Of Psychology and Psychosomatics

Okay, there’s something that’s been bugging me for the longest time, and I was never able to really put my finger on it. But I finally figured it out, and now here are my thoughts….on Destiny.First of all, let’s define the word. It’s good to start with some background, right? According to Dictionary.com:

Destiny –noun, plural -nies.

• something that is to happen or has happened to a particular person or thing; lot or fortune.
• the predetermined, usually inevitable or irresistible, course of events.
• the power or agency that determines the course of events.

And as set forth in Webster’s:

• something to which a person or thing is destined
• a predetermined course of events often held to be an irresistible power or agency

Alright, so then Destiny is pretty much to us as “Mother Earth” is to people who believe in evolution. It’s that unknown, all-powerful hocus pocus that controls what we can’t.

What’s been bothering me to no end is the amount of usage it gets in movies. When there’s something that a character can’t control, it’s immediately slotted to “destiny”. When people meet unexplainably, it’s because of “destiny”. When someone wants something they feel they should have, they say it is “their destiny” to have it. Now, I am not suggesting that movie dialogue is in any way realistic. I am just saying that Hollywood has found yet another substitute for God.

It’s true…if there’s something about life that is unexplainable and uncontrollable, people would rather it be something they can also ignore. If that all-powerful force is God, they can’t ignore that. So that’s just kind of a bummer, if you ask me.

There is no “destiny”. We aren’t “destined” to be something. We can’t control what happens to us, but we can decide who we trust to get us through it. To me, that’s a lot more comforting than three old ladies with thread.