Should We Be Resigned to Destiny?
We all know the power of motivational speech and technique like Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). Yet, it is often contradicting that people who attend motivational talk organised by the likes of Anthony Robbins also consult fortune tellers. Presumably,it could be that they are eager to improve their fortune and curious about their future. For the Chinese, destiny has always been a fundamental aspect of one’s belief.
If everything is fixed by Fate, then why do we need motivation? Yet, deep down our mind, we know that blindly following Fate is often fatalistic and can be an enemy of motivation. Having discussed the issue of destiny with a fellow forum member, I felt that there is a need to discuss more about the concept of one’s destiny.
The many sayings claiming about Destiny’ s all pervasive influence on all walks of life showed that the Chinese culture acknowledges Destiny’ s stronghold. We all tend to have a passive resignation to Destiny because Destiny seems so mysterious and so powerful. When one studies carefully the record of human experience, we would have noticed that the majority of humanity are not living in good fortune. If Destiny really rules, then Destiny is more prone to create misfortune. Realising this, we must cultivate the desire to alter Destiny. And this is where motivational technique and chinese metaphysics come hand in hand.
Let me list one example whereby the ancient Chinese classic I Ching motivates us to overcome the hurdle of Destiny.
…the Book of Changes; hence it enables us to penetrate and understand the movements of the light and dark, of life and death, gods and demons. This knowledge makes possible mastery over Fate, because Fate can be shaped if its laws are known (Wilhelm 1951, p 296)
Hence, to overcome Destiny is to first understand that Destiny is real and that you need to know what Destiny is before you could overcome it! Know the rules of the game and you can bend it!
‘Fate is decided by Heaven, happiness is sought by oneself.’
Read other related post: Is destiny a choice or choice is destined by Ken
2 Responses to “Should We Be Resigned to Destiny?”
December 15th, 2008 at %0:%Dec %p
Hi Willy,
Sorry for AWOL for a while. Taking some time to let the brain rest.
After the two articles, the first thing that come to my mind is 33% human effort.
There are many people who seek destiny reading, some do improve while some do not. I think the difference is the 33% Human factor. The first group who improves are the ones who do not resign destiny and actively seeks to improve. This match Ken’s quote. The second group are the weaker mind who passively thinks it is easier to accept what has been “pre-arranged” for them.
The question is those who seek to challenge the destiny, how many really is successful. There are some success stories around, but not many. So maybe one can don’t resigned to destiny, but it takes behemoth effort to challenge it, a weak mind is not capable to do that.
But looking at life from positive angle, it is always good to be active and strive for best, even at lowest luck.
Just my two cents.
December 17th, 2008 at %0:%Dec %p
You are right Gemini. I always believe that life is a learning process…
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