Monday, June 20, 2005

Fate/Luck/Coincidences

Every man has but one destiny - The Godfather
Is the world governed by some supreme power and the everything is predecided with 'luck' being used to enforce its will ? Or actions of a person decide how his life is going to shape up? I guess everyone thinks of these questions sometimes.
People believing in the former hypothesis are sometimes referred to as fatalists i.e. people believing in fate while the believers of the latter hypothesis can be classified as atheists. Some of you might be wondering about the sudden change of mood in my blogs from comic/humor to philosophy. I will tell u the reason behind this
I prepared for JEE in Kota as a student of Bansal Classes. However, I somehow also came in touch with R K Verma Sir and Dr B V Rao, teachers of Physics & Chemistry respectively at Resonance, Bansal's rival class. Both of them are very good teachers (perhaps in the top three of their teaching field) but more importantly they are one of the best people I have met. I did not study much with Verma sir but the little time I spent with me left indelible impressions about his personality especially his modesty and simplicity.
I know this narration is getting a bit lengthy but jsut bear with me for some more time
In my I year at IITR, I came in contact with Arun Sharma. We didn't seem to have anything in common but somehow we just clicked off. We used to spend quite some time 2gether. At the end of I year, he reappeared in JEE and left Roorkee for Kharagpur and we lost contact.
One night, I am just loitering in landmark in Forum (A mall in B'lore) and am stunned to see Verma sir standing just outside the shop. It had been 3 years since I had seen him and I had to be sure. But once I was sure, I had to go up to him and talk to him. Needless to say, he didn't remember me but still it felt good to just be able to talk to him even if for a few minutes.
Yesterday, i.e. Sunday I am just relaxing in my room reading a novel and there is a call from an unknown no. I pick it up (free incoming) and a voice from there says "May I speak with Supriy Shah". I was not used to being talked to like this on phone and replied "Yeah, Supriy here". And the voice says "This is Arun, I m doing my training in IISc Bangalore. Can we meet ?" The feeling cannot be put down in words but we ended up meeting each other and started up right after where we left 2 yrs earlier.
After these two examples,back to the original question. Fatalists will say Makhtub:It's written while atheists will say that all this was just coincidence. This is the real difference between fatalists and atheists other than their beliefs, isn't it ?
So let's have a discussion on this. I am not exactly a fatalist but I trust that there is something beyond normal human understanding that plays a pivotal role in outcome of the events. Some might call it luck, others might call it coincidence but I guess everyone believes that life cannot be defined totally using Mathematical equations or principles of Physics. Let's hear ur side too !

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

First of all... a very nicely written post. Even I am a Fatalist.
But what u call luck is totally a scientific phenominon, u think that what happened to u was luck coz what happened was unpredictable. Now it was unpredictable coz predicting future in not easy.. Its not easy coz there r so many factors that govern ur immediate future n in order to predict the outcome of this function FUTURE u cannot know the value of all the variables that effect this function... by variables i mean past events... anything that has occured in the past will directly effect ur future (butterfly effect..). If u read Stefen Hawkingsm, u must be knowing abt. time cone... any event in the time cone has a direct impact on ur future, now since u cannot ever know values of all variables at time... the outcome of the function FUTURE tends to facinate u and u name it LUCK....

Kaddy's theory of LUCK

Someone said...

Dude, I think u r talking abt Chaos Theory (Butterfly Effect). Chaos Theory itself says that future cannot be predicted as there are lots of variables involved. Read Jurassic Park for better understanding of Chaos Theory. Finally what u mean that future can be predicted if u know all the variables. But its impossible to know all the variables. Hence future cannot be predicted and we call it luck

Anonymous said...

Exactly.... Even i say that future cannot be predicted... but what i want to say that Life can be defined totally using Mathematical Equations or principles of Physics... (Last lines you wrote)

Someone said...

There r no equations that can help u predict future. Its a theoretical possibility similar to an ideal Carnot engine but not of any practical use. And I don't think that Chaos theory has equations, it is just a Mathematical theory.

Anonymous said...

Hey Supriy!!! :-))) ..... Nice to have your presence in my blog..... what are you studying??? I have answered your questions in my comment Box..... take care and keep smiling :-)))

Anonymous said...

about your post... while I was reading.... I was smiling.... almost about to cry(now dont look at me like that).... I think... fate/luck/coincidences are all synonyms... everything is predecided/preordained

Anonymous said...

Hi Supriy,
That was very thought provoking entry. I dont know what I am, a fatalist or an athiest but I know I am plain unlucky.Hehehehe. Besides I'd like to believe that I can control my destiny or the way I want to live my life. That gives a feeling of achievement and satisfaction. Having said that I do agree that some things are beyond our control and believe in the philosophy that everything that happens, happens for the best.

insane said...

well dude..fundoo blog.I think we had a discussion about this before.And as i said then too i dont believe life can be explained by mathematical equations.I dont believe in God but I believe there is sumthing called destiny..When things got to go wrong all forces of nature join and go wrong and vice versa.So guess i am towards side of fatalists but personally i believe in giving the best shot and hope forces of nature support u...

Anonymous said...

i guess i wud call myself a realist.. first of all nice blog..
now.. abt the whole.. fatalist, athiest discussion.. the fact remains that there is no 'scientific' proof to the existence of god, or any other supernatural force governing our destinies... as a student of science.. it becomes difficult to imagine the presence of such a power... that said.. personally i believe that 'fatalists' look at god for an answer to all their troubles whereas athiests blame god for their problems... i called myself a realist.. a person who acepts the presence of fatalists and athiests in the society and cares more about making a living for himself rather than indulging in discussions that have no end.. (contradicting myself over here cuz u were asking for a discussion..)

Anonymous said...

It seems that u really like The Alchemist. As far as i m concerned yes i believe in destiny, there exists a supreme power which cannot be defined mathematically.

Everything has been pedecided yet the the whole unfurling has been left to us, the course of action we take to discover what has already been decided is what makes the difference.

Read the book named- Jonathan Livingston Seagull. I m sure you'll love it