Character is Fate

For those into philosophy, "Heraclitus" should be a familiar name to most. After all, he's probably one of the first to say that character is fate. But I first came upon this notion during my junior college days. As part of my class' English Literature syllabus, we had read Thomas Hardy's "The Mayor of Casterbridge". And of course we debated at length if Henchard's character caused his rise and downfall.

For a long time, I've always thought that we were destined for greatness or ignominy based on our character, and there was nothing we could do about it. I'm talking about those of us who aren't born great and who aren't likely to have greatness thrust upon us. But I was wrong, and I suspect I'm not the only one. Of course our life is an outcome of the choices we make. And our choices are grounded in our character. But we're not victims of our character because we can decide to change our character, and this is what differentiates us from animals.

Regardless of our background, education and experiences, we can choose to rise above our circumstances and cultivate a good character. I'm not saying that it'll be easy, but we can decide to overcome or be overcomed by what we've gone through. If you persevere, you'd end up with a tenacious attitude to deal with all kinds of circumstances and achieve success. So re-shape your character and your new choices will pave the way for a brighter future!

Comments

kaweah said…
Hi Bibliomaniac. Greetings from California.

I find it curious that I happen to read something different into that aphorism. I don't claim to know what Heraclitus really meant, but it seems to me that he was saying that one's character is one's fortune; that is, not that character *leads* to destiny, but that one's character is one's destination. It's not where you are when you die, but rather *who* you are right now.

-Dan
August 18, 2008 at 12:05 AM
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