Patterns and visible paths are comfortable. You see what is laid out in front of you, and you grow into the path and patterns to whatever outcome they lead you to.

But this also leads to stagnation. Predictability eventually traps the mind into a series of memory re-runs, where every day bleeds into the next, with little realization of what is occurring. By the time rational thought allows for a complex review of the patterns that were followed, it is too late to change things.

This leads to the concept of fate. The last couple of weeks, I have questioned my own beliefs when it comes to fate and destiny. Part of me thinks that fate is no different than the patterns and paths leisurely laid out in front of you. Predictable, safe, and plain. It is like playing Monopoly with a two-year old, where you always win. Yes, you will always win, but the joy you feel will not last forever. Eventually, the two-year old will kick your ass, or steal from the bank, and things will end on a sour note.

I am now starting to think that fate itself is complex. Fate is something tangible, where the decisions you make impact your fate. But fate is not a solid, unbreakable rock. The choices you make chip away, and change the stone. The stone is not perfect, either. The changes you make, and the consequences of actions you have no control over leave the rock chipped, and imperfect. Somehow, at the end, after everything you have done, after all that has occurred, the carving is what is left: your life.

It is the realization that life is not perfect. Life will lead you where it wants to go, and the choices you make only change the direction of your fate. The sculpture is never planned beforehand. This is the beauty of fate and life in general. The stone of fate will carve itself out with your help, and the imperfections will be a symbol for the complexity of existence.

Fate is what we make of it, and fate will form around the choices we make. Sometimes, we must ignore traditional patterns, and accept life on its own terms: a complex, evolving sculpture that is created as we live life.