Destiny is a lie. Destiny is justification for atrocity. It is the means by which murderers armour themselves against reprimand. It is a word intended to stand in place of ethics, denying all moral context.
Interpretation
Destiny is often used as an excuse for immoral actions, distancing the perpetrator from ethical accountability.
This quote by Steven Erikson critiques the concept of destiny, suggesting that it is a fabrication that allows individuals, particularly those who commit heinous acts, to justify their behavior. By labeling their actions as preordained, they evade moral responsibility, thus undermining ethical frameworks and social accountability. The quote challenges the notion of destiny by exposing its potential to rationalize atrocities and the lack of moral context it entails.
In practice
In a discussion on ethics, one might say, 'Remember, as Steven Erikson pointed out, destiny can often be a misleading justification for one's actions.'
Not even the lichen of the tundra is at peace. All is struggle, all is war for dominance. Those who lose, vanish. -And we’re no different you’re saying- We are, soldier. We possess the privilege of choice. The gift of foresight. Though often we come too late in acknowledging responsibilities….
We humans do not understand compassion. In each moment of our lives, we betray it. Aye, we know of its worth, yet in knowing we then attach to it a value, we guard the giving of it, believing it must be earned, T’lan Imass. Compassion is priceless in the truest sense of the wold. It must be given freely. In abundance.
I've spoken often of how the fantasy genre is able to, with the greatest freedom among all the genres, take a metaphor and make it real. But of course that's only the starting point.
Death cannot be struggled against, brother. It ever arrives, defiant of every hiding place, of every frantic attempt to escape. Death is every mortal's shadow, his true shadow, and time is its servant, spinning that shadow slowly round, until what stretched behind one now stretches before him.
War has its necessities...and I have always understood that. Always known the cost. But, this day, by my own hand, I have realized something else. War is not a natural state. It is an imposition, and a damned unhealthy one. With its rules, we willingly yield our humanity. Speak not of just causes, worthy goals. We are takers of life.
Information is the currency of democracy. It's denial must always be suspect.
There is no slave but the creature that wills against its Creator.
When good thing are accomplished, it does not claim (or name) them. This is Te, which is close in meaning to power or virtue. It is something within a person, and it is enhanced by following the Tao, or 'that from which nothing can deviate'.
To say that subjects in general are not proper judges (of the law) when their governors oppress them and play the tyrant, and when they defend their rights ...is as great a treason as ever a man uttered.
This world's existence is one night long. There's a great lively gathering that night, but some people sleep through it.
There is a danger to judicial independence when people have no understanding of how the judiciary fits into the constitutional scheme.
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