Blog #2- Oedipus Rex

I will be the first to admit that I am not a religious person. I do not firmly believe in a higher power that controls the world. When it comes to fate, however, I am a bit torn on whether or not I believe in it. First of all, what is fate? It is defined as being a person's "destiny", or something that is unavoidable and predetermined. So, that means that some kind of higher power has already decided and mapped out every single person's life, right? Well, when I think of fate I do not think of it in that particular sense. I think more along the lines of fate meaning that some event or some action was meant to happen, not really that it was planned to happen. The easiest example I can think of is two people falling in love. The reason they met is not because some one planned it to happen, but rather because they probably have similar interests. They met at a library because they both enjoy reading or maybe at a football game because they are fans of the same team. The two of them are meant to be together because they have the same likes and dislikes. I highly doubt it was planned by God. Therefore, when I think of fate I think "right place, right time", not "this was planned". I believe everyone is in control of their life to some degree, and because of everyone's own control coincidences occur and everybody's life is changed in one way or another.

Now, because I do not believe that everybody's life is planned by someone or something and that they have sole control over their actions, I also believe that Oedipus had control over his actions. No one forced him to sleep with his mother and bear children with her or to murder King Laios. He did those things on his own accord, despite what people back then might have believed. Every person alive during that time probably thought that it was King Oedipus' unfortunate fate and he was just an unlucky person. However, because of my lack of belief in a higher power I also lack in the belief of fate. Therefore, I believe that Oedipus made the choices he did, whether it was with a sober mind or not, because even if he was not sober, then that also was his choice.