Councious Destiny

Hey there.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written something. Today, you’re going to hear a lot of philosophy from me.

I’ve been reading a lot of books over the last decade, especially in the previous 5–6 years. From the kind of normal literature I was familiar with in my early twenties, I gradually shifted to inspirational and motivational books, and then, more recently, back to many classics, mostly due to Sabir's influence.

Lately, I’ve come across books that discuss philosophies, feelings, human emotions, manifestations, and so on. I’ve tried reading the Bhagavad Gita and the Bible a few times, but couldn’t continue. And now that curiosity seems to be shifting towards the Upanishads. Let’s see where that leads.

From all this information bombardment, I’ve lately been thinking a lot about what life really is. Is it destiny or choices?

When I was younger (not that I’m very old physically now—but mentally, I feel quite old. Let’s call it “mature,” maybe), I used to see life through a romantic filter. Back then, I wanted to believe that life is destiny—that what’s meant to come will find its way to me no matter what.

Then, for a few years in between, I came to the conclusion that life is only about choices.

Very recently, though, that belief changed again—into a new concept. Let’s call it Conscious Destiny.

It goes like this: life is a mixture of both destiny and choices.

Remember how Doctor Strange gives away the Time Stone to Thanos without even resisting in Avengers: Infinity War? It’s almost like that. He made a choice after evaluating the future. Doctor Strange could see the future, and so he made a decision that seemed foolish in the present, but made sense in the grander timeline.

We, of course, don’t have the power to see the future. So we might not be able to make 100% perfect decisions all the time. But we can still make conscious decisions.

So, this new understanding of mine—maybe something you already know—is that: at every point in time, we have a bunch of options in our hands. Like a menu for a meal. But unlike a menu, we mostly get to choose only one. And when we pick one of them, the other options—the possibilities, joys, and pains that existed behind those doors get closed forever.

Every day, at every point in life, we have choices to make.

For example, when choosing a college for the course you want to do, you’re not just choosing a course. You’re choosing far bigger things that often go unnoticed. You’re choosing a city, a culture, a set of people. You might end up settling in that city. You might marry someone from there. You might change your lifestyle, culture, even your language of your coming generations, because of that one choice.

Even though we come across many choices every day, not all of them are significant. But surprisingly, even the seemingly silly ones could change our lives forever.

In today’s world, even something as small as talking to a random stranger you met on Instagram could change your life. A choice you made, that didn’t even feel important at that time, could shape everything ahead.

Why is so much importance given to certain decisions in life, like choosing a partner, in-laws, a profession, or where to settle down, when life itself is so fragile and unpredictable?

Why can’t we just be a little more relaxed, happy, and go with the flow?

Yes, the unpredictabilities of life are real. And many aspects of it are pure chance—completely out of our control.

Talking endlessly about the things we can’t control often leads nowhere.

So, the truly important decisions in life are the ones that have the power to shift your entire reality. That’s why it’s wise to think carefully about the possible consequences of such decisions, instead of just making them based on momentary emotions.

People often talk about gut feelings. And yes, there is such a thing as a gut feeling. Many great thinkers believe it’s a form of subconscious intelligence—a higher part of ourselves giving us cues through the body.

But how do we really recognize a gut feeling?

To truly understand it, we first need to eliminate the immediate, short-term emotional reactions that cloud our judgment.

Often, emotions mask gut feelings, leading people to misinterpret what their inner intelligence is trying to communicate.

Many times, the decisions we make—ones that might look stupid to others, and even to ourselves—can sometimes lead to unexpectedly good outcomes. But the probability of that happening is very low.

Now, if you combine each of these possible decisions and the paths they open up, at every single moment, it creates an infinite number of possible destinies for each person in the long term. It’s truly infinite when you think about it.

Yet, some aspects of life can still be predictable, to an extent.

Where you're born, the country, the kind of parents you have, your gender, your gender identity—these all shape certain outcomes in relatively foreseeable ways.

And especially when you blindly believe in destiny and just go with the flow, the vast web of possible realities that could have unfolded for you shrinks drastically.

In a universe filled with infinite possible realities, it's entirely plausible that some individuals experience only a narrow fragment of what could have been. At every moment in life, we stand at a crossroads where multiple potential destinies unfold before us. From these, we choose a single path, often unaware of the countless others we leave behind. Each of these small choices, each "tiny destiny"—accumulates, shaping a unique trajectory. Although our choices at any given point may be limited, the combination of these decisions over time creates an almost infinite array of possibilities. In essence, life becomes a complex web of permutations and combinations, formed from the options we encounter at every juncture, ultimately crafting a singular and unrepeatable personal destiny. Kind of like " free will within bounded choice ".

Then again, these quantum realities and multiverse? It is too much for my current reality to interpret. If I ever get that level of wisdom, we will talk about that.

Does it make any sense?

Deepa