fandomhigh | Destiny & Free Will, Week III [Monday, Period 4]

Class today met down at the pond, as Ghanima felt like feeding the flamingos.

"Today, children, we discuss semantics," Ghanima said briskly from her seat on the grass. "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."

"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. 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. Semantics and harbingers of fate. I'm curious to hear what you think."

[OCD is up, go forth and have fun!]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

As the Fates dictate!

Take notes, pass notes, chatter...

"Another term, often misused, is kismet. Kismet derives from the Arabic word qismah, and entered the English language via the Turkish word kısmet, meaning either "the will/save Allah" or "portion, lot or fate". In English, the word is often synonymous with fate or destiny, thereby confusing the terminology even further," Ghanima said. "To understand the shades of meaning behind kismet, we'd have to take an in-dept look at Qadr and aqidah, and the concepts of predestination in Islam, but we unfortunately only have seven weeks to this class and not seven years." Ghanima grinned at the class. "What other words have you heard used to mean 'destiny' or 'fate'? Do you think they fit?"

Does belief in Fate preclude Free Will? Discuss with your classmates!

The Moirae, the Parcae, the Norns. What other harbingers of Fate are you familiar with? Why do you think the Fates are usually portrayed as female?

If they're around...

She's there, both before and after class.

I'm back, I have a suitcase full of comics, and I left

bigdamndestiny with a limp.

My laugh is an evil laugh.

Rachel Roth

Raven listened to the lecture, though her mind wandered a bit between fate and destiny and what Azar believed was her fate and her recent conversations with Joan and Dinah.

After class, Tyler stopped throwing breadcrumbs at the ducks and wandered over to Ghanima. "Good day?" he asked.

There was a certain dry overtone to his voice stemming from his thought that, however class had gone, it had to be better than last night.

Edited 2009-07-20 14:19 (UTC)

"Doom is used if someone believes their fate to be an unpleasant one," Raven said. Not that she had any experience with that.

Tahiri Veila

Valentine Wiggin

Honestly, Tahiri had spent so much time lately studying starfighter tactics on her datapad that she almost didn't know what to do with herself during the lecture. She didn't actually pull the datapad out and start reading (since she hadn't brought it with her), but she did keep fidgeting.

A moment, if you will, in which I am sorry Gabrielle is not in this class. ;)

~~Dammit. I think "When Fates Collide" is overly schmoopy and overrated. And now I want to watch it again.~~

Valentine was a big fan of semantics, so it shouldn't be a surprise that her pen was getting a workout as she scribble down bits and pieces of the lecture on her notebook, balanced on her knees as she sat and listened.

Liir Thropp

Liir wondered how that myth would play into some from Oz, how Kumbricia and Lurline stood up to the Moirae.

Edited 2009-07-20 14:15 (UTC)

"Serendipity," Valentine offered, "which is interesting as it very specifically implies a hand of chance or luck or coincidence, a factor that fate and destiny seem to like to ignore, if not outright reject. I personally find the concept of serendipity easier to swallow than fate or destiny, though."

"I don't think they're mutually exclusive, really," he said after a minute.

"...we have other figures," he offered, "not quite as clearly to do with Fate as these seem to be, but Kumbricia and Lurline are said to have acted to set certain events in motion, to shape Oz to some unknown Fate. And of course, there's the Unnamed God."

YAAAY comics.

Karla

Tahiri was around, and keeping her mouth shut about a lot of the things she could have shared in class, mostly to avoid having to explain why she knew them . . .

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Destiny & Free Will, Week III [Monday, Period 4]

Sign-In #3

During the Lecture

Discussion: Kismet

Discussion: Fate, Destiny, and Free Will

Discussion: Fate is a Woman

Talk to the TAs

Talk to Ghanima

OOC

Re: Sign-In #3

Re: During the Lecture

Re: Talk to Ghanima

Re: Discussion: Kismet

Re: Sign-In #3

Re: Sign-In #3

Re: During the Lecture

Re: OOC

Re: During the Lecture

Re: Sign-In #3

Re: During the Lecture

Re: Discussion: Kismet

Re: Discussion: Fate, Destiny, and Free Will

Re: Discussion: Fate is a Woman

Re: OOC

Re: Sign-In #3

Re: Talk to the TAs