Fate, Free Will, Chaos or the Supernatural...

What are the forces that control our lives?

The theme for my English 4 class this year is "Fate, Free Will, Chaos, or the Supernatural".  For each text that we read in the class, we try to decide which of these four forces the characters' stories fall into. For instance, with The Tragedy of Othello: my students decided that Othello's life was determined by fate but only because of the decisions (free will) of Iago. I don't entirely agree with my students. Due to the fact that I have spent the past few months delving into these subjects with my seniors, I have had a lot of time to think about these forces and they're particular impact in our world. If you had asked me before last September which of these four subjects I believed held the most influence on our personal lives, I would have said "free will".  I have changed my mind.  

Just to remind everyone:

• Fate: things happen because there were meant to happen;
• Free Will:  things happen because we make them happen;
• Chaos:  things happen randomly, for no reason; and
• Supernatural: there is a god or other higher power that controls the world.

So which of these forces to I believe control our lives?  Immediately, I can cross supernatural off the list, as I don't believe in a higher power and certainly not one that controls my life. Others disagree and that is their right. Fate is just a crappy cop out. Blaming everything on fate or a supernatural being is too easy. I've already said that I used to believe it was strictly free will, but no longer.  Which leaves us with chaos.

Do I say chaos is what controls the world? Sort of.  I actually believe our lives are controlled by a mix of chaos and free will.  Why do I say that?  Simple! My life seems to follow a random, chaotic path, but is often at the mercy of another person's free will. There is no rhyme or reason for what goes on in life. We cannot control events, any more than we can control whether it will rain tomorrow. Because we cannot control things, there is no point in worrying about them. If it rains, get an umbrella; if it’s sunny, get some sunscreen. There will always be violence in the world and I cannot change that. These thoughts can best be summed up by Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park) - I love Jeff Goldblum:

If we go back to my example of Othello, it is Iago's free will which caused chaos in Othello's life, not fate - which is how it works in my life.  The free will of one individual can absolutely cause chaos for someone else. To sum up, I believe our lives are a combination of free will and chaos, leaning heavily on the chaos side!

Do you agree or disagree?  Let's discuss.