I decided to peruse the web to see what concepts of destiny lurked there. So I typed in "destiny," hoping for a myriad of matching sites. Up popped not an index, but a home page: AOL Women, with the catch phrase "Is He The One?" I thought perhaps I mistyped, so I tried again and again got the query from my destiny research: "Is He The One?" This time I also noticed a Weight Watchers Ad in red on the right hand corner. Whoa ....
Sometimes I'm amazed at the bubble I've created for myself, the one which sees the world advancing and paradigms shifting ever so slowly and methodically to a more just and compassionate society, or, at the very least, a world whose meaning battles are worth engaging so that they strengthen values and self articulation, a feminist world slowly becoming that honors the whole self in its many manifestations. But when I typed up "destiny" on the most popular Internet access I'm told that my ultimate destination is the one and only man for me. Whoa .... So I typed in "Fate" ... thought I'd give it a go ... and got a little more variety, a matching sites page, whose lead item was AOL Chat, entitled "Chance Encounters" and the teaser: "how much fate plays an important role to perhaps meet that special partner."
I have a confession to make: when it comes to popular culture, I'm getting less and less of a clue .... Although I am comforted by being in good company. The late Howard Thurman, theologian and teacher, pointed out that in terms of a sense of destiny there are two main questions to be asked in this order: First: "Where am I going?" and Second: "Who will go with me?" If those questions are asked in the wrong order, he admonishes,"then you're in trouble". But I'm quite sure that AOL's kind of destiny was not the auction winners vision of a talk today, for this is the subject chosen by the Serendipity Auction winner; nor does it represent the original meaning of the word "destiny."
"Destiny," meaning "from the stars," originally emerged from the sense of directing someone or something towards a particular purpose. It has since formed the meanings of the inevitable or necessary fate to which a particular person or thing is destined, or a predetermined course of events considered as something beyond human power or control. Destiny is also believed to be the power or agency that predetermines events. From the beginning of time, humans have understood their frailty in the wide expanse of the cosmos. The questions of choice and chance have occupied humanity since the very first moment of consciousness, and certainly after the first witness of death.
In Greek mythology, the Fates were three goddesses who controlled human life: Clotho, who spun the web of life; Lachesis, who measured its length; and Atropos, who cut it. The Roman Fates were the Parcae; the Germanic Fates were the Norns. All spun and wove the web of life. They existed in threes and represented within the web, past, present and future. The three weird sisters in Shakespeare's Macbeth are probably Scottish equivalents of the Norns. And the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future visit Scrooge to help him come to an awareness so that his choices can change his fate.
The triangle, a three sided figure, is one of the main symbols within the Enneagram, a geometric figure that maps out aspects of human nature. The wisdom from this matrix is derived from perennial philosophy within many different ancient traditions. "The heart of the Enneagram" writes Don Riso and Russ Hudson, "is the universal insight that human beings are spiritual presences incarnated in the material world (of flesh and bone) and yet mysteriously embodying the same life and Spirit as the Creator."
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff brought the symbol of the Enneagram to modern dialogue. He taught a combination of psychology, spirituality and cosmology that aimed at helping students understand their place in the universe and their purpose in life. "[T]he core truth that the Enneagram conveys," writes Riso and Hudson (p. 20), "is that we are much more than our personality. Our personalities are no more than the familiar, conditioned parts of a much wider range of potentials that we all possess. Beyond the limitations of our personalities, each of us exists as a vast, largely unrecognized quality of Being or Presence -- what is called our Essence." "In spiritual language," the description continues, "we could say that within each person is an individual spark of the Divine, although we have forgotten this fundamental truth because we have fallen asleep to our true nature ... we (can) become aware ... that we are a part of a Divine Presence all around us and in us that is constantly and miraculously unfolding." (p. 25)
Much like the Unitarian Universalist concept of the spark of divinity or inherent worth of each individual, the Enneagram is Universalist in nature, believing that we all can come into our sacred knowing, that we all have a way home to the unity of the Cosmos. "No matter what our past," Riso and Hudson claim, "we can take heart that even the most traumatic childhood experiences cannot damage or destroy our Essence .... Our Essence is waiting for the opportunity to reveal itself. In a very true sense, we are waiting for the opportunity to become ourselves. Our spirit is yearning to break free, to express itself, to come back to life, to be in the world in the way that it was meant to be." (p. 35)
From the Upanishads, one of the oldest known written religious documents: "The Eternal One should be known in the presence of your very own self." So destiny, in this sense, is a dialogue of action, set up beyond our comprehension yet with room enough for contribution, for manipulation, for conversation and for realization. Once a year during the Jewish High Holy Days, it is believed that the Book of Life is opened. Our actions during that precious time can alter the course of our lives and ultimately of humanity. Destiny, in this sense, is closer to John Lash's definition: "the expression that results from the full unfolding of one's innate potential." GK Chesterton: "I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act."
And then, of course, there's the question of free will. How much movement do we have within this cosmological web? Now, we can argue, as many have -- for centuries -- about the reality of free will. Our actions are ruled, in part, by influence and instinct. Our choices are often limited by privilege or lack of privilege, by ability or lack of ability, by knowledge or ignorance, by discipline or lethargy. And what about chance? Do we actually bring it on ourselves, is karma real and indiscernible because of its links to former lives, do we reap what we sow?
The serendipity of this gathering has some mystery to it. Were we all destined to come together? We cannot fully know the substance of the individual choices that have brought us together -- they are as varied as the number gathered. And yet we do share at least one common thread -- the natural impulse to seek something more, a relationship, a truth, a sense of meaning, a glimpse of God. We need the response of others both to work through our sense of identity and to gain a sense of belonging, a glimpse of the soul's home. The question of choice easily arises when we engage in a vibrant, welcoming community which forces us to recognize and negotiate free will -- both yours and mine.
The irony of this gift of free will, this personal space within the cosmos, is that it involves negotiating aspects of life that are beyond our control. Free will does not wholly direct the course of our lives, it is in vibrant conversation with the natural trials of living and creating. The misunderstanding about free will and choice is the assumption that it is about control. Choice is not about control. Choice is about response. Part of the sacred worth of human being is our response-ability. Free will is a calling to be active partners with the source of Creation: to reflect, by our choices, the gift of Life. If free will is thought of as a devise to control our destiny, its power is fleeting at best, more likely, an illusion. But if free will is thought of as a tool to discover again and again our response-ability and dignity in the enterprise of being, then the possibilities are unending. Our destiny, then, is that innate dignity, that sacred knowing of life's worth, that is the ultimate beacon for us to find our way home.
Life is a given; to honor it is a choice. A difficult, joyful, extraordinary choice. And once you've made that choice...to honor life ... there's no turning back. Nor any desire to do so. But our choosing may not be the choosing of another and that tension, the tension of diversity, is where are deepest learning and our most sacred trust lives. And there lies the rub. We can only choose for ourselves. The minute we start choosing for our peers we enter that imagined place of control which could easily lead us to the illusion of the power to we know what's best for others. We do not know another's destiny, nor should we ever presume that what befalls another is in some way connected to a larger judgement. We cannot know the deepest essence of another, that is theirs. If we are lucky we catch a glimpse of their beauty in our ways and walking.
If we recognize the inherent worth in the power of sharing our lives together, there will naturally be less violation, less negligence, less irresponsibility, less malicious comparison, less self righteousness, less sanctimonious blame. And the world will be that much closer to a just and compassionate society. And we will all be closer to understanding what our particular gift of life is. We are each an intricate, perplexing system of interaction, change and chance. We cannot be in charge of it all. And that is as it should be. That is a necessary part of our being. For it is interaction that energizes the cosmos. It is encounter and the response to encounter that generates existence. And it has been this way since the beginning of our time on this earth.
Duane Elgin writes: "I believe that the most far-reaching trend of our times is an emerging shift in our shared view of the universe -- from thinking of it as dead to experiencing it as alive. In regarding the universe as alive and ourselves as continuously sustained within that aliveness, we see that we are intimately related to everything that exists .... From the combined wisdom of science and spirituality is emerging an understanding that could provide the perceptual foundation for the diverse people of the world to come together in the shared enterprise of building a sustainable and meaningful future ...."
It is important to periodically ask the questions: "How do we live? What motivates our actions? Where do we honor relationship? What does our religious presence mean? What kind of life is unfolding before us and because of us?" Each life is unique. Each life bears its testimony of creation, its response to the gifts given and the lessons learned in our relating to one another. We each have something to say and to share. And when we die, whatever signature of spirit we embodied dissipates into the greater mystery, the world changes ever so slightly, there is a loss of life and a gain of wisdom.
Unitarian Universalism is a religious discipline that seeks to engender an optimistic view of the potential of humankind. With a discipline toward authenticity and building of character in community, we co-create our destiny. There are unyielding truths which we must navigate: our deaths, the nurturing of our bodies, shared space. That is the gift of our species: creating and recreating bonds with ourselves, the earth and the cosmos. We have the capability to be aware of the beauty in the world and to engage it, to praise the dignity of life known deep in our hearts and activate it in our lives. Perhaps we will all eventually arrive at the same destination, but how we get there, what guideposts we leave behind and what the cosmos learns from our living is up to us.
Dag Hammarskjold: "We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. But what we put into it is ours." Duane Elgin, again: "After fourteen billions years of evolution, we stand upon the Earth as agents of self-reflective and creative action on behalf of the universe. We see that we are participants in an unceasing miracle of creation. This recognition brings a new confidence that our potentials are as exalted, magnificent, and mysterious as the living universe that surrounds and sustains us."
It is a choice to praise creation. It is a choice to let go of our own self importance and see the wonder within. It is a choice to live our lives as if they are holy, knowing we are not invincible nor have it all figured out. It is a choice to field our destinies with healthy doubt and bold suggestions. And when we do this, when we learn and honor and leap and embrace, then the interdependent web will be strong with the resilience of authenticity, it will catch the tears of compassion like the dew of the morning it will dance in the windsongs of our praise and pulse with the joy of eternal mystery.
John O'Donohue, Catholic theologian and scholar of Celtic theology, speaks of the ancient wisdom of our destiny: "We live then, as thresholds, we aren't just on a threshold, but we live as thresholds between the great memory and between the new promise and the new life towards which we are called."
I'd like to close with more of his good words:
There's no need to feel judged, afraid or sinful but you should feel happy and
Celebrate your belonging to the great presence
Because at the depths of yourself
You're as pure as the dew on the spring grass
You're as bright as the dawn rising over the mountain
You are as youthful and energetic as the well rising in the field
And you are as rhythmic as the antiphon of the waves breaking gently and faithfully on the shore
You are in yourself a clay earth, a clay world
That is imbued and suffused with the rhythms of the divine imagination
You are already home and there is no need to be afraid.
So may it be. Amen.
Copyright © 2002 Lisa G. Ward. All Rights Reserved.