Destiny? Or predestiny?

Some days take a little wriggling into to fit comfortably, like a beanbag. You start off planning to do one thing, get diverted, and then before you know it you're on a plane for Bermuda with only a sack of potatoes in the hold and the address for a man called Jericho. Well, that is quite an excessive wriggle but it does demonstrate the power of destiny. Or is that predestiny?

Destiny and predestiny are quite different things. They both concern their ultimate fate, but if James Kirk is to believed in the novel 'Best Destiny' then the second is unavoidable but the first... That you make for yourself. The notion of a destiny is an ancient one, perhaps more ancient than any of us can know. If there is a giant predestiny guiding the universe then it's as old as time and unavoidably linked to divine agencies of myriad varieties.

It seems that over the ages the distinction between destiny and predestiny has become almost vanishingly small. If it weren't for the aforementioned Star Trek novel I would never even have questioned it, but it does make sense that they would have different meanings. So, do we have destinies or predestinies? Is all set out in some cosmic order somewhere or can the course of future history be changed if we work for it?

Perhaps both can be true. If you're unaware of destiny, then surely there is some chain of events that will happen irrespective of all the chaotic distractions and interferences of life? No, it doesn't make sense as all it would take would be for one person to take a hand and pioneer his own path and then chaos would take over with the side effects of that one aware person's actions. Either it's all predestined or it's chaos. The major problem with predestiny from a human perspective is that firstly it removes all personal agency and responsibility, and secondly that in the absence of time travel it is utterly true. We do all have predestined paths that we will tread over time from birth to death and whatever may have been before and may be after. At least now our predestinies aren't governed by fickle gods and goddesses playing games atop high mountains, even though said pantheons would have eased the boredom a little.

The more humanly acceptable (for our sanity at least) option is destiny, that concept that we can make a difference and that our futures aren't all laid out in advance. We can make a difference, if we care to, if we have the awareness to make the change. Everyone in the world could set their cap for higher hills if they had but the ability to step aside and assess what they've done in the past, what they're doing now, and set their sails for different actions in the future. It's not impossible but it is hard, for we're all trained to accept what we know rather than what can be.

Nonsense? Maybe. However, when given the choice between destiny and predestiny I would take the latter every time. Because that's the one we make for ourselves.

O.


PS 'Best Destiny' is actually a very fine Star Trek novel. It has flashes of fire. Check out Diane Carey's other masterwork 'Final Frontier' while you're at it. I personally like 'Dreadnought!' and 'Battlestations!' even more but I've been proven to be very strange.
PPS Booga booga booga.