Understanding “Destiny” to Find Meaning in Your Life

Do you have a sense of where you’re headed in life? If so, you could say you have an insight into your destiny. It might sound far-fetched to some, but to others, there is an unexplainable “knowing” that helps us to make sense of the world and to see where we might be heading.

Your ultimate destination in life is your “destiny”. This word comes from the Latin words destinate, meaning "to make firm or establish" and destinare, meaning "purpose or design,". It’s the notion of an embedded state that will enfold for a person at some time in the future. The word “destiny” shares the same root words as the word “destination”. Thus, you can interpret it in today’s world as a sense of where you are headed in life based on your life’s purpose, which you may only have a sense of.

Destiny Explained in Mythology

“Destiny” is a universal concept. As such, the ancients contemplated and eventually wrote about the concept of destiny. For example, in the Jewish mythological tradition, Lailah was the Angel of Conception, who implanted each tiny soul in its mother’s womb. For each developing soul and by the light of a candle inside the womb, Lailah provided a preview of its unique role in life (its destiny) that included the adventures awaiting it in the world.

As the story goes, just before birth, Lailah blew out the candle, leaving the infant in the blackness of the womb. As the newborn emerged from the dark womb into its life, Lailah placed her finger on the baby’s lips, as if to say, “Shush.” This caused the child to forget the preview of its life and figuratively sealed the child’s lips shut. This left the child to seek and rediscover their purpose and place in life with only a misty hint of what might be in store. After all, achieving your destiny wouldn’t be challenging if you knew exactly what it was from the get-go.

(Interestingly and according to this story, your philtrum (the indentation running from the bottom of the nose to the middle of the upper lip) acts as reminder of the place where Lailah “shushed” you with her finger and caused you to forget everything you had seen about your life in utero before birth.)

In the twentieth century, Carl Jung espoused the idea of the “collective unconscious”. This is a universal “soul” that includes inherited, pre-existing, unconscious instincts and archetypes that are shared by all humans. As with the myth about Lailah, Jung taught that you are born with a forgotten knowing about your lives and the world at large. He surmised that you only recognize this knowing when you encounter universal archetypal patterns of traits and behaviors in other people and events.

Thus, under this timeless, mythological idea, there is purpose and meaning in the universe and in your life. As you participate in the world, you give meaning to your own life. You may discover, or “remember”, who or what you were meant to become, uncovering your unique destiny by pursuing your individual quest.

Distinguishing Fate and Destiny

Often the terms “fate” and “destiny” are used interchangeably, but it may be more accurate to think of them as two different aspects of your unfolding life. “Fate” defines the context of your life, including all the good and bad conditions of your life. These conditions include luck, constraints and limitations, family and other important people, your physical appearance and capabilities, the time and place in which you live, the beliefs you acquire, your personality traits, challenges, etc. In short, fate is all the moving parts that can either help or hinder you.

In contrast, “destiny” is the destination or result of your life. Think of it as your life’s purpose or the ultimate contribution you can make to the world. The finish line. Thus, you will experience the good and bad twists and turns of fate along the way, but it remains to be seen whether you will achieve your ultimate destiny.

No matter where your destiny lies, the fateful experiences of your life provide a fertile ground for learning more about yourself and what you must do and be to achieve your destiny. The problem is, you must feel your way along, never truly certain where everything will end up. As Kierkegaard wrote, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” That is, every person, every encounter, every setback, and every success collectively is your fate, which shapes who you become and acts in service of fulfilling your ultimate destiny.

This is important because viewing the longer trajectory of your life with the benefit of looking back over your history helps make sense of who you are becoming. The older you get, the more experiences to reflect on, and the more sense you can make of your life and your destiny. With this awareness, you are, in a sense, guided to step more fully into being the person you’re meant to become as you grow.

Where does your destiny lie? Is your destiny directly related to your career? Or does it lie in another aspect of your life? How will your current circumstance play out on the way to your destiny? Is it an opportunity to learn more about yourself, or does it hold a twist of fate that will send you in a direction you never expected?