To Be or Not To Be

Cupid and Psyche, Gerard

After seeing "The Adjustment Bureau", I was left wondering about the extent, if any, that fate plays in our love lives. The movie depicted a destined romance under exaggerated circumstances, but no less had me questioning the idea.

Fate and destiny are heavy words, their meaning implies something far greater than anything that we can control. They suggest an invisible yet all powerful force that has already scripted our lives and that we unknowingly adhere to. I have heard stories of couples reuniting after years of separation, of people meeting and simply knowing that they were meant to be together, and all give credit to this elusive power.

When it comes to love, is there such a thing as destiny? Could our love lives be mapped out for us and we just go through the painful motions of unsuccessful relationships with someones until we find the one? I believe in destiny to a certain degree. While we may be meant to meet certain people, we are led to these encounters by our individual actions. We consciously and actively make these decisions, and fate may play a part in what these choices may lead us to, but is only second to our own free will.

Maybe we are destined to experience different relationships so that we can recognize the one that makes us feel different than any other has. Maybe we are supposed to feel the bad to appreciate the good, or feel hurt to learn from past mistakes. I certainly believe that there is a stronger force that exists that has the power to bring two people together, but that depends on our own choices.  We cannot just sit back and expect our lives to just happen, we need to actively do in order to find. 

Fate and free will work in mysterious ways, leading us to things that will shape our lives in some way. We may give up hope when we get our hearts broken, but we will probably learn something that will invariably alter how we experience and handle our future relationships, and affect the path that leads us to who we are meant to be with. 

In terms of destiny, we do have a hand in our own futures, and the good and the bad could all be a part of our road to finding what we are "destined" to find.

Whenever you are feeling as though you've crossed paths with too much of the bad, remember that everything you go through will eventually guide you to the good.