Your Life Purpose – Is It Pre-determined, Random, or Important?
Gaming“Our true vocation, our true work in this world, becomes a consequence of our lives. Our work can transform and transcend the traumas that we survive, turning them into something useful for us and, we hope, for others.”
– Louise DeSalvo, Virginia Woolf Scholar
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, both destiny and destiny mean “a predetermined state or end.” Fate implies an inevitable and generally adverse outcome. Whereas destiny implies something predestined and often suggests a great or noble end or course.
In other words, both destiny and destiny infer that there is some kind of predetermination.
As for who or what or where did that predetermined outcome originate? Well, I suspect the answer depends on which belief system you are most aligned with.
Regardless of what you personally believe and / or have experienced in life, the idea that our souls are here on earth to fulfill some kind of purpose can be comforting (especially if we feel we are on the “right” path) or unsettling. . (if we feel somewhat lost and off track).
Or, if we believe that this entire exercise is just one big chaotic roll of the dice that just unfolds at random, then even though we don’t believe in any kind of predetermined plan or individual purpose, that doesn’t necessarily mean that our lives don’t. Has no sense. Rather, our lives can have the meaning we assign to them, in the face of a greater force.
However, as I discovered when exploring the possibility of life after death, it wasn’t until after losing someone very dear to me that I suddenly became VERY interested in whether or not I still existed, in some way, after the death of his body.
I suspect it’s the same with fate, fate, and the possibility that our souls have some kind of higher purpose for being here – we may not think about it too much, until we’re forced to … until it really matters. .
In my experience, life after a significant loss is when life’s big questions surface. I think this is partly because seeking, and perhaps finding, higher meaning after a tragedy helps make whatever heartache we are experiencing a little more … enjoyable.
Do you believe in the idea that there is a “Divine Plan” for each of us?
God knows (sorry for the pun) I heard that in my ear enough times in the days and weeks after the death of my husband, John. And frankly, that particular platitude offered me little comfort. Instead, I was tempted to finish and punch the person on the nose.
Why?
Because I found it presumptuous that people told me that John’s sudden, and easily preventable death was part of a larger plan hatched by a God who may or may not exist … and as such, I better accept it.
To me, the concept reeked of apathy, especially when I realized that this “Divine Plan” is not something that any mere mortals ever come to know about. Rather, it is assumed that it is sufficient that there is a plan, so no further questions are needed.
But what good is it for God to have a great plan if no one knows what it IS?
I guess that’s where faith comes in.
However, maybe because there were so many people telling me that God had a plan for me and John, I started to think that they might be right. So what did I do? Wow, I tried to figure out The Plan, or at least our little parts of it.
I was not very successful.
But now that almost 17 years have passed since his death, I have the freedom to see things much more objectively than in those early days. And I can’t deny the possibility that there is some kind of plan in place. Or maybe it’s just the way I choose to frame the situation?
Here are some facts from our history:
1.) John and I used to argue about my procrastination as a writer. He had read Virginia Woolf’s book, A Room of One’s Own, several times. Woolf argued that for women to write fiction well, they needed a room of their own and a secure income. John thought that was ridiculous. He thought that motivation and my sitting down to write something was much more important.
2.) The day before John died, we had one last argument about me not writing and I told him how scared I was to wake up 20 years later and still not have finished writing a book. He looked at me and said, “You’re probably right about that … as long as you know it was your choice.”
3.) Because John died in the line of duty and we had mortgage insurance, he was entitled to receive exactly what Virginia Woolf had proposed: a secure income for the rest of my life and an entire house, paid in full to the 32 years. in which to write.
4.) Two weeks later, I began writing what would become my book, A Widow’s Awakening. It was published 8 years later … well below the 20-year time limit.
5.) A few years after his death, for some unknown reason, I took a drama course. My first script for the play was titled, Savior, and it’s about John dying from his brain injury, with none other than Virginia Woolf as his spirit guide.
And then there are the workplace safety initiatives of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If John had not died as a result of an avoidable fall in an unsafe workplace, the Fund would not exist, and I certainly would not be an advocate for safety.
So do I believe in destiny, destiny and / or some kind of Divine Plan?
Honestly, I don’t know WHAT I believe. But I think there are much bigger forces at play in our lives and our job is to get up every day and do our best in whatever is in front of us … and everything else seems to fall into place. Finally.
“God does not die the day we stop believing in a personal deity. But we die the day our lives are no longer illuminated by the constant glow of daily renewed wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.”
– Dag Hammarskjold, Former UN Secretary General