Que Sera Sera

So . . . when I was just a little girl, I asked my mother what I would be - will I be pretty, will I be rich, etc, etc.  Anyway, Mom told me that whatever will be, will be (I prefer the Sly and the Family Stone version to Doris Day's).  This simple and wise piece of advice has since been distorted into a supporting argument for determinism.  In other words, a higher power than yourself has decided what's gonna happen to you, and you're just along for the ride.  This, of course, is bunk; no one has grand plans for you (except you, maybe).  Today I'm attempting a better explanation.

What if we were to just take the words at face value - whatever will be, will be?  Things are going to unfold in a certain way, and while it's true that ultimately we're along for the ride, it doesn't mean you're headed somewhere meaningful, thought of in advance, or worthwhile.  We flow on the waves on chance, taking us from one situation to another.  Within each of these circumstances we make decisions that we hope will guide us closer to our goals (if we even know what they are).  And then off to the next circumstance.

So it's not "whatever will be, was meant to be," but instead just that there will be one future, dictated by both chance and our choices (collectively), and no one has any idea what that future will be.  The mother in the song is simply saying (singing?) to her daughter that she should stop worrying about will happen, because what will happen will come about anyway.

Of course, organizations (e.g. religions, but not only them) have co-opted this concept into god's plan for us all, but it's run like a con game.  If things work out, thank god.  If things work out, well, god works in mysterious ways (just like how she moves in the U2 song).  Either way, it's all part of the plan.  Funny thing is, no one gets to see god's plan prior to its implementation.  That's like me claiming that I can predict what number you're thinking of with absolute accuracy, as long as you tell me what it is first.  Any event, no matter how positive or negative fits into god's plan (or a business's plan, or a government's) because the plan is the outcome.  Que sera sera.

Unless parallel universes exist, there is only one unfolding of history (with infinite perceptions and interpretations of it, but that's for another day), and that's what will be.  I for one choose to look at it as how I can do the best in my circumstances rather than believe that there is a future mapped out for me.  Follow the tremendous words of Gene Hackman's sermon towards the beginning of The Poseidon Adventure, the gist of which is that you shouldn't wait for a higher power to save you, but rather save yourself (which he ultimately doesn't do in the movie). 

After all, the future's not ours to see, not because we aren't privy to the blueprint, but because it hasn't been created yet.