2. The Seemingly Chance Events of Life Are Actually the Workings of Destiny
World Scripture
No man bruises his finger here on earth unless it was so decreed against him in Heaven.
Talmud, Hullin 7b (Judaism)
Where you fall, there your God pushed you down.
Igbo Proverb (African Traditional Religions)
The order that God has arranged, mortal man cannot upset.
Akan Proverb (African Traditional Religions)
Whatever you do not wish to do because of your delusions, You will do even against your will, bound by your karma. The Lord, Arjuna, is present inside all beings, Moving them like puppets by his magic power.
Bhagavad-Gita 18.60-61 (Hinduism)
Yüeh-cheng Tzu saw Mencius. “I mentioned you to the prince,” said he, “and he was to have come to see you. Amongst his favorites is one Tsang who dissuaded him. That is why he failed to come.” “When a man goes forward,” said Mencius, “there is something which urges him on; when he halts, there is something which holds him back. It is not in his power either to go forward or to halt. It is due to Heaven that I failed to meet the Marquis of Lu. How can this fellow Tsang be responsible for my failure?”
Mencius I.B.16
Do not say about anything, “I am going to do that tomorrow,” without adding, “If God will.” Remember your Lord whenever you forget, and say, “Perhaps my Lord will guide me even closer than this to proper conduct.”
Qur’an 18.23-24
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain;” whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
James 4.13-16
For not of your will were you formed, and not of your own will were you born, and not of your will do you live, and not of your own will will you die, and not of your will are you to give account and reckoning before the Supreme King of kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He.
Mishnah, Avot 4.29 (Judaism)
Time is no one’s friend and no one’s enemy; when the effect of his acts in a former existence, by which his present existence is caused, has expired, he snatches a man away forcibly. A man will not die before his time has come, even though he has been pierced by a thousand shafts; he will not live after his time is out, even though he has only been touched by the point of a blade of grass. Neither drugs, nor magical formulas, nor burnt offerings, nor prayers will save a man who is in the bonds of death or old age. An impending evil cannot be averted even by a hundred precautions; what reason then for you to complain?
Institutes of Vishnu 20.43-46 (Hinduism)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Our meeting together here is the unfolding of destiny through which God is weaving all things into one. This is not a chance encounter. The destiny that brought you here was formed over a long history. Among the multitudes of people of the world, why were you in particular able to come here? Wherever you lived before you came here, Heaven checked your background [and determined that you had merit].
(November 4, 1990)
Despite all the difficulties and sufferings I endured after I came to America, I knew that I was destined to meet there with people who would appear out of the countless destined relationships15 that composed America’s history. It was my mission to guide them all to the path of God’s blessings. Since I knew these things with certainty, I accepted every challenge and took it as my cross to bear, in order that in my lifetime I could give blessings to the people who represented such greatness.
I thought that I would meet some direct descendants of the Pilgrims, born of survivors among the 102 souls who endured such tribulations that half of them died either at sea or during that first winter. I thought about how fascinating it would be to meet them. The knowledge of what they went through encouraged me to overcome the obstacles in my path. No amount of rejection, persecution and cursing could weaken my determination to fulfill my responsibility to seek out and care for the descendants of the Pilgrims who came to my church through the working out of their destiny.
When I was released from the prison at Danbury, I did not want to return to Korea straight away. I preferred to stay in America one more week, even one more year, in hopes of meeting someone beloved of Heaven. I waited in America because still I sought to inherit her historical tradition. Even now, whenever I meet someone new, I think about how long his or her ancestors have waited for this moment. Since they waited, should I not also wait to receive them? Do you understand what I am saying?
When you have that kind of attitude throughout your life, you have no cause for complaint. If you bump into someone on the street, even a troublemaker who tries to pick a fight with you, you should think, “What is this situation going to bring me?” Instead of rejecting it, be open to the moment as an opportunity for the unfolding of destiny. Maybe you look around and suddenly see a long-lost relative, separated fifty years ago during the Korean War when you both had become refugees. What is the likelihood of such an “accidental” meeting? If that person had not bothered you on the street, you would have missed your only chance to meet your long-lost relative. Yet what was behind that incident? What made that man accost you? He may not know himself; he was playing a part in the unfolding of destiny.
When something like that happens, you should stop and think about your involvement in the encounter. If you did not keep an attitude to welcome destiny, it would have passed you by. Since a seemingly chance encounter may be fraught with destiny, you should not take anything casually.
You know the story of Joseph. His brothers put him in a well thinking to kill him, but they sold him instead and he was brought to Egypt as a slave. There the wife of his master Potiphar tried to seduce him, and when he would not be tempted she had him imprisoned. While in prison and waiting for the day of his execution, he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and was raised to the rank of Prime Minister of Egypt. How, in the midst of his misery, could Joseph have even imagined that such good fortune would befall him? Yet these things opened the way for him to save the Israelites. Who could have known that it would turn out that way?
(November 4, 1990)