fandomhigh | Destiny & Free Will, #2 [Period 1, Monday, July 21]

"Today, children, we discuss semantics," Ghanima said briskly from her seat on her desk. "Although the words are used interchangeably in many cases, fate and destiny can be, and should be, distinguished." She smiled, kicking her heels slightly. "Don't groan at me. Semantics are your friends, I promise. When you know a word, inside and out, it becomes more than a word. It's a friend, a weapon, and a great source of fun at the expense of other people."

"Modern usage defines fate as a power or agency that predetermines and orders the course of events. Fate defines events as ordered or "inevitable". Fate is used in regard to the finality of events as they have worked themselves out; and that same sense of finality, projected into the future to become the inevitability of events as they will work themselves out, is Destiny."

Hopping off her desk, she meandered to the front of the room. "One word derivative of "fate" is "fatality", another "fatalism". Fate implies no choice, and ends fatally, with a death. Fate is an outcome determined by an outside agency acting upon a person or entity; but with destiny the entity is participating in achieving an outcome that is directly related to itself. Participation happens willfully."

"Used in the past tense, "destiny" and "fate" are both more interchangeable, both imply "one's lot" or fortunes, and include the sum of events leading up to a currently achieved outcome." Ghanima grabbed her chalk and began writing quickly on the chalkboard. "For instance, if we were speaking of a previous event, say, Boudicca's battle against the Romans, we could safely say that "it was her destiny to be leader" or "it was her fate to be leader", and both would be correct."

"Fate can involve things which are bound within and subject to larger networks. A set of mathematical functions arranged in a grid and interacting in defined ways is Fatelike. Likewise the individual statues in a larger work of counterpoint art are aesthetically Fated within the work. In each case Fate is external to every individual component, but integral to the network. Every component acts as Fate for every other component. The entire world can be seen as existing within such a network, a kind of mythical spiderweb controlled by unseen forces."

"Now, where does fate come from?" she asked. "In classical and European mythology, there are three goddesses dispensing fate, The "Fates" known as Moirae in Greek mythology, as Parcae in Roman mythology, and Norns in Norse mythology; they determine the events of the world through the mystic spinning of threads that represent individual human destinies," she said, writing on the chalkboard. "Three sets of three, each fitting the 'Maiden/Mother/Crone' archetype, each from a different culture."

"So, let's chat." She set the chalk down and leaned against the wall to watch them. "Semantics and harbingers of fate. I'm curious to hear what you think."

[~~Please wait for~~ the OCD is now up. Have fun!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Make your own fate here! Just be sure Tyche is on your side.

Gladys listened, and she listened closely. This class was proving more difficult than she had expected.

Romeo listened carefully. He understood what she was getting at, though it seemed a fine enough distinction.

Edited 2008-07-21 12:14 (UTC)

Word games, she thought while taking careful notes.

For once Jaina was a little lost, but she'd never been very good at semantics unless she was trying to get out of trouble with her parents.

Oh, semantics -- an entirely different kind of headache from temporal vagueness, but, Jen found, just as capable of making her want to knock herself unconscious against her desk.

Although she kind of wished she'd thought of this distinction a year and a half ago, when Alex had kept harping on about Wes's destiny.

. . . of course, she could have just tried to punch him out instead, which would have been more satisfying than getting into a semantic argument.

Helen listened intently.

John was glazed over, not really getting much from the lecture.

Savannah was listening and taking notes.

Destiny & Free Will, #2 [Period 1, Monday, July 21]

Listen to the Lecture

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