or can you?

 Ran across this quote while reading, "Fate leads the willing and drags along the reluctant." That gave me pause to think. My first thought was, first one must believe in fate. Fate is something I have given thought too but have yet to reach a definitive answer too. If God has given us free will wouldn't that mean we can choose our own fate? That statement was made by Seneca. Not the Indian though, the ancient philosopher. He was a stoic and hung out with the likes of Plato. I feel like I'm a bit of a stoic having been raised in New England, an area of the country known for that quality. Stoic philosophy stresses wisdom, courage, justice and temperance. Stoic people ae generally not openly emotional people. Sometime they are confused with cynics. Cynics and cynicism have over the centuries come to mean something different than what they were in ancient Greece. Socrates was a cynic.  For a cynic life was all about virtue. Material possessions weren't important. They were rather like the hippies of the ancient world. "The secret of happiness, you see, is not in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less."( Socrates) Today we think of a cynic as someone who distrusts everyone. A cynic today believes no one does anything without it being of benefit to themselves in some fashion. They always question the worth of everything. It's my thinking it is fairly easy to become cynical, it does become habit. I admit to struggling with that on a daily basis.

 But back to that quote, "fate leads the willing and drags along the reluctant" and what it is saying. For me I think it is saying you have to believe in fate, in order to follow your fate. You have to be willing to believe, and that's where cynicism enters the picture. Of course the rest of the quote implies you will be dragged along whether you believe in fate or not. That's fate, unavoidable. It's my thought that happiness contentment, or whatever you wish to call it can only be achieved when you you recognize your fate. It is certainly what I feel most people are in search of, even when they aren't aware of that. Some settle for the short term goal while others struggle with eternity. That I believe is usually a product of age and maturity. When you are young it is right now that is important, then it becomes tomorrow and finally legacy, that is to say, what is left behind. What are we fated to leave behind? That is the question in the forefront of my thoughts this morning. It would seem to me, at this moment in time anyway, my legacy will be my words. Is it what I have chosen? No, I'd say that isn't true, it has become my fate. Well my fate for the moment anyway. Is fate an ever changing thing? Now there is something to think about. Is our fate shaped by the choices we make, or by our reaction to circumstance?

 Well that takes us beck to the first question, do you have to believe in fate? Yes I guess you do, belief is the most powerful force there is. We tend to think of belief as religion, but belief isn't necessarily defined in that way, the belief of the non-believer is just as strong. A bit of a paradox. "Fate leads the willing and drags along the reluctant." Guess you might as well follow what is going to drag you along anyway. The only difference is being willing to accept that which you can not know. I don't think you can know your fate, you have to live your life first. Your legacy is your fate, you can't change that. Or can you?