Monday, April 16, 2007
Fate
I have always been of the opinion that you create your own fate. You are ultimately making the decisions. I stress this with my sons, that you are your own boss. You can make any decision, but then you have to accept the consequences. I think most people are of this opinion.
However, it surprised me to learn Einstein believed in fate. I was reading about this in an excerpt from "Einstein His Life and Universe" By Walter Isaacson, recently published. In it Einstein comes to this conclusion because of his experience with science. Everything has order; the rules are cast in stone. It's almost too perfect. Einstein did not necessarily belong to any religious thought, but he was far from being an atheist. He believed something bigger was behind the universe and that thing had laid everything out.
I am a big fan of Einstein, but his belief in fate bothered me. It bothered some of his peers as well. Many argued that Quantum Physics with its well defined probabilities and uncertainties actually allowed for free will. Einstein would just quip back with the old adage, "God doesn't play dice." His deeply religious friends were very disturbed by this as most religions stress free will. The idea of fate is frowned upon by religious institutions because it moves the guilt of a sin away from the sinner (not my fault, just my fate).
Einstein's case for fate was strong (more so than what I just posted here). But, I still didn't believe it. So, I had to come up with something that fit his thoughts, but also agreed with mine. This is what I came up with.
God can of course see all time and space. He knows what decision we are going to make well before we do. Some interpret this as proof of fate, but it's not. He knows the outcome, but we choose it. I believe that God was like an artist with a canvas of time and space in front of him. He threw up some color near the 'top' of the art piece and let the colors flow and intermingle as they filtered down through time. This represents our free will. However, in an effort to refine his art work, God did touch ups at certain points to keep the work going the direction he wanted. This represents miracles and is key to this theory. If everything was set in stone from the beginning and fate reigned supreme, there would be no need for miracles. Whether it's the parting of the water for Moses, or some pre-Saint curing a disease by touch, only because of a lack of fate did God need to intervene in His space-time art piece.
However, it surprised me to learn Einstein believed in fate. I was reading about this in an excerpt from "Einstein His Life and Universe" By Walter Isaacson, recently published. In it Einstein comes to this conclusion because of his experience with science. Everything has order; the rules are cast in stone. It's almost too perfect. Einstein did not necessarily belong to any religious thought, but he was far from being an atheist. He believed something bigger was behind the universe and that thing had laid everything out.
I am a big fan of Einstein, but his belief in fate bothered me. It bothered some of his peers as well. Many argued that Quantum Physics with its well defined probabilities and uncertainties actually allowed for free will. Einstein would just quip back with the old adage, "God doesn't play dice." His deeply religious friends were very disturbed by this as most religions stress free will. The idea of fate is frowned upon by religious institutions because it moves the guilt of a sin away from the sinner (not my fault, just my fate).
Einstein's case for fate was strong (more so than what I just posted here). But, I still didn't believe it. So, I had to come up with something that fit his thoughts, but also agreed with mine. This is what I came up with.
God can of course see all time and space. He knows what decision we are going to make well before we do. Some interpret this as proof of fate, but it's not. He knows the outcome, but we choose it. I believe that God was like an artist with a canvas of time and space in front of him. He threw up some color near the 'top' of the art piece and let the colors flow and intermingle as they filtered down through time. This represents our free will. However, in an effort to refine his art work, God did touch ups at certain points to keep the work going the direction he wanted. This represents miracles and is key to this theory. If everything was set in stone from the beginning and fate reigned supreme, there would be no need for miracles. Whether it's the parting of the water for Moses, or some pre-Saint curing a disease by touch, only because of a lack of fate did God need to intervene in His space-time art piece.
# posted by chroi @ 09:01 
