How much of the tragedy of "Romeo and Juliet" is driven by fate, and how much by personality?

One dictionary definition of fate describes it as "the universal principle or ultimate agency by which the order of things is presumably prescribed; the decreed cause of events".

There are other definitions, however, they assume fate is a unchanging form, that is, that fate cannot be challenged. However, those definitions don't play into the modern sense of freedom and free will that we have come to understand.

We can view the play from two viewpoints. Treat it as a historical document which does echo many situations of the past, or view it as a entertaining social comment through which fate is universal because it was written the way it is, and thus fate will not change because the play does not change.

We will view the play as both of these scenarios, since it can be an echo of reality and serve as a comment on individual reactions to society and circumstances. Modern psychology teaches us that we all react in unique ways. Further still, research has identified various factors and patterns that an individual may take.

Fate could more more readily described as a four way traffic stop. Although the basic laws of a four way stop may hold true, any individual may break free from these principles if he/she decides. If an accident happens, how will we declare blame? While it is true that we could easily blame the causer of the crash, does this indicate a lack of responsibility of others involved? Did someone foresee a problem and attempt to prevent it? These small variables form a lattice, when built a lattice will show each individual's thoughts and most accepted course of action. If you build a lattice based on this four way stop and factor in only four cars, your degree of accuracy is low, hence fate, known as an unchangeable law, holds true.

What if we include more variables to build a more sophisticated lattice? Perhaps we add in pedestrians, more vehicles, including vehicles in mid transport. Suddenly the situation changes from fate to a foreseeable disaster based on several situations, action and reactions which combine. The accuracy of the lattice becomes greater as the degree of error is reduced by the increase in numbers.

An individual's response is always based on at least two factors: The person and the environment. Take gravity for example. If an individual jumps off a cliff to their death, is it justified as fate? Partially. How do we say that? Once they jumped, the fate, or end, unmovable result was fixed to a certain point in time. There is little that could happen to change this. However, prior to the point of no return fate could be described as a possibility or possible sequence of events depending on actions taken. Fate really then is a measurement of time, fate existing in at least 3 different stages of time. Pre, Moment Of No Return, and Destiny. In Pre, an individual has not proceeded far enough that anyone can say for certain that a particular action or end is certain. In Moment of No Return, an action has been taken that cannot be reversed. In Destiny, an action has returned results which are final.

To understand this, let's return to the variables and the lattice. Variables are points of conflict or possible points of contact. It represents any measurable span where an individual could contact another. Two people are an example of variables as they can possibly connect or repel each other depending on the situation. The lattice is a visual drawing which draws the various possibilities and pathways that might be taken. When a lattice has a connecting point, or junction, this represents a possible outcome. The deeper the lattice, the more accurate it is, as it has the ability to track any movement that could be taken. The personality of an individual will determine how they react to stimulus or a situation. Will they panic? Will they be brave? Panic spreads, so if one person panics, how many will follow suit? An individual is affected by others. If one individual breathes threats and violence towards others, others feel this and this social cue ripples across a room just like a rotten apple spreads it's condition. The lattice shows this spread as each junction point shows the connections.

So really, fate is merely a measurement of how deep or how involved an individual is. The rest is up for grabs.

Imagine walking into an abandoned church. Cobwebs everywhere. The pews have rotted over time, sulking into the ground. The ground creaks with every step. The inside of the church is a catacomb of shadows between the shining sun outside and the roof, ripped in pieces as if by a beast.

By the altar is a old rug that is more like a dust covering. Kicking it aside, a door reveals itself. Carefully, you open the door and peer cautiosly beaneath your feet. Beneath you oil lanterns are still burning. The room is the same as the rest, old and broken down. You climb down and look around this room of curiosity. Suddenly a soft wind blows by and the lights flicker. You hurry to the stairs and and climb up and start running without realizing it's pitch black. You trip over a pew and land on your face. You look up and slowly you realize there is no sun. You manage to make your way through the church to the outside.

You are greeted by a wasteland. Nothing remains save for one structure. A giant dome that appears to have no roof. As you enter the building, giant floating pads with floodlights attached turn on. The light hardly reaches the floor of the arena. It lights some areas up but it's harsh and difficult to look at.

Suddenly the ground trembles and a center pillar rises from the ground. A very low but distinct sound reaches your ears. It is the sound of a single breathe. It could be a man's last breathe or his first, you cannot be sure. It is deep and fills the air around you, making a cocoon around your body. At the same time, you notice strange holes appearing in the air. Suddenly the arena has statues. You look closely at one statue. One part of the statue looks like it is clean and new. But one arm is covered in dust and grime from what can only be described as passage of time. You reach out to touch it.....

Stare into the heart of the void, and the void stares back. Blink, and now the world is whole.


.....:::::Explanation:::::.....

The void is a place of non-existence. It's similar to black ice. You don't always see it, but when you hit it, everyone knows something happened regardless if they understand or appreciate the significance. The void represents holes or tears in synaptic relays. It's a condition where the mind will attempt to synchronize several pathways to allow a specific task to be performed. However, during this mapping process, a void is struck. The void can be anything from inexperience, fear, trauma or even synaptic failure due to physical or emotional damage. This void can have a wide range of effects. Some individuals have a short lapse in which the void pushes them into memory recall, temporarily suspending their ability to respond to others. This often occurs when someone isn't paying attention and is usually not pre-occupied with a physical task that would pre-occupy them. For others, this void creates a collision. They are unsure if they should proceed and are stuck in a plane loop. They may have short motor movements that go forward and backwards as they attempt to resolve the void.

Extreme cases of this condition exists in individuals who have experienced significant trauma which may have been inflicted in 3 possible ways:

1.) Physical Damage Inflicted By Bodily Harm, Voluntary Or Otherwise

2.) Medical Condition Beyond An Individual's Control

3.) Extreme Trauma Or Stress

In the case of physical damage, some of the relays and pathways are no longer functional and this creates gaps in the net. These gaps may be random or they may have a distinct pattern depending on the regions affected. There is no real treatment for physical damage. In some cases an individual may be able to retrain themselves to deal with limitations to avoid most problems.

Medical conditions are somewhat self explanatory, although there are two key differences in medicine, whether a condition has a cure/treatment and whether it is terminal. Some conditions such as chemical imbalances may be treatable to a degree while others (Cerebral Palsy) may not have a specific cure or treatment.

In the case of extreme trauma or stress the existence of the void may be falsified or genuine depending on the individual method for immediate containment. Immediate containment is the response of the mind to contain a problem. Access to areas deemed as "faulty" return a void status and may cause any number of effects to protect an individual from the contents of the void. This steers the mind clear of areas affected. A more aggressive approach is purging, where there is both a sub conscious and conscious will to purge memories and replace them with more suitable memories. The diagnosis of this type of void is more difficult as the void may be self inflicted to protect other pathways from infection.

...:::End:::...

How is it possible that despite having a great time, we forget places like deviantArt to the busy schedule of life. It's almost to the point where you schedule time in for little pleasures like DA. Works takes most of the day and what you don't finish at work you take home with you.

Despite that, I haven't completely given up the arts. I have started doing photos again, this time with new camera gear, but at least this time the gear came at a price and with a reward. I'm usually always wanting cutting edge cameras, which always leads me to a brand that may have great features but little adaptability. I purchased a Nikon D50 camera kit last week and have been impressed so far. The only three drawbacks I found...it's inability to operate well under sub zero tempatures, exposure reading and the fact that the unit has a rattle in the camera, which I have to go to the retailer and figure out.

I had a Nikon film camera, and I was in a pawn shop and picked up a Pronea 600i with a great lens. Granted, the Pronea 600i is a dead breed in that it uses APS, but that camera is for my folks who can just use it for basic point and shoot. The lens I got was a 24 - 120mm Nikkor with f3.5-5.6. It's a fast quiet lens that is really nice to handle. Better quality than any stock lens.

So, as I get time, I am going to slowly put some new photos here on DA, but no promise as to how fast, as time is picky that way, and work is busy as ever.