fandomhigh | Destiny & Free Will, Week III [Monday, Period 2]

There was no sky. Instead, there were machines. Forbidden technology roamed free here, machines with the minds of men, and Ghanima loathed it. The entire place itched under her skin, an infection that she desperately felt the need to clense. Every inch of her, Fremen and Atreides alike, felt defiled even breathing this air.

Somehow, she thought Principal Winchester might not be too pleased if Ghanima executed a coup while they were here, but it was tempting.

"Today, children, we discuss semantics," Ghanima said briskly from her seat on her desk. They were meeting inside today, and in a fit of stubbornness, Ghanima had appropriated some plants from the teacher's lounge and stuck them in her classroom windows. No one ought to be forced to look at that monstrosity of a city. "Although the words are used interchangeably in many cases, fate and destiny can be, and should be, distinguished."

"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."

"Today, I'd like to talk about these words, and others, that you associate with the future, free will, destiny, and other such concepts."

[OOC: OCD up!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Dictate your own fate!

Jim Hawkins

Gabrielle

Jason Todd

Spock

Toby Logan

Dana Scully

Simon Bellamy

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce

Kate Daniels

Nico di Angelo

Jocelyn Fairchild

Damian Wayne

Faramir

Take notes, pass notes, just be hopeful that Tyche is on your side.

"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!

"I think... maybe it kind of does," Jim offered, still a little on the fence about what he thought of the whole fate and destiny thing, really. "But on the other hand, maybe there is some place that we're all supposed to end up, and in the end, it's up to us how we get there. Like... different roads to the same final destination? Do we want to take the shortcut, or go the scenic way?"

Complete and total spitballing. He'd be the first to admit that he had no idea what he was talking about, but it seemed like an interesting point to chew on.

"I get what you're saying, but I don't know how 'free' your will can be if every option has the same result," Jason said. "I think the choices you make in life should matter, and if every path goes in the same direction, then that kind of makes all your choices too close."

"Honestly, I kind of prefer if my choices get me to where I want to go," Jim noted, smiling faintly and shrugging his shoulders. "But if there is somewhere that I have to be in the end, I'd like if I at least got to get there on my own terms."

"Yeah, there is something to be said for getting anywhere on your own terms." Jason had a great respect for others who liked that idea. "I'd like to end up with my own destiny too, 'cause the idea of everything being all laid out already still kinda bugs me."

"Yeah, even if I don't know about where it is that I'm supposed to end up, what's the point of even trying, if you don't really get any say in it?"

Jim, for example, was pretty fond of getting in trouble, which he did with style whenever possible.

She is here!

*naps on*

Fraaaaaaaaaaank. <3

Destiny & Free Will, Week III [Monday, Period 2]

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During the Lecture

Discussion: Vocabulary

Discussion: Destiny, Fate, and Free Will

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Talk to Ghanima

OOC

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