A very good question: "Another way some might look at it as fate. Is it my/your/anyone's fate to be destined to strive/survive.......no matter what calamity/stress/or test is givien? Or is failure certain? Is everything/anything predetermined?"
No heavens, no, (i think) failure is never certain as long as there is such thing as the human spirit. We shouldn't accept "failure." One thing I have learned over time is that the nature of human existance is tied to progressive growth. Our culture tends to be "event" oriented and therefore reactive instead of responsive, for the most part. Yet, I think we can learn our way out of reactive behavior.
To give an example: I lost custody of my children to an NPD in the full throes of his affliction. Court cases, humiliation, everything a mother could dread. Even my family treated me more or less as a failure. Perhaps for a time I was. I persevered and continued to act upon my parental rights as a non-custodial parent. Thank God I did, because eventually he abandoned them after heruined himself financially, to the point that he fled the country to avoid prosecution for fraud. I was left to pick up the pieces. Which I did.
It was never been a perfect or ideal situation, but at least two of my children are healthy successful individuals with bright futures. My family, though very late in the game, came to see the strength of what I did. It took 11 years of driving 60 miles three times a week to reach the final outcome, in which I ended up providing a home for my younger children.
"Karma" in the sense of what goes around really does "come around." Act in faith and letting go of the outcome while being honestly instructed by the dynamics of the tests and difficulties one encounters makes the difference between failure and success. I think a wise man once said "if you get lemons, make lemonade."
