Well done to everyone who posted for this QOTW! It was NOT an easy question at all and I know you all had to dig deep to really figure out for yourself where you stand. I also had no idea how to answer this question until i started writing. Its funny how sometimes the very act of writing can help us to figure some of life’s great ponderances out. Well this week around 120 of you managed which is amazing, so thank you all for joining in and contributing to this global collaboration. I would really love to include all your posts in this curation as i used to do, but QOTW has grown so much that is not even possible any more. So if you are curious to scroll through the many posts then that is what the #qotw tag is for!

As always though i have chosen a handful of posts to share with you, so if you would like to see a snapshot of what the community thing then check out the posts below. I try to include a diverse range of posts with different opinions and ideas, because we are all so different and there is no right or wrong answer to this. SO, THANK YOU to everyone who joined in, it really is amazing how much engagement this QOTW gets, even on these very deep and spiritual questions. That makes me very happy!

@ecotrain is a global Hive community gathered around the concept of natural giving, living in harmony with nature and making our world a better place. Changing the world starts with changing ourselves and the way we live, love, work and create together as communities . We deliberately and consciously curate those posts, blogs & vlogs which speak to the issues, challenges and needs of community living and the emerging Hive ecoVillage communities around the world.

@gone-hive

MY BELIEVE ON DESTINY My concept on destiny is based on a quotation by Thomas Merton, who said, "There is only one thing necessary for everyone of us: to fulfill our own destiny, according to God's will, to be what God wants us to be." The basic meaning of destiny is a preset sequence of events or outcomes. My idea of destiny is based on the fact that there is an existence of a higher power or source ( being ) that is saddled with the responsibilities of determining what the outcome of the preset sequence of events would be. This power can be regarded from a religious standpoint, since we can claim that the name of what we worship is the power source, regardless of the religion we follow.

Personally, I believe that the majority of our own life experiences were predestined to occur, and that meeting the individuals we encounter along the way in life is essentially living a predestined existence. Our fates are diverse, and it reflects our life's purpose. We often refuse to accept it, even though it may be acceptable to others. This is the primary reason why Elon Musk could give a thousand recommendations on how he become the world's richest man, and I could follow those tips to a tee and nothing would work. It's as easy as that; nature has a different agenda for me than she does for Elon. Our fates cannot be changed, but they can be improved. Life is rarely sweet and rosy when we first begin, but with time and effort, we can improve our lives. The key to understanding our fates is to figure out what our purpose on this planet is, or to answer the question, "What am I here for?"

@sidalim88

Karma can be understood as the set of actions that we perform in our life and that cause certain reactions or changes in the existence of the individual, it is a serious mistake to think that if we act badly in life in the same way we can go, remember that God gives us the freedom of will and therefore we have the power to make our own decisions and not only from there will derive our future or destiny.

In the meantime, destiny should be considered as the divine purpose with which we are born and must fulfill on earth. Once in my work as a teacher I remember that a colleague asked me what I thought about the existence of us human beings here on earth and even though my path was not inclined under the guidelines of God's law my answer was precise and concise, we are here on earth to fulfill a mission that God gave us to each person and that is why some may die young or at an early age.

@trucklife-family

We create our own reality, by choosing were our energy flows. That is how, we bring things to life. From the moment we wake up, we become creators. Those first thoughts that form in our mind, the way in which we react to them, that all plays a huge part, in determining the day that we will have.

On top of that, we are a part of nature and nature organically seeks out balance and harmony, which then stems outwards, towards all things that are living in harmony with her. It is the natural order of things, With all parts working together, for the benefit of the whole.

The same is said for our bodies, every organ strives to work in harmony with each another, but it is up to us to provide the correct conditions in order for them to thrive. Which really boils down, to what we choose to consume, throughout our lives. If we choose to eat shit food and spend too much time indoors, then we will put strain on our body and our organs will over compensate in order to try and reach some sort of balance.

@zeleiracordero-2

For me, without thinking too much about it, Fate and Karma are two concepts that, in some way, govern our passage through life on this plane. That is what I conceive from what I have read. But, I must look for more information and reflect to form a criterion capable of identifying patterns that connect or distance them, according to my own vision and experiences. Without leaving aside the wise approaches of @eco-alex, who introduces the subject in the following terms:

If you had asked me this question a long time ago, I would have answered that I didn't believe much in destiny (for lack of reflection), but I did believe in karma. And, it is difficult to believe that our life is decided before we are born and that we don't need to do anything extra for us to live what we have to live. However, my vision has changed and now I understand that both concepts are not exclusive, but rather two braided threads with us, beings triadic by nature, if this expression fits.

I don't know if by inspiration or by an excess of imagination, but it seems to me that one can associate the vision of destiny and karma in direct relation with quantum mechanics. It seems to me, at the end of the day, that the possibility of the existence of alternative realities or "multiple parallel universes due to quantum decoherence" could explain the intricate web of destiny and karma.

@acont

This week's question in EcoTrain is quite profound. I've been wondering for a few days whether to answer such a difficult question: Destiny? karma? can both be true? who or what is behind it all...?

I think we can start by trying to define or differentiate the two. From my own words, I think destiny would be where we are headed. It is where our actions or decisions direct us to, regardless of what or how that destiny is.

Karma, from my point of view, would be the "judgment". It is more related to morality, to the "goodness" or "badness" in our actions. If we do something "good" something good will happen to us later on. It would be basically that (I am not an expert on the subject).

I think the two would be interrelated. Destiny is the end of the road, while Karma would be the "judgment" or the good or bad things that happen to you along the way. But there is one thing that both seem to have in common: a path. We choose which path to take, but how free are we to choose?

@eco-alex

On the face of it, this question is quite challenging! How can we believe in fate or destiny if it is our actions that determine our life's experiences? Can certain things be fixed, pre determined and yet other things be flexible and respond to our actions, thoughts and feelings? I hope to shed some light as I delve into this curious conundrum.

Who is in control of our destiny? If it exists, when was it chosen? Did we choose it in a time and place that we have long forgotten? Or, did a great being that we call God choose it for us, mapped out in some kind of divine plan that preceded everything that is?

I believe that destiny is a place that we choose, and continue to choose in each moment. It may sound strange, but perhaps destiny is not quite as fixed as we may imagine. What if our destiny is shaped and tuned with each and every choice that we make in this world? What if all potential outcomes of our lives exist together, layered in an infinite realm of possibilities? What if when we act and react to life's experiences we shift and move from one potential to another, in each and every moment?

@truelovemom

With regard to destiny, first of all I maintain that we are shaping destiny, day after day and year after year, with the sum of our decisions that are the fruit of our free will and then I will talk about those good or negative things that can happen without the intervention of our very free will. What we do determines who we are and I believe that equals come together in life; Thus it ends up happening that gossips hang out with gossips, artists hang out with artists, drinkers very rarely hang out with abstainers, and criminals almost always hang out with bad people like them. Each of us hangs out with people for whom he feel affinity and avoids hanging out or being with those he dislikes.

James 1:13-14 says: "13 When someone is tempted, do not say that he is tempted by God, because God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. 14 but each one is tempted, when of his own concupiscence he is attracted and seduced."

Consequently, we are attracting people who are related to what we are doing. Then when we run into someone it is we who will be responsible for continuing or stopping any relationship we may have. And what happens when we can't avoit it?

@draysax

Can we really say Destiny and Karma are true.
Or one is truer than the other. Or none?

I usually choose to answer these questions by sparking up more questions in your mind. It keeps the fire of true discovery ongoing in your mind. So I'm coming in on this somewhat neutral.

In living, we might generally have a tendency to attribute our successes or our failures to some sort of moral factor e.g. Not getting help because you have not been kind enough.

Although, it might be difficult to prove the outcome of a person's experience as resulting from his predetermined Destiny or Karma, an undeniable fact is that some of our experiences are as a result of decisions we make.
We are more often than not a product of what we have done in the past, what we are doing, the influences we have had on people and the influences others have had on us.

But what if there is some "unseen" influence that directs our outcomes in life?
Usually, that's where our beliefs come in. Some believe in Destiny as predetermined, irrespective of what you do, some believe it exists but can be influenced by your choices or other 'forces'.
Similarly, some believe Karma happens to people, especially as a reward for inhumanity.
There are various viewpoints to these depending on the school of thought your belief subscribes to.

@josediccus

In a comprehensive way, destiny is a predetermined or inevitable course of events that is bound to happen to a person irrespective of their how differently their lives turns out. Let us firstly understand that destiny is a spiritual and not a logical concept. We as humans have come to accept that the there's more to life than we can see, feel, know or even comprehend. The concept of destiny is born out of the acceptance that the spiritual aspect of the existence of man irrespective of how inconspicuous it appears to be, controls the physical that we all know.

This is to say that before a person can accept the concept of destiny, they have to be spiritually incline and believing that every course of events that happens in the life of man no matter the road they take, the change they enacted, the life-changing decisions they make will result in one particular outcome as decided or perceived by an all-powerful and all knowing sovereign entity; God.

Now because I am a spiritually inclined person, I believe in destiny, but I do not believe that it is static, redundant or overly irreversible like so many people champion it to be. This is because why I'm spiritually inclined, I'm a logical and realistic person because I do believe that we have to attain a state of balance in every of our belief, in other to form our own workable perception of what is and what "isn't". I would have to refer to the Bible.

A man called Jabez, his destiny was to be poor, miserable and unfortunate and this was because the circumstances that surrounded his existence determined his destiny. A lot of people do not know that the concept of destiny is often coined from the circumstances that revolves around one's state of reality. This Jabez of a person changed the course of his destiny, by taking actions, real-time spiritual and physical decisions that eventually changed the course of his life.