Destinations And Destiny

For purposes of this entry, destinations are less about places and more about states of mind.  One can choose where to go, when to go and how long to stay.  Together they form one's identity and ultimately one's destiny.  This, of course, is pure fantasy.

A change in direction changes the destination.  This change can be willed at any moment in time except that the ability to will a change may be impaired at birth or at a later point in life.  With respect to the former, it may be speculated that God had taken away the burden of choice; and in regards of the latter, it may be speculated that God had granted an exceptional intellect and ability to choose but one had deliberately made the wrong choice, consciously or unconsciously, resulting in the person not being able to choose for an extended period or ever again for having abused such a rare gift.  The circumstances leading to the loss of one's ability to choose are unique to the individual. Discussing them is beyond the scope of this entry.

Those who are not so gifted, who might not have made the right choices at first, but who are alive and well, can later pivot ever so slightly in direction and the change course of life's journey, but many (if not most) people do not, because they are set in their ways of thinking and doing things, even though where they are at mentally and physically may not be entirely ideal and their God-given potential may not have been reached, or because they may have been so corrupted by the forces of evil, each to a unique degree, that they believe what they are thinking and doing are right and therefore they keep thinking and doing whatever that they think and do, even though the things they think of and do serve Satan but not God.

Then there are those who are on the right path from the beginning, who have chosen correctly, who lead exemplary lives, whose center is God, whose focus is Heaven.

The next category comprises of those who do not know where they want to go in life and those who want to go everywhere.  In both cases, they are without a real destination.  For those who want to go everywhere, the destinations change ever so whimsically, those that are in their minds and those that are on their bucket lists.  As the years propel those in this category forward, they advance ever so reluctantly, or obliviously, without meaningful ambition and defined goals, as if they had surrendered their will and reason to the winds of time, being blown mindlessly and freely in whichever direction Mother Nature calls for, like wheat in a field swaying to unpredictable gusts of wind. [1]

Even one who is without real directions and destinations, never mind the length of stay, has chosen.  Everybody has an after-life destiny that is clear, fixed and eternal, unlike destinations in life that can be changed and skipped, or vague.  Perhaps it is better not to have directions and destinations in life than going the wrong way and ending up in Hell.  Perhaps life was intended to be lived simply, not to be lived with a purpose, complete with goals and accomplishments, honors, awards, recognition and compensation, or perhaps not.

Who is the judge that says life cannot be "wasted"?  How can a life be wasted when experiencing existence in the flesh is the central purpose in life that is a gift from God?  Perhaps life can never be wasted; it can only be corrupted.  Is not what the Garden of Eden was created for, to let man live without any worry or care, but simply to enjoy God's gift of life in the flesh?  Of course, man was too greedy to be satisfied with what he has been given; he always wants to apply himself, to improve, to advance, but neither his improvements nor his advancements have been proven to be good, not in the sense that they provide more and better modern conveniences and health care in each successive generation, but in the sense that they have not led to contentment in the heart of man and peace on earth in a supposedly civilized world.

Conversely, can those who do not apply themselves, who sit back and observe the changes to a supposedly civilized (yet cruel) world be likened to the one-talent servant in The Parable of the Talents [2] who buried the talent he was given and did nothing with it?  Perhaps, but this blogger is not entirely convinced that the parable was told by Christ because the servant who buried the talent at least did not do anything that could have risked its value being reduced or if "talent" did not mean coins that could be invested or placed in a bank to earn interest but meant a person's skill set, the one-talent servant did not abuse it, whereas the other two multi-talented servants who doubled their talents (coins) might have gambled or cheated others in one way or another, or that they had employed their skills productively, but their work might not have been for causes that were entirely pure and holy, for they were sinners after all, and no sinner is at all times pure and holy.  One cannot divorce accomplishments, no matter how laudable, from their motives and the means by which they are achieved.

Despite the issues surrounding The Parable of Talents, it is nonetheless practical, asking people not to be lazy, not to be wasteful of God gifts and not to be a burden to society, but practicality has nothing to do with this entry (as with the rest of the posts in this blog); rather, it is a waste of time and resources, putting down empty thoughts that belong to a dream, but even a dream deserves a conclusion.

Perhaps life ought to have just two paths and only one direction.  The direction is to Heaven to which destinations chosen and destiny merge as one.  The two paths are (a) having the sense to have chosen the correct destination from the beginning (or to change to the correct one later in life), and (b) waiting until one is being called and in the meantime, letting the winds of time lay out the landscape ahead that will direct the innocuous but floundering soul that is attached to the earthly body back to Heaven.



[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed4gmlj0Cds, a video of  a "windy summer day in a wheat field, [U]ppsala, [S]weden."
[2] http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/25, 14-30.