The eye of the storm

The last few days have been spent in a bit of an emotional blur … Let’s face it by nature I tend to default into an overly “analytical” state of mind. More often than not, I succeed in making sense but when it comes to my feelings, I stumble upon a place where abstract thought seems to be filtered out.

Which led me to wonder: What happens when existentialism meets determinism?

In Greek tragedy, the hero’s fate is foretold and at times known to him/her. The story sees this hero(ine) run from Fate only to follow his/her hubris and come crashing into it at full speed. Life is not without a sense of irony.

Can the opposite also hold true? The more you want something the more you can push it away. Or perhaps the more you want something the more you fear it won’t come to be, thus if you push it away you can “justify” not getting it. So what is it? Are we first caught in a predetermined game of fate or are we, first and foremost, the existence we project?

Technically speaking, all of the above are possibilities. Indeed determinism is only a possibility (one you choose to accept); existentialism tends to lead the way to a few more options… the only absolute truth is that there is no absolute truth!

It is the irony in life (again) that makes it so those around you see your path more clearly than you can? How can you find clarity when you ignore it is lacking? Neither Oedipus nor Cassandra fared too well. The former was too blind to see and make sense of what the soothsayer told him. As for Cassandra, she was “condemned” to see the path but not able to have any effect on it. Granted maybe being a woman in those days didn’t help her out much…

Regardless it is fair to ask whether theirs were deliberate decisions not to see or act or accidental occurrences forced by circumstance?

But why all this rambling?

Sometimes I feel prisoner of Reason (or is it reasoned arguments?). But were I to accept this, I’d be accepting a Fate. Instead, I am choosing to find my clarity in the eye of the storm, where reason and instinct meet temperance and clarity naturally ensues.

We are the sum of our actions, actions that barely precede our decisions. We are therefore the decisions we project unto the world… There is no Fate!