Fate and the Futility of Doubt
Is Fate escapable? Can prophecy be reversed? The Ancient Greeks commonly wrestled with these questions.
Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus Rex tells of the prophecy that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. Everything done to prevent the prophecy from coming true is, ironically, that which ensures the fulfillment of the prophecy.
The Oracle of Delphi tells Socrates that he is the wisest man in Athens. In his disbelief, Socrates seeks to find a man wiser than he, interrogating anyone who claims to be wise. In his interrogation, Socrates discovers that no one is wise; he is, in fact, the wisest man in Athens because he knows he is not wise.
In Homer’s Iliad, Achilles’ mother warns that his death would soon follow Hector’s if he were to avenge the Patroclus. Achilles feared living as a coward who did not avenge his friends more than he feared death, and did not heed his mother’s warning, accepting his fate at once.
The Greeks seemed to agree that fate is inescapable. One can only heroically embrace it.
The question is not isolated to Ancient Greece. We no longer accept the idea of fate in our enlightened state; yet we struggle with the same questions. Only, we have changed the nomenclature. Instead of fate, we ask is man bound to his nature, or can his nurture overcome?
The 2018 documentary Three Identical Strangers tells of identical triplets who were separated at birth and adopted into three unique families. After 19 years, the brothers first discovered each other’s existence. The documentary counts all their eerie similarities even though they were raised completely differently: they shared the same tastes, personality traits, and suffered the same mental health issues.
Or take the case of the “Jim Twins.” Another example of identical twins separated four weeks after their birth. Both were adopted by separate families, neither of whom knew about the other. Both babies were named James and went by Jim. When they reunited almost 40 years later, they discovered each had a childhood dog named Toy, they both married women named Linda, got divorced and then remarried to women named Betty. Both twins had first-born sons and named them James Allan. They shared the same hobbies, and they vacationed to the same beach.
These stories fascinate and terrify us. All our science, all our culture, all our enlightenment is but a candle against the burning sun of our fate. We believe man’s fate is written in his genetics, not in his stars. But really, what is the difference? Does it matter how vigilant I am about my kid’s study habits if they are genetically predisposed to do well in school anyway?
If we ever were able to escape our fate, ancient wisdom is clear that it cannot be done through doubt.
No story sends this message more clearly than Ovid’s telling of Orpheus and Eurydice in Metamorphoses. Orpheus, son of the Muse, Calliope, is gifted with music. Soon after he marries Eurydice, she is bitten by a snake and sent to Hades. Motivated by love, Orpheus descends to the underworld and sings a song that stops the Fates and even moves Hades to compassion.
Hades agrees to allow Eurydice out of the Underworld to live her full life with Orpheus on one condition: Orpheus leads her back to earth without turning behind him to make sure she’s following. As they climbed out of the Underworld, Orpheus was consumed with doubt, and just moments before they reach the gates turns behind him to ensure Eurydice was following, violating Hades’ condition, and damning Eurydice to death again.
Orpheus’ failure and the futility of his doubt are echoed in Genesis 19. Lot and his family are found to be the only righteous in the wicked city of Sodom. Two angels from the Lord tell him to flee to Zoar without looking back. As they were running, Lot’s wife looked behind to see her city destroyed with fire and sulfur and turned into a pillar of salt.
The moral of Orpheus and Lot’s wife is clear: if you could escape your fate, you must do so without doubt. Perhaps Socrates and Achilles were right. The life of wisdom and virtue is not characterized by running from fate but running into fate.
Our Lord says in Luke 17:32, “remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.”
Fortunately, what the Ancient Greeks worshiped in ignorance has now been proclaimed to us in truth. Jesus gives us the full picture. He has brought about a new paradigm of fate and doubt. One that is characterized best in two New Testament stories that we will examine in part two of this essay.
