Do You Believe in Fate or Free Will?
By Marcy Kennedy (@MarcyKennedy)
I have a Bachelor’s degree in Social Psychology and a Master’s degree in Theological Studies. During the years I was in school, I listened to and participated in debates on wide-ranging hot-button topics like nature vs. nurture, the definition of deviance, and the ethical lines behind human experimentation.
But no topic created more heated reactions from everyone involved than the question of fate vs. free will.
Do we have a destiny? Or is our future undetermined until we act, bringing it into reality?
Based solely on how often this theme arises in fantasy and science fiction, I think a lot of people struggle with this question. I ran into it again when my husband and I went to watch X-Men: Days of Future Past.
X-Men: Days of Future Past takes us into a future where mutants (and anyone sympathetic to them) are on the verge of extinction thanks to an invention known as the Sentinels. The Sentinels have the ability to adapt to any mutant power (mimicking it) because they were designed using Mystique’s DNA. (In case you’re not an X-Man fan, Mystique can shape-shift, changing her appearance to match anyone.)
The chain of events leading to this future started in 1973 when Mystique assassinated the Sentinels’ inventor. His company captured her and used her to develop the ultimate weapon to target and destroy mutants.
In the present day, Professor X, Magneto, Wolverine, and a group of other mutants figure out a way to send Wolverine back into the past to stop Mystique from killing the Sentinels’ inventor and getting herself captured.
The problem is that even though Wolverine succeeds in stopping the assassination, the future doesn’t change. They get Mystique’s blood anyway. The X-Men have to try to find another way to stop the creation and use of the Sentinels.
And Professor X begins to wonder if the future is set and there’s nothing they can do to change it.
I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it, but at the end of the movie, Professor X leaves us with the opposite message—that the future is never really set.
I understand the pro and con arguments on both sides.
Believers in free will say that if our destiny is determined, we’re nothing more than puppets. Believers in destiny talk about lives serving a greater purpose and take comfort that whatever happens takes place for a reason.
When I was younger, I couldn’t stand the thought that my life might be on a path I couldn’t change, but the more I studied and thought and prayed, the more I came to believe that the future is pre-determined (though I also believe that doesn’t completely negate our free will either—it’s a delicate balance).
Where do you stand on the issue? What makes you believe in either complete free will, complete destiny, or a combination of the two?
If you like suspense, I hope you’ll take a look at my ebook Frozen, on sale over the summer for 99 cents. Twisted sleepwalking. A frozen goldfish in a plastic bag. And a woman afraid she’s losing her grip on reality.
I’d love to have you sign up to receive my posts by email. All you need to do is enter your email address below and hit the “Follow” botton.
Jul 15, 2014 @ 14:10:38
I don’t believe in destiny, though I do believe in a kind of sociological/psychological inertia. “Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.” If you expect a certain outcome, if those around you expect a certain outcome, if the occurrences (both planned and random) all fall into line for that outcome, the results may certainly feel like an unalterable fate. The options that contain the possibility of change may be so abhorrent as to feel like not being an option at all.
I do not find value in calling that level of inertia “destiny.” I would rather accept the consequences of my choices than believe myself trapped by some unknown fate. In the latter view I am a prisoner. In the former, I am always free.
Jul 16, 2014 @ 01:47:45
The idea of inertia is interesting in what it would suggest for the patterns people fall into in life. As a general rule, people don’t like to change and so it usually takes an external event to initiate change.
Jul 16, 2014 @ 14:00:22
Hah. Seriously. I teach adults. There was that study that showed people feared public speaking more than death. I say change comes in a close second.
Jul 15, 2014 @ 16:03:37
Hi Marcy. Thanks for another thought-provoking article. I’m a firm believer in Free Will, in that we have a choice to go through life acting in a way to enrich our lives, or act in a way that negatively impacts ourselves and those around us. That being said, I also believe that What-Goes-Around-Comes-Around. If we put only negative thoughts and action into our lives, that will be what we get out of it. While I don’t believe in a pre-determined path for each of us, I do believe that some things happen because they should happen. I think that may be a bit of Karma-ish thinking.
Thanks again!
Ava
Jul 16, 2014 @ 01:07:33
I’m glad you enjoyed the post! Even though I probably come down closer to the fate side than you do, I do agree that we choose our own daily behavior 🙂 Whether we choose to act with love and kindness or with hate and cruelty is something we’re responsible for. We can’t blame bad behavior on outside forces compelling us to act. And even as we go through horrible circumstances, we are still in control of our attitude during those circumstances. Like I said, tenuous balance 🙂
Jul 16, 2014 @ 00:33:00
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it’s on my list. 🙂
I fully believe in free will and fully believe that events have a purpose. So I guess I’d be one of those who believe there’s a balance. LOL!
This is one of the big themes of my urban fantasy series that’s in the works–the how that balance establishes itself and what it means to both sides. Thanks for a great post!
Jul 16, 2014 @ 00:59:49
I’ll be looking forward to reading that series in the future 🙂 I think it’s something most people have thoughts about at one point in their lives, and it fascinates me to see how writers (of both books and movies) choose to deal with the topic.
Jul 17, 2014 @ 02:24:33
Great post I loved it Marcy.
Complete Free will and Destiny to me are nearly one in the same. I pioneer myself in each thing that I endeavor, I never give up, and when things in life catch up with me and make me take a break from each endeavor, I never stop thinking about them. My free will to me is kinda my destiny, in the words of Dr. Emmett Brown, “If you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything.” To the Future. or in this case to the futures past.
Jul 17, 2014 @ 09:27:31
I have a masters in theology as well 🙂 I was fascinated by metaphysics. And I loved the X-Men movie…. I have to think I’m free, that I’m wholly responsible, accountable for my actions.. I guess it means to me that my choices have meaning…
Happy Anniversary, Right Ink On The Wall – How To Party With Very Inspiring Bloggers | Sara Litchfield
Jul 17, 2014 @ 09:56:12
[…] the way she posed a recent question on her blog by tying it in with the latest X-Men movie – Do You Believe In Fate or Free Will? The suspense eBook mentioned at the end, Frozen, knocked my socks off, and not in a Disney […]
Jul 24, 2014 @ 11:20:08
I haven’t seen this movie yet, but I have seen the other X-Men so I will add it to my list. I believe very strongly in what I might call a balance of the two. I definitely believe that the choices we make today determine our future. But I also believe things happen for a reason, which is not the same as fate. I believe that things do happen for our higher good, even if we can’t see it at the time. Sometimes we do need a nudge to move in the right direction. But that doesn’t mean that some specific path is set out for us. That changes with each decision we make and each step we take forward. I guess I believe that we are all “fated” to live our best lives possible, as long as we believe that as well and make choices that move us forward. There is no one set fate, but many options that can all lead to good. 🙂
Sep 01, 2014 @ 19:58:14
Marcy, I found my way here after reading (half way through) your book on dialogue. Very worthwhile. Thank you.
A Master’s degree in Theological Studies? Perhaps that’s why you write science fiction and fantasy? (If I used emoticons, I’d use one of those smiley winkey ones.)
Puppets we are not, for that implies a puppeteer. In the end, Biology is a branch of Chemistry. At a molecular level, life is nothing more than a bunch of complex chemical reactions. We are amazing chemical reactions that have a feedback loop that allows us in a limited way to manipulate the chemical reactions that we call self and, thereby, in a limited way, manipulate our environment.
Some single-cell organisms are able to sense light and then either seek it out or retreat from it. If you call that free will, then, yes, perhaps there is such a thing. But even if free will is not an illusion, that doesn’t change the fact that chemical reactions, no matter how complex, have no higher purpose. They are not intrinsically either good or bad. They do the only thing they can; they react.
Even if I had free will, I would still not be able to act responsibly. There is no way I can know that the cute little baby I save from drowning will not grow up to be a genocidal woman who wipes out an entire race.