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Last updated: Jan, 2023
Psychologist and author of Time's Paradigm, Alan R Graham, expands on the meaning of destiny and asks if we really can prepare for our future, in this powerful debate over fate vs. free will.
Definition: a predetermined and unalterable outcome.
Meaning: a force that presides over the conclusion of a time frame.
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Time's Paradigm: PART ONE – Destiny "Yes, Destiny exists. No living organism has such power in the execution of Free Will that they may actually alter the course of this universe. Everything is connected from the past to the future as if a string of pearls. But before we close the subject of destiny and move on, how did we come to this monumental conclusion? For some, the debate is far from over..." Choices in life suggest that destiny does not exist, that we have absolute free will to determine our own outcomes. Whatever we choose to do now can dictate what will happen to us in the future, because otherwise life would be pointless. We simply exist in the present moment, the past and the future flirt only with our imagination. Our Fate: we make it up as we go along. The past may have been an influential factor in our present decision to, say, go put on the kettle. However, it is merely our memory that is keeping the past alive. It exists because it is now unalterable fact, but it has materially gone, and we are left dangling in the present, ready to manipulate our future. On the other side of this debate are those who consider that destiny does exist. In this scenario, future events are all predetermined and nothing we choose to do actually makes any difference to our outcome. Choices are simply conditioned reflexes that feel like free will. Our Destiny: it's already out there. What's the difference between fate and destiny? If the future exists, goes the thinking, then the present is merely the future's past, meaning the past must also exist and all, then, at the same time. This implies that the Universe is one vast, existential block, a solid tenseless state, and that time is simply our naive attempt at interpreting a progression that does not actually occur. It might seem odd to some that we would have developed the need to make choices in a world where destiny exists and everything is already laid out like a carpet before us. However, others will argue (Stephen Hawking among them, RIP) that this proposal simply highlights human arrogance in assuming we tiny organisms are important in this universe and can actually make a difference. Having choices does not guarantee control of our lives, indeed, in many ways choices are false hopes that rarely bear fruit. So what's all the fuss about? We assume one thing leads to another - causality or time's arrow - because we are hunter-gatherers wired to analyse progression and have a desire for fulfillment. We gleefully add coincidences to the plot line, when realistically they just prove that everything is connected and we have no say in how our destiny unravels. Time (eternity) is a great big painting whose colours merge, whose form and perspective subtly flow across the canvass, leading us to believe there is progress from our subjective view point - the present.
From a psychologist's point of view, it is clear that the majority of us are happy in the knowledge that we have Free Will to make decisions and plans and choose how our future might evolve from day to day. But aren't we just kidding ourselves? Naturally, we assume we are making our fate up as we go along, steadfast in the belief that destiny does not exist. Free will gives us a feeling of control, there is a satisfaction in knowing we might be achieving something useful, triggered by the reward centres in our brain. And not just selfish acts, decisions we make can also resonate within our community, making others happy, too. Causality, an indisputable cornerstone of our understanding of life, is it not? We must believe in free will, the alternative is chaos. But is it..? A controlled environment, where destiny exists and we are not at the helm, is perhaps even more comforting than a world run by a bunch of lunatics such as us, sporting human frailties like, vanity, greed and lust. So who might be in control of our destiny, if not us? An omnipotent being; a grand unified theory; an as yet unknown supernatural force? Or perhaps it's someone closer to home...
Obviously, we can't all be in control at the same time, or we'd create all sorts of terrible conflicts... right? Hence the need over the eons for a charismatic assortment of empires, autocrats, cults, corporations and kings to take up the challenge of steering our course. Hmm! As is the tradition, they will offer us a glorious destiny so long as we do their bidding and abide by their rules. (NB: This formula is commonly applied in human society). 
Destiny must further preside over inanimate objects, like rocks and sand dunes and slime, because they have no free will. Although, one thing is for sure: they move about and have a future. So does this prove destiny's point? We can't have half the universe being governed by destiny and the other half governed by free will. It's either one or the other. Neither can we have sometimes one and sometimes the other... or a little bit of one when we feel like it. How much is a little bit of free will, anyway? Be advised: Two great powers cannot live side by side, one will inevitably annihilate the other. Unfortunately, intelligent life forms hailing the virtues of free will are so very insignificant in this mighty cosmos that, as the debate stands, the odds are very much in favour of destiny's existence at this moment.
The Meaning of DestinyAnd our perceived desire for there to be something other than pure chaos. The need for a predetermined future harks back millennia, worming its way through the popular mythology of many ancient civilizations. It was with them that the meaning of destiny first took shape. Things that frighten us or that we don't understand usually get preferential treatment, and so it was that many horrors – destiny included – were given god-like status. Imagine how our prehistoric ancestors must have tried to reconcile with the pain of loss and subsequent fear of the unknown. With no science to fall back on, they would have suffered terribly on being confronted with the still body of their child whose living entity had somehow been sucked from it. "It's nothing but a rag-doll," the mother cries in despair, cradling her little one. "Where is the voice that speaks to me from within, my little boy behind these eyes?" It is not hard to see why gods were created and destinies mustered to sooth our broken hearts. Nor is it hard to see why some might have exploited such weaknesses. So developed the concept of destiny and its meaning. From the mystic "Lakota" of America and their 'happy hunting ground', to Egypt's grim reaper, "Shai", or the "Orisha" spirits of West Africa, we see most deities of destiny assuming the powers of life and death. In a manner of speaking, validating our concerns about what happens when we die – our fate. WHAT IS TIME? On the whole, these gods had bad tempers and scared the life out of those who disobeyed them. They were boogeymen who could grant passage to an afterlife just as easily as damn you to the walking dead. 
But the further east we go, the clearer it becomes that life and death are an ensemble, where harmonious connections between all things creates a natural balance, as celebrated by the Hindu faiths. The meaning of destiny is given a makeover. By the time we get to China and "Taoism", our gloomy anxieties have been largely swept aside. For example: Tao describes the fabric of the universe and cautions that, should we interfere in its weaving progress we must do so with care or beware of unpleasant consequences; only small changes are prescribed. Tao teaches self awareness to the extent that by inward reflection we may find our destiny.
So strong has been the influence of such philosophies across the globe that many fervently believe in destiny as the reason for our fortune and fate. The question, "Does destiny exist in love?" is a powerful exhibit of our tendency to elevate mysterious outcomes to the realm of prophetic – and is joyfully discussed in more detail below: Destiny is for Romantics. For the majority of us in the west today, destiny means a place up ahead called paradise where we can achieve life after death; the empathetic point here being, to focus not on the fateful event itself but the afterlife which follows. Paradise – or whatever you choose to call it – is the ultimate destiny. However, some have gone a step further, wishing to believe there are many possible intermediary destinies before reaching that point. Destiny is a many-headed beast to be reckoned with. If you hadn't already guessed, any effort to change the course of our future will be met with considerable competition because there are simply billions of other things going on around us that are also influencing the same moment in time. CONSCIOUSNESS CREATES TIME! The meaning of destiny can be expressed as: A force that presides over the conclusion of a transition in time. (Not necessarily the end of a life but anywhere along its length). Destiny is an overriding trend that leads to only one outcome regardless of efforts to alter course. Coincidences and chance are fundamental to destiny's magnetic persuasion, the culmination of an infinite number of seemingly inconsequential events leading somehow to a memorable moment... And there in lies the crux, for it is what we believe that makes the meaning of destiny what it is. "It's a sham!" I hear the crowd yell. Every moment in life is memorable, every second passing has been etched by fate – all of it. What we must mean when we say destiny, is that relentless, driving phenomenon known as The Passage of Time. Destiny is not really a thing by itself at all. When it comes to the meaning, destiny exists mainly because we want it to: As an excuse, if we mess up; as a salute, if we succeed; or as a blessing, if we die. Going some way to affirming this view is the immortal refrain, "O hear me then, injurious shifting Time, be guilty of my death, since of my crime," in which Shakespeare's Lucrece defends herself against adultery, making mention of Opportunity as the accomplice in place of Destiny.
Are Fate And Destiny The Same? Destiny, and its ugly-sister, Fate, are words frequently used to express our future fortunes. They are romanticized terms, often incorrectly applied for effect. We hear people speak of changing our destinies or that "fate was averted", neither of which are really acceptable. Widely defined as: a predetermined and unalterable outcome, destiny refutes any notion that we have the possibility to affect or change it – that would be an oxymoron. Fate, on the other hand, is a more flexible character whose definition has been somewhat blurred by its association with Death and, as some have expressed in literary history, such as Shelley: while we must all die, the exact date and time are not necessarily a future event cast in stone. These days, the two are, however, accepted as having interchangeable meanings, which is unfortunate because that voids fate from being the word used to describe a future that has been manipulated. A Perfect example: "There is no fate but what we make." (1984 - Terminator, the film). Clearly, fate and destiny are not the same animal. While both depict an ending, they are almost opposing in principle, fate personifying doom, and destiny, achievement. "It is my fate to die, though not my destiny..." goes the saying. HERE ON THIS PAGE: Destiny is for Romantics "I was born to love him." Or, "she was destined to be a rock star." Yes, destiny rings of success, notoriety and happiness. But, for the rest of us, as we plod along from day to day – trying to get a job, choosing which aisle to push the cart down, what bus to take – sadly, no such fantasy awaits. 
It seems, we 'mere mortals' have to make decisions. Whereas, the odd boy down the street gets picked up by a touring scout one day and suddenly becomes a soccer phenomenon. His family are abrupt converts, devotees of the "I told you so!" Cassandra Complex. They now believe the meaning of destiny is sacrosanct, that we are all destined for some purpose; we don't know what it is and we can't change it so we should just let it happen. But there is another set of family members who would adamantly disagree: Those parents who coached their children from a very young age to become sport or artistic prodigies. They will argue – once their Tiger becomes a champ – that destiny can be arranged. While a Diva's success might be attributed to destiny, there are a million other hopefuls out there like her that are equally talented, that could have succeeded, but didn't. We have to argue that they were actually destined to fail. They tried just as hard, didn't they? They just didn't have that incredible voice the Diva was luckily born with that the judges went crazy over. Yes, in many instances, destiny favours those with rare traits. Being different is a gift and something to be proud of. Anything odd or out of the ordinary will act like a lightening rod, upsetting convention and steering progress down a new path. Imperfections are perfect, because the trite notion of perfection is merely a human judgement. PS: Dyslexia is an oddity; as are freckles; so too is being left-handed. Now, finding your gift may be just as difficult as promoting it, they don't always stand out. The more we experience of life the more likely we are to come across something unique about ourselves. Good luck.
Clearly, enormous effort will be required to reach the top echelons of any given career. It's no good having a trait unless you push it, and a strong will 'to go with' is paramount. Destiny expects the cooperation of a multitude of forces and the alignment of umpteen paths before the desired goal is reached. Case in point: One evening, barely into my twenties (there were no mobile phones back then), I ran out of gas on an inner-city freeway in Caracas heading for a nightclub. Sitting beside me in my Land Rover was a young South American actress who would later rise to international fame in Hollywood. Destiny was in the works, but to get there she would first have to handle the indignity that evening of sticking out a thumb into speeding traffic to hitch a ride, risking humiliating press coverage if identified. Instead of hiding in my vehicle and waiting for me to return with some gas, she was the one to stride off down the road, knowing that a young woman in distress would be more likely to get picked up. For her, problems were stepping-stones not obstacles. A headstrong starlet of impressive determination, her driving force was her career, which is probably why she was one of the few who succeed so spectacularly in the face of such odds.
Is being in the right place at the right time a factor in how destiny plays out, or is our future more to do with planning? It's worth noting: being in the right place and at the right time so you can get hit by a bus probably had nothing to do with planning, though it was your fate... So, yes! But remember, coincidences must all line up perfectly – banana skins deployed, Johnny Cash opening car door, it's pouring with rain, etc, etc – before you can rise to fame and claim your destiny. At this point, it will surely become apparent to most that trying to align with our destiny this way is nothing but a false hope. If we must apply self-determined work in order to attain a destined goal then it follows that destiny is not predetermined. Such efforts fall nicely within the parameters of Free Will where the future evolves by virtue of our machinations. However, in this scenario there is no such thing as destiny. Efforts required by destiny cannot be gleaned from the pages of this book, nor any other manuscript, for that matter. They are pre-programmed... Think ants. Yup..! Back to the beginning for a recap: Free Will is the concept where Destiny does not exist; the past has gone and the future is yet to be. Sorry, destiny cannot be arranged. But it can be foreseen. Driven by character.
So love..? Is love destined to be? There has to be some truth to this assertion, as future sections will confirm. Our personalities attract certain types of people. In that sense, we are already fulfilling part of destiny's plan. Our quest for stability rather than intrigue might have us fall in love with the dependable guy next door. On the other hand, a woman who travels half way around the world can be an exciting prospect for someone fascinated by other cultures and the promise of adventure. To think that two people are thrust together by destiny as opposed to coincidence, requires that one believe all of time already exists. It is a delightfully fatalistic approach whereby one can do nothing about one's future. To raise the notion that this "angel" fell out of the sky and into your lap, is adorable and quite possibly true. But for that to be, destiny must exist right across the board.
Statistics show that few amorous relationships stand the test of time; perhaps yours is one of those that will. The majority of couples are not an idyllic match, which just goes to show: Destiny may not be all it's cracked up to be. 'Soul Mates' come and go just as frequently as one night stands. You would therefore be advised not to roll over and accept fate out of hand, but rather, evaluate what it is you require in a partner before going out on the dance floor. It all sounds terribly boring and predictable to prepare ahead, I know. However, in that way you will avoid future disappointment, and may just come away with the love of a life time... Destiny? Yes. Love is destined to be for those who give it a chance. True love is trusting in the future, submitting to your partner and believing in possibilities. It is a regression to childhood and utter surrender. If you fight it, you deny its existence.
Our future, it seems, is just as likely to be influenced by a deliberate act on our part, as it is by mere chance, luck or other people. So can it be said that we really make a difference by ourselves? Making the monumental decision to give up your job and move to Tibet, may seem like something you did all by yourself, but in reality the past was the influencing factor. Not just your past, everyone elses', too! It may just be, you were destined to make that decision. Both Albert Einstein and his contemporary the renown psychologist, Carl Jung, battled with this concept over many years. It was their understanding that our awareness of time was a fallacy and that events might be, by and large, acausal, prompting Jung to develop his now famous theory of Synchronicity. In brief, he wished to describe the procession of time as not necessarily adhering to cause and effect. Coincidences and chance, he believed, were just too obviously a factor in setting up future events, there were meaningful parallels, as if destiny actually did exist. Some remarkable coincidences occur in daily life. How often do you interrupt a conversation with, "Funny, I was just thinking that", or "Fancy meeting you here"? These chance episodes appear to be all subconsciously driven; we were supposed to "be there" or "think that". And yet, often, surprising coincidences can later be proved to have been by design – created by something you were unaware of – like, for example when a third person inadvertently admits to their involvement or an ad' pops up on your phone. This indicates that there are likely many, many influencing factors at work in the universe for every single event that takes place. Welcome to Chaos Theory.
Science has long established that acceptance of any theory can only be achieved by repeating the experiment; it is the bases of scientific evaluation. Unfortunately, circumstances in life do not occur in a controlled environment. Judgement on the theory of Free Will and choices making a difference to a future time line, therefore, can never be delivered. Nothing in time can ever be repeated, precisely. The myriad of necessary alignments around the World that make up a single decision can never happen again. Likewise, neither can the future be proved to already exist, in this manner – both will always remain disputable. There is no mathematical iteration nor scientific evidence at present to determine the existence or otherwise of Destiny. Probability statistics put a damper on the likes of Jung and Synchronicity, as coincidences pop up often and are factored into formulas for forecasting occurrences, such as the weather and stock market trends. The only way of getting to grips with our future and how it unfolds is by reason, debate and logic – the rules upon which this chapter is based. Determination: Video games take advantage of our endless desire to reach destiny by assuring us we will, in the end – with a bit of practice – because the ending has already been written. It's a classic case of "the best of both worlds": Destiny with Free Will; an adept fantasy of life repeating itself with a chance to 'do over' again and again until you finally claim what was always rightfully yours. Except that, life doesn't actually work that way. We only get one stab at the pie, there aren't a zillion takes. Yes, there is the chance to practice in life but not on the same chunk of time. But sometimes life offers us a second chance – not often. And when it does, it kind of suggests that just maybe destiny does exist and so time must give us another go around because the future really is all set in stone. A friend of mine once 'came on to' a girl in a chip shop who was totally unimpressed. Later, he slipped on the wet pavement outside and broke his arm. In hospital that afternoon the nurse who came on shift was the same girl. They hit it off. Was it their destiny?
Code-breakers and magicians go by a set of rules, some are obvious – like frequency – others less so. A situation can be duplicated, the fundamentals are all there; that's what they rely on to decipher code. However, while the situation on any given day might be the same, the day is not. In the case of my friend, the situation was the same: two people thrown together; let's see what happens. But the wider world was not the same and can never be duplicated. Hence the different outcomes. It was only because he noticed her in line at the chip shop that an impression was made. Had he not been attracted to her he probably would not have noticed that the nurse had been standing beside him earlier in the day. She likewise. We pass hundreds of people a day in town, so perhaps we should make more note of those we see sitting beside us on the train or walking down the street. It's why a feather in the cap will get you noticed. They say, we are all just seven steps away from connection (on Facebook). But in world pandemonium where there is no algorithm trying to link us together, we can spend a lifetime on the bus and never meet a fraction of the people with whom we daily share it. Or is there? The Meaning of Time is covered in the next chapter. It states that our existence is defined by change, so if the past and future are identical, nothing can be. 
Does Destiny Exist? Mistakes are just as likely to lead to success as accuracy, proving by probability that destiny exists. What really matters is effort. It is true that, NOT trying to achieve something means it will probably not happen. However, this may be your destined path. You are obliged to try and survive – just as a squirrel collects nuts in autumn – and you may, or you may not. Regardless, your efforts to affect or alter the future are determined by such things as fear, custom and conditioning. That doesn't mean they necessarily work. Squirrels die young, too. We must remember that, in modern societies, the future is often laid out before us. Jobs in town are available, shops are for rent, careers are established avenues with paths and prospects already in place. All that most have to do is fit in and follow the leads. Under the guidance of these arrangements that are already prepared for the working masses leaving school, one could almost say: Yes, destiny does exist. Very few toss all that security and establishment aside on the off chance that their crazy idea of a future might work. They are called entrepreneurs, and though many fail, a small percentage succeed in spectacular fashion and become superstars. Now that's what I call Destiny!
Play The Game There are no right decisions or wrong decisions with destiny, there are only decisions that lead to an outcome, the only outcome available. That was your choice and you must learn to live with probabilities. Accidents befall us, they can be cruel or kind, so neither should you blame yourself nor take credit for yours or anyone else's destiny when you are such a small part of its manifestation. Be humbled, accept the cards you have been dealt, and find solace within. Really, if you had the chance, would you go back in time and change the destiny you are presently living? Knowing that there would be the possibility of you dying younger on a different time-line? At least you are now alive! You might wish to alter a terrible injustice in the past, but might it not lead to another – even worse? The future happens to everybody, equally. Sure, we are bombarded daily by media musings on the rich and famous, but there are just as many successes in small, poor communities. We just never hear about them. It seems, of the four billion of us on Earth, there are only a set number of wonderful destinies available; the human population can only handle so many. Get in line. In reality, destiny is not just about success or greatness, it is equally damning, equally unsympathetic, and as we see in the media everyday it can be equally horrendous. And it is just around the corner for everyone. Tomorrow plagues us all, it has no social exclusions or ethnic boundaries. We are all presented with the same offer everyday, to make of it what we can – and we try to – however fallible we are.
Destiny From a Philosophical Perspective"Jai guru deva, om." John Lennon – Across The Universe, 1968. Many of today's eastern philosophies hold time in the highest regard. Hindu and Krishna teachings consider time to be connected throughout and that there are no such things as coincidences. There was no beginning of time as there is no present moment; "Moksha" reveals that time cycles and the future is set – rebirth just as sure as sunrise – everything is meant to be. In essence, all of time unfolds all at once... Destiny exists. How Christianity treats destiny is more vague. Time is a measure of physical existence only, it has a beginning and an end. Eternity, it is written, is for God and the hereafter. The passage of time and how it manifests is not considered in the Bible nor in other teachings. Neither is the prospect of one's predetermined destiny disclosed other than our fate and possible ascension to Heaven – which is not actually determined until you reach the Pearly Gates. Some believe God has a plan for all of us, while others interpret the scriptures to mean we do have Free Will in our affairs.
From a Western, academic perspective there are two camps. Weighing in on the cause of free will and "Choice" are the A-Theorists, and for our "Sealed Fate" the B-Theorists. Temporal Ontology is their ring, and the canvas upon which they wrestle is the enormous subject of existence, itself. In simple terms, the A-Theorists believe in "Presentism", whereby the past does not materially exist, the future has not happened and so we live in a vibrant present state only, progressing onwards. B-Theorists consider the "Block Model" to be how time is; that all of time from the past through to the future exists all at once, and that the flow of time is merely an illusion that conscious beings rely on to function. Some argue that our path through life is governed by random assembly and not decision making, like a role of the dice. Indeed, it does at times seem as if there are too many variables in the mix and that what or how events occur might be purely chance. Let's call them the C-Theorists, C for casino or chaos. What of fortune, fluke or luck? A wise man once said: "There is no such thing as luck, it is all in the planning." (My father). But whose plan? Your plan or the larger universal plan that involves our predetermined passage through time? We could count Carl Jung among the C-Theorists. His belief in an under-lying consciousness that, like dreams, is devoid of time and can connect with future events, was how he explained chance encounters with our fate as more than mere coincidence. By suggesting that no time passes while we are unconscious offers the notion of a mind able to travel at will instantly from one period within our lives to another, thus throwing chronology out of the window. 
We deem our direction through time to be towards the future. We make use of the past by name as if we have come from there, as if it was there before the present moment. Whereas, we should be pointing out that the past only exists because of the present; we create the past by being conscious of our deliberations – regardless of the theorist that we may be. There is no direction, no course, only the presumption of terrain overlooked. Clocks and watches disagree, as does our orbit around the sun. They demand direction by numeration, thus creating, by such triviality, the prospect of time's heading and so ironically its reverse. By specifying points and periods are we not distancing ourselves from time as opposed to getting closer to understanding it? Presentism in Brief: First, the bad news. If neither the past nor the future exist, only the present, how wide is the present? If it has no range or breadth surely it cannot exist... A banal analogy: when does 11.59 become midnight? A-Theorists can easily state here that the present is just an abstract word placed on our conscious consideration of 'now', when in reality it obviously does not exist. Easy start. But that doesn't get us anywhere; it still defies logic that we could be aware of a moment in our progress through time that has no dimension. Can we suggest that a massive stellar object passing through the cosmos in motion and time only exists in a present, undefinable and impossibly justifiable moment? How does an entire planet fit inside a moment, unless it is somehow attached to what came before and what comes after? It is all very hard to swallow. If the past and the future do not exist, the present moment by itself is relatively speaking, nowhere, so a physicist would strenuously argue were his name Albert Einstein. Presentism at first glance seems flawed from the outset. It relies on the premise that a moving object can have no legitimate extrapolation, we can't tell where 'now' is because it's ethereal. On the other hand, the beauty of the proposal made by A-Theorists is its simplicity. They argue not for the physics but for the reason. What is the point in living if it has already been done before? Surely such a redundant process would never have been dreamed up by something as dynamic and complex as nature. And for good measure: If everything existed all at once it would all be over and done with, right? How can progress be made if time is a solid lump of rock? We have to ask. "Stop looking in from the outside," A-Theorists will cry in their defence. "Presentism is subjective."
"Destiny exists!" cry the B-Theorists. "There is nothing you can do. Everything that will happen to you is quite unavoidable." Well, fine then, you rightly think; if it will happen to me regardless of my actions now, then why bother. This would surely be a disaster! Not just for you and me but for the evolution of every intelligent being, one might think. If there is nothing we can do then lets stop trying to change things and just see what happens. This would not bode well for humanity. Without the desire to achieve, to challenge or to question, there would be no future for the human race. No desire to live – no life! So, unless Evolution has a good answer Destiny is resigned to a dusty shelf, once again... Evolution's Carrot: The Conditions for Free Will. 
We can easily appreciate that an animal's need to eat brings pleasure, even though the choice to get up and go find its next meal is really controlled by hunger and the hopeful alleviation, thereof. It gets up, it finds something to eat, it feels good, so it wants to do that again. This is instinctual, and it has worked well for eons. However, many small animals can indeed see a few minutes into the future, and make choices with that in mind. Larger mammals may consider an hour or day ahead; while elephants could be making decisions based on thought process involving weeks, even months in advance. And now there's us, and given a brain to think about all this we could easily upset the cart if we accepted Destiny. We could stop making an effort; we could just sit and wait for our future, seeing as how it is already out there and coming our way.
Did evolution come up with a devious carrot in order to perpetuate intelligent life on Earth? Just like it offers us fear (to escape danger), or ecstasy (to achieve birth), might evolution also have offered us the notion of 'choice' (to progress)? In a sense, we already have such a fail-safe system programmed into our brains. Preservation of life is not something we question, it is automatic. Taking one's own life is extremely difficult, if not impossible for most of us. The decision, therefore, to consider our destiny and act to insure benefit and survival is all part of the same mechanism. How does such a system work? You could say, decisions are habits. While we imagine we can choose to act with complete freedom and independence, choices we make are actually repetitive by nature. We are condition over time, we have evolved over time, and now our decision making is practically predetermined. We wander from one habit to the next, not always precisely in the same way, but somehow we wind up doing that same thing we always do, almost in the same way. We are the kind of people we are: Risk-takers; introverts; calculators; or realists. We are predictable. As is a fox, who sleeps in the same place if he can, then goes down to the river to drink in the morning, follows the same path, hunts for rodents in the farmer's corn field and finally goes for a nap on his favourite mound in the woods. Is there a creature that reacts so spontaneously and without pre-conditioned rationale that every minute of everyday is a new experience, and his future therefore is just so unpredictable? Such a creature might have existed, but would it have been successful and passed on its genes? So we have to wonder: What is really steering us onward through time to our destiny? Habitual behaviour is safe. Because it has been done before and worked, it can be done again. So, we make decisions, but these decisions are part of a much larger system that has been in progress since the beginning of time. Decisions..? Hmm, perhaps better described as Conditioned Responses, as described in this supplement. So you think you are making a personal choice to, say... go on a diet. However, because the future already exists, there are no million and one options you can choose from, even though you think there are. Like, sign up for the gym, join a soccer team, buy a bicycle, avoid junk food, try medication, a yoga class, etc – no, sorry, there is only one: To diet. Habitually, dieting is the kind of course you are good at; you enjoy a challenge but are not athletic; and though you are an achiever, you are introvert. This so called 'choice' you made was already planned by character, it was in the mould, it was inevitable that you would. You were destined to diet. What you get for your trouble is a pleasurable sense of adventure. You get a feeling of individuality; you develop an important emotional awareness. All this is paramount to your self-esteem. And you get slimmer, or you don't. That, we might say, is just part of your personality, the one you were given, not one you chose. Alternatively, you could just sit back and say, "Come on then, make it happen." Or even, "There must be someone watching over me, they will surely take care of me." And they probably will; be they the government, room service or your clinic. So you argue that your choice of inaction dictated an outcome. Yes, but if the future already exists, then not something you came up with by yourself. Whose side are YOU on in this debate?
The Argument for Destiny: An evolving world does not need there to be intelligent life on board to question its validity. Apparently, progress can happen without us. So, why do we make a difference? Things have to happen. We don't start and stop time. How many times have you been in a situation where a decision was required but you did not have the time to come up with one? Nevertheless, something did happen. Perhaps you turned around to open the door while deep in thought without making a decision to do so. It's that form of dissociation that Carl Jung was getting at. A slipping out of conscious awareness and into a timeless place – just as there is a knock on the door. Coincidence? The passage of time is relentless, we cannot alter that, we have nothing to do with this all-encompassing process. How likely is it that we can make choices and somehow alter the outcome of time's flow? A river flows; if we poke a stick in the rushing water we make a slight alteration to the surrounding surface locally, a wake surrounds the stick, before it re-organises further down river, and quickly there is no sign of our disturbance. While we and other mobile bodies will create local influences as we alter our progress, the flow of time manages to repair the damage, smooth out our mess and return everything as it should be... Destiny. In the next chapter the flow of time is discussed in more depth.
Things happen, and when they do happen it must be said that very little, if anything, is done because one person decided as much. We are influenced by so very much in our lives that it appears we are completely entwined in every aspect of the World around us. We cannot make the simplest choice about our future without one hundred or so things pulling and tugging at our thoughts; things that we did not even know where truly influential, minor fluctuations; things perhaps hundreds of miles or many days away from our present location. Look no further than Chaos Theory. What destiny and the B-Camp offers is this sound sentiment: Universal control. It suggests that the existence of everything that ever was or ever will be is somehow connected, and nothing can go wrong: the Block Theory, akin to Buddhist philosophy. You are not in control of the future, and that is possibly a good thing. Well! Do you really think that the existence of this incredible and enormous thing called our Universe is all balanced on the decision making of a bunch of imbeciles floating about on a minute rock in a far off galaxy somewhere millions of miles from anywhere? Is that not just a teensy bit arrogant? 
There are no forks in the future. We just think there are; it is evolution's way of keeping us focused. Likewise, our overwhelming and uncontrollable desire to avoid snakes, keeps us alive; a fear both programmed into our psyche and re-enforced by those around us as we grow up. Some say it is irrational to fear snakes. So what of choice? Evolution's carrot: An overwhelming and uncontrollable desire to consider our fate. Irrational? Clearly, such thoughts are supposed to feel like a real choice, otherwise they would fail to fulfill the objective. The elimination of choices does not conclusively suggest that our destiny awaits. This is only the beginning of a long story, one piece of the puzzle. Destiny and Alternative Futures"The human race has many worlds in which to experience the future – a single individual does not." Sadly, we cannot leap from one existing, time line to another when we are not satisfied with the one we are on, that privilege is reserved for our collective consciousness, each individual experiencing a different path through time. But what if..? Having no autonomy as we progress through time is simply the most horrific and frightening thing that we could ever possibly imagine. It is also annoying to think that nothing we have done in our past has made any difference and that, quite frankly, life is pointless. So, if Evolution's carrot is not your cup of tea, then Free Will probably is... The A-Camp says, there is nothing out there. Destiny does not exist and the future is ours to create. Great! This means that when you make a choice to turn left rather than right to avoid a traffic snarl, you need only do battle with a few external influences and thus determine your fate accordingly. Simply put: you are taking responsibility for everything that happens to you. You are completely free to choose, nothing is controlling your direction through time but you; you are driving, Father Time is sitting beside you, and there is nothing up ahead. If the future does not already exist then you are making fate up as you go along. But suppose destiny does exist and, moreover, there is allowance for alteration, what a glorious scenario! The best of both worlds. Such a theory has been doing the rounds for a few decades, it points to there being more than one future. No re-stitching of time required – that 'time continuum' thingy that time travellers panic about – whatever you decide to do will have no unpleasant impact on any uncertain future. For those who support change but like stability this theory is bound to please: The future does indeed exist, every possible direction we might take is already out there, from whose archives we may choose which path we wish to take. An infinite number of parallel worlds all written down and waiting. While it satisfies the sense of control normally associated with complex structures and at the same time allows us autonomy, there are a number of boggling conundrums to mull. Life is not just about you or me, there are a few billion others out there all making decisions daily, not to mention a vast army of animals with minds of their own – oh, and, lest we forget, possibly a hoard of aliens living on other planets. Every time someone/thing makes a decision we are all forced to flip worlds... although some suggest we are all already present on these other time-lines. What a mess. While this theory is based on accepted science, logic and statistics also grate: Saying that every possible outcome is already out there, suggests multiple avenues spawned from a single event, all these parallel worlds having a common present moment that continually advances; a “Bow Tie” scenario, explained below. Referring to the following chapter, Time, it must then be pointed out that memories are key to our present awareness, as alluded to by both Stephen Hawking and Friedrich Nietzsche. Jumping time-lines throws up a whole host of faux pas's. Statistically, if every possible scenario is out there for us to experience, then not only will the sensible variations exist but also the insane ones. A chicken could lay a million eggs in one night, for example. However, such whacky things don't really occur, do they? It seems science fiction buffs, in their enthusiasm, have gotten a little ahead of themselves. Some very strange things do happen, but far fewer than would seem reasonable if absolutely anything were acceptable. (NB. If the universe is infinitely old then the gap between strange things happening could be many hundreds of years). However, imagine if the laws of physics could be seriously tampered with as we sailed along on our merry way through time. It has been suggested by defenders that a barrier might be set up within this theory of parallel futures to avoid the unthinkable, to protect the laws of physics. Which means there are rules about how you determine your future... So, not much of a real choice, huh? Then, there is the infamous saying, "If it can happen it will." Well, a Doomsday Universe – one which could destroy all the others – must have gone boom at some stage... and yet, here we all are.
FLASH FICTION So whose to blame for this mess? Quantum Physicists created the multi-world interpretation or 'MWI', for making sense of some of their most bizarre conundrums, saying that there are indeed an infinite number of paths we can take in the future. Schrödinger's Cat was a thought experiment specifically created to confront such irregularities as: particles that have all their possible states in readiness at all times but only show one when it is observed. Schrödinger, metaphorically, puts a cat We have choices with many possible outcomes, in the view of quantum physicists and the sub-atomic world. But even they assume that the laws of physics must be upheld, they just haven't quite figured out what they all are, yet... leaving us all the more entangled, especially in the macro world of our perceived reality! A subatomic particle, okay – but a Jumbo-jet? We are being told that every eventuality must, indeed, exist "in readiness", which is hardly a groundbreaking theory. Well, of course they do, in our heads. Each one of these Many World lines supposed can only have one past from which they developed. The cat went in the box! Many futures from just one past, the cat duplicated in every world thereafter. The present, we are lead to believe, is a place where infinite outcomes are conceived. To put it another way: Free Will. You jump from one time-line to another, whose destiny is assured, only to flip to yet another a few seconds later on deciding something else. To differentiate, MWI proposes many parallel worlds or realistic existences, not whole new universes. These worlds lie just beneath the surface of our observed reality. It is debatable whether they are actually true, tangible entities or whether they fall apart under scrutiny like a bunch of failed experiments. That hasn't stopped the entertainment world from rushing to capitalize with a host of sci-fi stories. 
The MWI experience appears not to purport a stack of parallel happenings but one present time-line adopting multiple futures. Are there many past time lines coincidentally converging on one present moment? To all diversify and multiply into the future from this one 'bow tie' point? That works for 'Dreamscapes' but not Metaphysics; Carl Jung would most likely also have been a proponent. We might otherwise suppose that this whole thing we call reality began with just one time line, the past, and has been growing ever since. Multi-worlds expanding out like spaghetti models of storm forecasts, becoming more numerous and complex with every moment passed. (Ironically, this is reverse entropy on a grand scale). It might remind one of a wringer used for drying clothes, whereby infinite possibilities from the future are are all pulled into the rollers and extruded out into a single past. Then there are our personalities to consider, which evolve over time. If multiple time-lines with different pasts existed between which we could pass, we would be in dissociation every second of our lives. Memories are the DNA of awareness – what an incongruous circumstance. Nevertheless, I'm sure many quantum physicists are enjoying the ride. Chapter 6. Travel, posits that parallel worlds are everywhere by proxy in a model where time already exists. As it were, layers of our past and future running parallel to the present. But these layers are the natural course of time through one universe, not multiple universes with alternate scenarios. Nothing by itself Exists: While Presentism appears easier for humans to accept, it does have issues. A world where time exists in the present only and on a single time line, where there is emptiness up ahead, is a worry: A journey into nothing goes nowhere. 
Imagine: We decide to take a road trip to Lake Mirme-wawa, Idaho; but if Lake Mirme-wawa does not exist then we are not going anywhere. Would we choose to take a road trip to a non-existent location? To be, we need something to relate to, one thing on its own cannot exist. Time, like spatial existence, could follow a similar principle. Can we invent locations merely by suggesting them? One could decide to invent time travel tomorrow, but without the wherewithal to do such a thing it is unlikely to happen. The past produces the future, not the present. There has to be something into which we are rushing. One thing floating around on its own cannot be deemed to exist. There can be no movement, no direction, no purpose without something to relate our travel to; there must be something beyond now. Ask yourself this: do you believe, if you pushed your arm through a magical portal to a parallel universe on the other side that for some reason did not exist that day, your hand would actually be there on the other side of the portal? If there is something up ahead then Destiny has a place in time, it may well exist.
So, on toward death! Not, however, the end of time. As has famously been quoted in various forms over the years, this statement for the B Camp springs to mind: "We cannot choose when or how we will die – but we will." And for the A Camp, an equally poignant quote from the Far East: "We are responsible for everything that happens to us except our birth." We can believe in the existence of life after death. We can believe in the passage of our soul to a higher place. We can even believe in ghosts. Yet, strangely, very few would dare believe that there is something out there, our destiny, beyond the present. Folks... there's a whole universe out there. It just looks to us like those tiny stars twinkling up in space are part of our world – they belong here and are not so very far away – and oddly this is less frightening. It seems that in order to want to stay alive we must believe that there is nothing out there in the future, that destiny does not exist. It could be a classic case of subterfuge on the part of evolution, if you choose to believe it. Otherwise, you have no choice but to believe it. Believe or die! This proposal states that for time to exist it must exist in its entirety. For progress to be made, the past must be connected to the future; choices become irrelevant; the present moment, our creation. The next chapter, part 2. Time, reveals all.
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in a box with a sealed jar of poisonous gas and a device that will break the jar if it detects a particle changing state. As far as quantum mechanics is concerned, at any time in the near future the cat is both alive and dead, until we open the box to observe. Thus, the MWI adequately explains this cat paradox, by saying, "Each possibility has its own place in the future, simultaneously," namely, a superposition of states.
