After many vain attempts to find a satisfactory explanation of why our lives are the way they are I have decided to try and find an explanation in the clutter of my own mind. The germ of this idea has been growing in my head for a few months now and it has become necessary to write it down before I confuse myself further. It is probable that the idea exists already, but not having yet encountered it outside my mind I am going to try and explain it to myself.
Fate has never satisfied me as an explanation for life's events. Fate, destiny, kismet, taqdeer, call it what you will, seems to be applied almost as a convenient afterthought once an event has occurred. My main issue with the fate theory is that it discourages analysis and is intrinsically bound to religious faith. Fate has been and is used to frequently explain away great misery. Whole groups of peoples have been held down, oppressed and slaughtered around the world, and for an explanation we get a shrug and "Fate". These events are not limited to dictatorships or autocracies either.
On the other hand there are many things that cannot be explained by the choice school of thought either. It is true that a large part of our day-to-day lives are determined by individual choice and we can shape our futures for the most part by conscious choices. However, in circumstances of "choice inhibition" (this concept is borrowed from Amartya Sen), individual choice is negligible and its outcome minuscule, and we once again lean back on kismet.
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