Dialectics: Fate and Control

Throughout our classroom premiere of The Matrix, I was overwhelmed not only by the striking and often disturbing graphics and stunts on the screen, but also by the striking and often disturbing thoughts bouncing around in my head. Amidst the lot, however, there was one which especially left a mark: how much control do we really have over our lives?

There are certain people I know who fall very precisely and cleanly into two separate categories: those who believe in fate and those who don't. My grandmother is of the belief that our future is written, so to speak, and everything we do is just a step towards a predetermined destination… somewhere out of our hands. My parents, on the other hand, think along different lines, both not buying the idea of fate. Though my mother takes a more abstract, spiritual stance when articulating her views while my father builds a persuasive scientific case for his, they both use the idea of inevitable randomness as the foundation for the nonexistence of fate.

But even they don't believe in full control over one's life.

So what exactly is at play in the shaping of our futures, and how much say do we have in the process?

In The Matrix, before being given the choice between the red pill and the blue pill, Neo had to answer a question which would shape his character for the rest of the movie.

Morpheus: "Do you believe in fate, Neo?"
Neo: "No."
Morpheus: "Why not?"
Neo: "Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life."

When I watched this scene, I subconsciously smirked because I related right away to that feeling. It is a comforting feeling… control. Having the steering wheel in your own hands. But after a little thought, it can be a little scary. The idea that the place you end up at at the end of your life is solely because of you and your own decisions is, well, it's a heck of a lot of pressure. In many cases, that's where people resign to the idea of fate, just to get that wheel out of their hands. So, in some sense, the way people perceive the potential of their future is purely based on comfort. Neo's exact word choice also reflects this: "the idea" of not being in control is what he didn't like, not the actual state of not being in control.

But even after Neo chose the red pill, the pill leading to free will, albeit burdened free will, as opposed to the blue pill of blissful and oblivious compliance to a pre-constructed life, he does not abandon fate entirely. Indeed his whole motivation to fight the Matrix is almost entirely based on the Oracle's prophecy that he is the One. Here, fate and personal control interact in a fascinating way. As demonstrated by the self-fulfilling prophecy of the vase falling, the very belief in and thus pursuit of a specific course of events often leads to that course of events becoming a reality. Highly psychological.

Now, in an age where we are more in control than ever, with our fingertips dictating the movement of files and figures in the cyber world in addition to the material one, it is also very easy to get lost. Though the master of the tangible and now even intangible, the metaphysical remains out of reach.

With the unlikelihood that we are completely without a say in the course of our future, pure fate does not seem like a possibility to me. Influence is no doubt a human capability, but control remains an uncertain one. That doesn't seem to be the correct answer on its own either. But leaving aside whether one belief or the other is actually true, I've realized that the act of believing has a surprisingly tremendous impact, perhaps the biggest one of all.

No matter how random life is, the human mind is more powerful than we often give it credit for, and after all, "the body cannot live without the mind".