The Path Between Fate And Free Will

Dear Robert Frost,

Reading your poem made me think about various aspects I contemplate myself in many of my writings. For instance, you described that you “took the one [path] less traveled by, and that has made all the difference” (Frost 19-20). I believe you are referring to the importance of independence, personal freedom, and free will. Your poem seems to illustrate that once one takes a certain road, there is no turning back. We can interpret the road as every decision we make in life. Each decision paves the way into a new road, and depending on these decisions, our fate is defined. But then, by reading the title to your poem I believe that you feel certain curiosity of what might have happened to you if taken the other path. The whole poem centers on the idea of taking choice, which is exactly the part I mostly, disagree with.

In my point of view, Mr. Frost, all events that occur in life are determined by faith. Hence, they are beyond our control but we can accept whatever happens calmly and dispassionately. Individuals, however, are responsible for their own actions which they can examine and control through strict self-discipline. Suffering arises when trying to control what is uncontrollable, or when neglecting what is within our power. I believe that you must “detach your aversion from everything not up to us, and transfer it to what is against nature among the things that are up to us” (Epictetus 2). Therefore I discard any possibility of complete free will in terms of the course of events in humanity. Being part of the universe, we as humans must care for fellow humans and hence be completely selfless. By reading your poem I sensed an inspiration towards individualism. By taking the path nobody took, you are being selfish and not caring for fellow human beings. But at the same time, by taking this path you demonstrate that humans have free will. Free will is an aspect I consider beyond our control, because in the end our successions after taking either path are determined by fate.

With all due respect,

Epictetus