I’m sure it will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with my work that I absolutely do believe in fate/destiny.
I am of the belief that we are eternal souls inhabiting a mortal body for a period of time with the sole purpose of learning. Of growth and expansion of the soul. And that, in order to do so, we have agreed with ourselves the types of experiences and learnings we will undertake in individual lifetimes. And that if you do not achieve those goals, because you have exercised your free will in that lifetime and chosen something different, you return to that lifetime repeatedly until you do.
Why do I believe this? Well, there have been instances in my life where I have been in the right place at the right time when I should not have been in that place at all, and benefitted from that. When I was looking to buy my first property, for example, I happened to be looking at a different flat that disappeared from the market and the one I bought – bigger and cheaper because the seller was moving abroad and just wanted to offload it – just appeared in front of me. Like the time I was sure I was going to move to a certain location, made offers on two houses and even sold my own but nothing would go right with either move. The first house I wanted to purchase needed some very significant infrastructure works to it and the bank would not lend me the full money until they were resolved while the homeowner would neither rectify the problems nor reduce the price so the sale fell through. The second house I wanted to purchase was apparently going through probate swimmingly until it hit a very serious roadblock and I was advised it could take years to work through. Had I moved to the location I was considering, many things that happened which have brought me to where I am today quite simply would not have happened.
The biggest examples for me include going to university. I had applied for job after job to leave the place where I worked and was very unhappy in. And time after time I would be the second best applicant. But the process of going to university was as smooth as butter to the point where I could be in no doubt that that was the path I was meant to follow. Similarly, I had wanted to remain at Cardiff to study my Masters degree but the academic I wanted to study with was taking a sabbatical that year so I couldn’t. Consequently, I attended Sussex instead of Exeter where I met the person I had the now second most significant relationship of my life. It was there I found out what being in love was. And I learned so very much that I wouldn’t have done otherwise because it had to be with him.
I do think I have lived this life before and took paths that didn’t lead me to the type of growth and expansion my soul had decided to have. That’s where free will comes into the equation I guess. I feel this way because I have most definitely been forced down certain paths, so I think this is my last time in this life. It’s time for me to move on, time for me to make the difficult decisions I have had to make, time for me to make other decisions that have brought me to the place I am meant to be and learning what I am meant to be learning through the people I am supposed to be with for however long I am meant to be with them for.
I think I am starting to understand my path now. What my fate/destiny is. I am starting to inhabit that lifetime. How do I know this? Because, on the whole, it is fitting me like a glove. The process to assuming it has started to be seamless, and it is happening at the exact time it should happen. It isn’t a life I was anticipating necessarily, but that doesn’t make it any the less right for me. Doesn’t mean I am not starting to really love it.
I have written three books based on this premise. I channelled the trilogy on the basis that fate/destiny is real even if it is tempered with free will. And as I wrote the words, I began to realise that at a truly fundamental level I completely agreed with the message that was coming together. The only difference between my beliefs and the books is that the past lives of my main characters happened in a linear fashion whereas I believe everything is happening all at the same time so we can jump from the 21st century back to the 9th century if we want to, if the growth and learning we want to experience is best done in that period.
So, yes, I do believe in fate/destiny. I don’t expect people to agree with me, that is entirely their prerogative. But fate/destiny is actually at the core of my beliefs.
Louisa Simpson 