harold and oedipus

One question that was answered in Stranger Than Fiction was can we change our fate. The answer the movie gave to this question was no. Harold runs around the city searching for help and ways to change his fate and escape his inevitable death, but comes up empty every time. Also the question of whether or not we have the freedom to choose for ourselves is answered with a big fat no. Harold thinks he is choosing for himself in brief moments of the film, when really the greater being in charge of his fate is just suffering from writers block. Who we are and what is our role in the world is a question that Harold and the professor tried to answer when narrowing down which role and in which book he was in, when they came to the conclusion that the book that he was in was in fact his life.

Do you believe?heck yeah i believe blog

I believe in destiny and determinism, but in no way, shape or form do I believe in free will. You make your own decisions and you may think that that is free will, but really its all part of your fate. For example, imagine that you are at a restaurant and you have your mind set on ordering a steak the whole time, when at the last minute you decide to use your free will and order a burger. You may think that you and only you chose to order that burger, when in reality its your destiny to order that burger, there is nothing you can do to escape that. I do believe that your DNA and environment help to shape your actions too though. I may be contradicting myself but I'm on a roll. I believe that in order to fit into society, your actions are going to be like those of the people around you. Even if you are a leader and do your own thing rather than what other people do, those people are going to soon follow your lead and copy their actions after yours. All three could coexist briefly, and I say briefly because one will soon override the others and take control of your life like it is meant to, and you have no control over that, even if you think you do. You may grab the chocolate out of the bag but you have no control over which one you get. Doesn't that suck.