The Lexicon
Meaning, will, destiny
Destiny
Destiny is the shape a life is moving toward, the pattern written not in the stars alone but in the daily strokes of thought and choice. The ancient word for fate seems to bind, yet the wisdom traditions turn it inside out: character is destiny, and character is forged by what you repeatedly think and do. You are not a leaf on the river of fate; you are the captain of your soul, spinning your own future with every smallest act of virtue or vice.
Carried by 24 teachers · across 5 traditions · 14 quotes
This is the great reconciliation the teachers offer. There is a deep order, a plan unfolding, and there is your free response within it, and the two are not enemies. To accept your destiny is not resignation but recognition of the work that is yours to complete. Sow a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny. The firm resolve of a determined soul, said the poets, can circumvent no decree of nature, because it has become one with the law that makes destiny.
In their words
Character is destiny.Heraclitus
I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.William Ernest Henley
We are spinning our own fates, good or evil... every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never-so-little scar.William James
It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.Tony Robbins
There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, Can circumvent or hinder or control The firm resolve of a determined soul.Ella Wheeler Wilcox