The intrinsic search for identity has often characterized every living soul's life. The desire to find a purpose and energy, the promising joy that comes with living a fulfilled life, regardless of the many explanations, is simply thrilling. We have traversed many milestones, with the chase ending on deathbeds with the earnest search for where we belong. Vanity of vanities, and yes, today we have all the reasons to be alive, and tomorrow, we are grappling with pertinent questions of why our lives have taken such directions. Whether good or bad, it simply is natural to question. However, the sad truth is that you either believe in fatalism or existentialism.
Jean-Paul Sartre, the Philosopher, coined existentialism and later served the historical convenience of the day. A hype befalls any novel knowledge; so was the intellectual output of existentialists through the cultural movement that flourished in Europe in the 1940s and '50s with successful periodization in books and films. This historical allusion ought to ignite the flame of imagination in any sober go-getter that opportunities are earned and not given by some divined authorities that rule over us. Books and films are products of hard work and perfection, enormously revealing success in one's social psychology, philosophy of mind, moral philosophy, cultural theory, and psychotherapy. As a dualist, you won't question the independence of the substances that define your existence in the first place-mind and body.
Simply put, you control your fate through the 'short' choices you make daily. Dread, boredom, alienation, the absurd, freedom, commitment, nothingness, and so forth are thus prefigured products of our human decisions. Such an assumed singularity of existence notably conflicts between the fanatics of ethics and faith. With such nihilistic ideas, the only way to counter nothingness, as portrayed by this philosophy, is by embracing existence. Those who front it believe they have the freedom to rise beyond the condition of humanity by exercising their independence and choices. It becomes more of a style than a set of beliefs, and as they say, we are only not free to be accessible as a people.
Contrary to the existentialists are the fatalists. Fatalism dictates that everything that happens has been decreed to proceed. Essentially, the philosophy reduces us to nothing but the belief that resigning ourselves indifferently to the course of events is the right thing to do. In this case, our free will as human beings is incompatible with the existence of the omniscient God who powers our destiny. This way, fatalism positively impacts us by causing us to accept events beyond our control; in that way, our views align with reality. The philosophy contributes positively to mental health; just as Christians put it, everything happens for a reason. However, this philosophy leads to resignation and despair as people feel there is no point in trying to change anything because that will not make any difference.
Regarding this, the philosophy tends to produce individuals who, for example, are careless on the roads, hopeless patients like in the case of cancer, and people who are stuck in their current conditions without any prospects of improvement. Although we are all under the autonomous authority of God, we have a delegated duty of choosing to create meaning, for the Bible says, "Go ye forth and produce." You cannot be productive by making the wrong choices. As an upcoming scientist, I know many events beyond scientific explanation. Events like natural catastrophes have since immemorial been seen as an act of God beyond human manipulation. It is catastrophic, though, for the leaders who believe in destiny because they turn out to be very authoritative, as shown by Napoleon Bonaparte.
These fatal-based ideas can manifest at all levels of life. Hard fatalism could be problematic since we have no control over what occurs to us. Soft fatalism, on the other hand, connotes that we have some control over our destiny even though there are still some events that are predetermined. To sum it up, these are simply beliefs, and whoever believes in them can always change their thoughts if they want to.
- Ouma John