Fate
Accepting one’s fate may be very beautiful if it comes from deep inside. Any other kind is worth little.
An animal runs away from a predator.
The predator grabs it. The animal struggles and dies. It all happens in a short time. Until the last moment, there is little question of fate as far as the dying animal is concerned.
Humans die much longer. They also yearn and suffer much longer. They know fate, which they may accept or not.
Thinking about fate comes with thinking consciously.
In all this, the only Compassionate stance feels to me the following:
Fate must be free.
This is, nobody should coerce anyone else to ‘accept his fate.’
For instance, during a pandemic, the choice may be between either the protection of old people or the freedom of younger people to socialize. Here, the argument ‘accept your fate’ is no good argument, as it never is.
Yet, the choice needs to be made ― here as in many other occasions in which people live together in a society.
Thus, tragedy exists.
This doesn’t lie in the coercion to accept one’s fate but in accepting that fate exists. It is part of the deal, part of the gift of consciousness that we received from nature.
It throws one out of a garden, but only as an illusion.
In reality, fate may be the most Compassionate issue,
but only in freedom. In coercion, there is no fate, but only coercion ― as in “You must accept your fate.” You see, what’s the difference with “You must accept my coercion”?
In free fate, there is the free choice to accept one’s fate, as there is also the free choice to keep hoping, or Hoping. [see: “About Hope”]
Both may be immensely beautiful.
Accepting fate
This is what makes it beautiful to me. Then again, ‘acceptance’ in this is crucially challenging. [see: “The Tough Concept of ‘Acceptance’”]
For one thing, it is incompatible with ‘making one accept something.’
It all hangs quite together, doesn’t it?
Meanwhile, decisions need to be taken; policies need to be made.
Making them with Compassion makes a difference for everyone.
Is it possible to die with a smile?
Is it possible to postpone living with a smile?
Absolutely, and more: both are worth living and dying for.
Related Posts
About ‘Subconceptual’ (From My PhD Thesis)
The brain is continuously undergoing plastic remodeling through dynamically changing neural networks. This is about processing at the subconceptual level. [Please read first: ‘About Concepts’] Subconceptual processing (SP) deals with the way that we perform any mental action as seen in fine detail. Small elements (neurons, dendrites, synapses…) in our brain act together to form Read the full article…
Moral Injury
Moral injury overlaps pretty much with PTSD. The difference lies mainly in ‘moral.’ The injury sprouts from an existential loss of ethical trust. Can people (in general or any individual) still be seen as ‘good?’ Moral injury comes with moral sensitivity. This comes with cognitive and emotional complexity, making human beings more prone to moral Read the full article…
You Are an Organism, Not a Mechanism.
The difference is relevant to every aspect of life. You are an organism, not a mechanism. Though this seems the most obvious insight, still we mostly act as if the reverse is true. Even the working of the brain used to be understood as some kind of hydraulic system with pressure valves and the like, Read the full article…