Journals

Are we ruled by fate or free will?

As much as I would like to think that we posses free will, my experiences have shown me that we are ruled by factors outside our control, be it fate, karma, or what not.  From the moment of the birth, we are thrown into our respective situations about which we have no will of influencing.  When one baby is born "with a silver spoon in his mouth" to some multibillionaire while another is born to excruciating poverty or congenital defects, it seems almost ridiculous to suggest that we are in control of our destiny.

This does not mean, however, that since we are fated, we can do whatever we like, since technically, it would not affect us.  If anything, I think it is all the more reason to try to make the best of our lives.  That is, because we are not in control of our lives and we have no way of knowing what will happen to us in life.  As they say, "times are a-fleeting" and whatever time we have, we must make the best use of it.  Carpe Diem!

"So far as we are human, what we do must be either evil or good; so far as we do evil or good, we are human; and it is better, in a paradoxical way, to do evil than to do nothing; at least we exist."
T. S. Eliot

I do not agree with this statement.  Of course, whether an evil action is better or worse than inaction depends on the degree of evil.  For example, though Jean Valjean's act of stealing bread is technically evil, but it is better than letting his family starve though his inaction.  But can we really say it was better that Hitler did what he did instead of doing nothing? 

I am tempted to think that whether an evil action is better than inaction depends greatly on whether the said evil action infringes on the lives of others.