Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours to see
Que sera, sera.
Fate is an interesting concept. Most people; well, most agnostic/atheist people, anyway...would say that they believe they have free will and act according to that. However, it seems common practice to shrug and say "if it's meant to be, it'll happen" or in retrospect; "we were meant to be". Really, that's an odd thing to say. In the case of romance and meeting your future wife/husband...quite often, the chances of actually meeting that person rely on so much; if a single link in the causality chain were removed, the whole thing would crumble. My sister, for instance, applied to Oxford for her BA. She was rejected and went to King's, where she met her long-term boyfriend. If you believe in fate, you'd say that even if she had got in to Oxford, they still would have met. But is that really that likely? I don't think so.
Hannah suggested that she felt foolish for feeling that saying an exam went well might be tempting fate and she would therefore do badly; foolish or not, I feel like that too; I also feel that wearing sunglasses will make the sky cloud over and that going out without an umbrella will lead to rain. I know how illogical this is, and yet I still catch myself thinking in that way and touching wood, or carrying out other superstitious activities (if you've ever seen me catch a glimpse of a single magpie, you'll know what I do).
It seems, then, that however logically we think, and however much we believe in free will, little parts of us cling onto fate and superstition and determinism.
6 comments:
what happens when you see a single magpie? i will have to investigate this... will catch a magpie and release it in your room or something!
as for some of the superstitions i read a book (ok well a bit of a book...) and it mentioned things like this (it used the bad things come in 3's). its because bad things leave a bigger imprint on your mind than good things. I think its something to do with learning from mistakes. so when for example you think of taking an umbrella and decide not too, if it rains you are far more likely to remember than if you do. If you do you think oh im glad i broght the umbrella, if you dont you are uncomfortable and spend all the time while being rained on and wet thinking about how you didnt bring the damn thing. see its just a mental process.
as for other superstitions, some are trained in by our parents when we are young. I never touch wood, i never got taught that till i was like 15 and didnt care by then. so they are a reflection of our influences while young.
And that may have been a bit mad and ramboling, if anyone wants to neaten it up i appreciate it.
Morning Mr. Magpie, Morning Captin, Morning Sir.
*waves*
*salutes*
*spits*
*breaks the circle of bad luck*
...any of these?
One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.
There are a lot of magpies where I live.
1 for sorrow
2 for joy
3 for a funeral
4 for a wedding
5 for dspair
6 for hope
then mine dies
do you know why its always 1 for sorrow? its cos magpies mate for life, so a sole magpie means its mate has either died or never been found.
I know it as:
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four for a boy
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret ne'er to be told.
So the same as Flix!
Okay, fine. When I see a single magpie I say "Good morning mister magpie, and how's your wife today?" and then I spell 'magpie' backwards. Three times. And turn around if at all possible.
Yep Ben, I heard the thing about magpies mating for life too, though I'm not sure if it's true. It explains the "and how's your wife today?" bit...
As Flix and Claire, then:
8 for a wish
9 for a kiss
And then I can't remember what 10 is though I used to know it.
I salute if I see one magpie, people think I'm weird and I guess I am but at least I'm honest about it.
*Someone sneezes*
"bless you"
"thank you"
*hannah claps* I save fairies too see :oD
I save fairies too :)
My friend waves at sheep, some Italian superstition about getting money...I sometimes do that, if I remember!
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