Is Destiny Already Decided?

This happened when I had only just begun doing this work.

The man came to my salon only once.

He had suffered a stroke and wanted to improve the lingering effects, even if only a little.

But I never saw him again.

So I have no idea what became of him.

What I do remember, however, is a story he told me that has stayed with me ever since.

The circumstances surrounding his stroke were unusual in themselves.

He had gone to visit a friend in the hospital.

As he was leaving the parking lot, he suddenly collapsed.

What happened next seemed almost too coincidental to believe.

That particular hospital happened to employ one of Japan’s most renowned neurosurgeons.

And it was that very surgeon who performed the operation on him.

The surgery was successful.

After spending some time recovering in the hospital, he was eventually discharged.

Up to that point, it was simply a remarkable story.

What came afterward was far stranger.

After his recovery, he said he began seeing people’s auras.

Some appeared red.

Others blue.

Others yellow.

The colors varied from person to person.

I have no intention of judging whether such abilities are real.

But it is true that some people report profound changes in perception after experiences that bring them close to death.

For that reason, I never felt inclined to dismiss his story outright.

One day, he went out for sushi with a friend.

As he looked at the sushi chef behind the counter, he noticed something unusual.

The chef’s aura was completely colorless.

Transparent.

“That’s odd,” he thought.

But he didn’t dwell on it.

The sushi was delicious.

The conversation was enjoyable.

And eventually he went home.

The next day, he received a phone call.

“The sushi chef from yesterday was killed in a motorcycle accident.”

He was speechless.

The man had seemed perfectly healthy only the day before.

Yet now he was gone.

And somehow, the day before his death, he had seen that strange, transparent aura.

After that, he became afraid to go out.

What if he saw the same thing again?

If he did, should he tell someone?

Could he prevent what was coming?

Or would there be nothing he could do?

The questions began to haunt him.

Ever since hearing that story, I have found myself returning to the same question.

Is destiny already decided?

When someone with a terminal illness dies, it is easier to understand.

Perhaps their body is already undergoing changes that can be sensed in ways we do not fully understand.

But an accident is different.

An accident is supposed to be random.

Unpredictable.

Something no one can foresee.

And yet, according to his story, he had seen something the day before.

The next day, the man was dead.

Of course, it may have been pure coincidence.

Human beings are creatures that seek meaning.

Perhaps we simply weave stories around random events and call them fate.

Even so, I sometimes wonder.

Perhaps life contains both things that are decided and things that are not.

The events that unfold before our eyes.

And something unseen flowing beneath them.

Which explanation is correct?

I do not know.

Perhaps I never will.

Sometimes I imagine what I would do if I were in his position.

I suspect I would find it impossible not to get involved.

Yet by intervening, I might somehow make matters worse.

The question circles endlessly, without resolution.

There is only one thing I feel certain about.

No matter how much we think about the future,

tomorrow does not yet exist.

You are free to believe in destiny.

You are free to believe in possibility.

But in the end,

the only thing truly given to us

is this moment.

Before trying to change tomorrow,

live today.

Before worrying about the future,

fully experience the present.

Perhaps that is the only thing we can actually do.

And perhaps, in the end,

that is enough.