Fate, Freedom, Determinism & Destiny

  1. Our Terms

    1. Fate

      1. The principle, power, or agency by which, according to certain philosophical and popular systems of belief, all events, or some events in particular, are unalterably predetermined from eternity. Often personified.

      2. What will become of, or has become of (a person or thing); ultimate condition; destiny. Often in to decide one's fate, to fix one's fate, to seal one's fate.

    2. Freedom

      1. The state or fact of being free from servitude, constraint, inhibition, etc.; liberty.

        1. The fact of not being controlled by or subject to fate; the power of self-determination attributed to the will.

    3. Determinism

      1. The doctrine that everything that happens is determined by a necessary chain of causation.

        1. The philosophical doctrine that human action is not free but necessarily determined by motives, which are regarded as external forces acting upon the will.

    4. Destiny

      1. That which is destined or fated to happen; predetermined events collectively

      2. In weakened sense: What in the course of events will become or has become of a person or thing; ultimate condition

  2. The Fates

    1. The Archetype – Three divine sisters who dictate the portion of an individual’s life.

      1. The Moirai - Greek

        1. Clotho “spinner” – Spins the thread.

        2. Lachesis “allotter” – Measures the thread.

        3. Atropos “the unturnable” – Cuts the thread.

      2. The Parcae – Roman

        1. Nona “ninth” – Goddess of the 9th month (pregnancy)

        2. Decima “tenth” – Goddess of pregnancy and measurement.

        3. Morta “death” – Goddess of death.

      3. The Norns – Norse

        1. Uror “fate” -

        2. Verdandi “happening”

        3. Skuld “shall be”

      4. The Gulses – Hittite

        1. Female dieties who always appear as three women together. Their name means “the scribes” or “determiners of fate” and they apportioned life/death good/evil to everyone.

      5. The Morrigan – Irish Celtic

        1. The phantom queen who presided over war and fate. She consisted of three sisters who were all “faces of the Morrigan” or, together, Morrigna

          1. Badb – Crows

          2. Macha – Sovereignty “of the plain”

          3. Nemain – The frenzy of war.

  3. Oracles

    1. In ancient Greece and Rome: the instrument, agency, or medium (usually a priest or a priestess) through which the gods were supposed to speak or prophesy; the mouthpiece of the gods. Also: the place at which such advice or prophecy was sought.

    2. In Judaism

      1. That part of the Jewish Temple where the divine presence was manifested; the most sacred sanctuary of the Temple, the holy of holies; (also) the Mercy seat within it.

      2. The breastplate of the Jewish High Priest - studded with gems (the Urim & Thummim) - by which divine messages were believed to be communicated.

    3. Chiefly Christian Church. Divine revelation; an instance of this, a declaration or message expressed or delivered by divine inspiration. Also in plural: the sacred scriptures. Now rare.

    4. Generally. A vehicle or medium of divine communication; a person who or thing which expounds or interprets the will of God, or a god; a divine teacher.

  4. Finding Order in Chaos.

    1. The oldest myths of ancient origin involve the defeat of chaos by a god/gods of order.

      1. Yahweh and the Waters

      2. Marduk and Tiamat

    2. Humans have excelled, evolutionarily speaking, because of our ability to manipulate tools, understand complex patterns, and think abstractly. All of these abilities rely heavily on the ability to perceive and understand complex causal relationships.

    3. Our most common logical fallacies are often caused by our hyper-awareness of patterns.

      1. Hasty Generalization Fallacy

      2. Correlation/Causation Fallacy

      3. Anecdotal Evidence Fallacy

God & Compromise