What is Fate?
'''Fate''' or '''destiny''' is the idea that the [[future]] is already planned even if people do not know what their fate is (what is going to happen to them). Humans in nearly all [[culture]]s have had ideas about their fate being “[[predestination|predetermined]]” (fixed in advance). People who live unhappy lives may believe that their misery is because of their fate and that they can do nothing about it. This is called being “fatalistic”. Other people may believe that they can control their fate by being brave and trying to “overcome” fate by improving themselves and their lives. In [[Greek mythology]], there were [[Moirae|three Fates]]. They were three [[god]]desses who determined when every person was going to be [[birth|born]], how they would [[life|live]] and when and how they would [[die]]. Human beings in many cultures had lots of ways in which they would try to “read” their fate (know what would happen to them). Sometimes they would try to read their fate in the [[star]]s (this is called [[astrology]]). In other cultures they might ask a person with powers of [[magic]] like a [[shaman]]. The Ancient Greeks often went to [[Delphi, Greece|Delphi]] to ask the [[oracle]]. There are lots of references to fate in [[literature]] from almost every country and period, from [[Greece|Greek]] [[tragedy]] (e.g. [[Oedipus Rex]]) to [[Shakespeare]] (e.g. [[Macbeth]]) and [[Russia|Russian literature]]. [[Composer]]s may express fate in [[music]]. [[Beethoven]] was thinking about Fate when he wrote his [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Fifth Symphony]], and [[Tchaikovsky]] when he wrote his [[Symphony No. 6 (Tchaikovsky)|Sixth Symphony]] just before he committed [[suicide]]. See also: *[[Ananke (mythology)|Ananke]] *[[Determinism]] *[[Fatalism]] *[[Superstition]] *[[Moirae]] *[[Norns]] *[[Fate (opera)]] [[Category:Future]]