The Myth of Destiny

Dylan came over and broke out some cigarettes he'd gotten from Indonesia. One of his friends had done an internship there and returned with Kreteks. Somehow they'd gotten them through customs--carton upon carton--and his friend gave him two packs. They were reminiscent of Djarum Blacks, though less sophisticated:

As we smoked the cigarettes on the front porch--before and after a trip to the local grocery store for some eggs and toast--we talked about hope. I had mentioned earlier in the day that famous phrase "Whatever Is Meant To Happen Will Work Out Perfectly," and I pretty much (well, to the "T") called it Bullshit. Dylan asked what I meant, and I told him that people have this weird idea that there is some sort of great destiny for them, and everything that happens are stepping-stones to the fulfillment of that destiny. Never mind that most people on this planet die and die alone, living lives of misery up to that point. Maybe it's our pride or our arrogance--or maybe the fact that we don't want to face reality for what it is--that leads us to buy into The Myth of Destiny. Ultimately it's placing hope in this world, despite the world being a fucked-up place full of fucked-up people and nothing ever works out how we ultimately want it to.

Christians buy into this logic, too, except they wrap it with religious lace. Now they incorporate God into the mix--"God has some great destiny for my life!"--and they call it Faith when really it is just some sort of twisted escapist technique used for emotional deliverance from the troubles of this world. When Christians do this, they ignore three facts: 1. The Bible does not teach that God has a great destiny for everyone; 2. The Bible does not teach that God has a destiny (good or bad) for everyone; and 3. when the Bible DOES show someone whom God had a destiny for, that destiny was often miserable and full of pain and sorrows (e.g. the prophets, esp. Jeremiah, who was commanded by God to never marry and never party). Christians point to them and select texts about them and say, "God has a plan for me!" It's essentially they're making something that, at the most, is a general reality a universal reality. But, hell, you know how it is: whatever makes you sleep good at night. That's the way our culture works.

Oh, and Dylan brought up a good point. From his many adventures in foreign countries, he came to see that this individualized "destiny" is a concept foreign to most other countries where individualism is not rampant and emphasis is put on the family or community. "It's an individualistic thought process," he said, "that isn't even considered in places like Asia." Of course, western influences in those countries are changing that. But his point is very clear and valid. Individualism consumes Western cultures, and individualistic thought--while so prevalent and subtle and yet conquering in our thought--had and has no place in the reading of scripture.