In Norse mythology there is this this concept of the Norns. You pronounce this, Norms. These are these female beings that create and control your fates. They were the most powerful in this mythology because even the Gods had to comply with fate. Although there is debate about this, there are effectively 3 norns. Urd, Vedandi, and Skuld.
Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld represent the three major concerns of fate. The Past, What is Presently coming into being, and What Shall be. It is no accident that Charles Dickens famous poem had the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. These three beings of live in a well called the “well of fate” which is beneath the mighty tree called the Yggdrasil which is in the other world. All nine worlds of the Norse mythology were held together by this tree.
No one worshipped the Norns, and rarely would one question or beg for reprieve from the fate given by the Norns. You simply could not change what they set. Fate was blind and immovable. There was no way to change fate, or impact it. The only thing you could do is to change your attitude and accept whatever fate had to offer in the best light possible.
Sometimes you have to really think to yourself, am I trying to challenge the Norns here? I think there is some value to fighting for something you need to do to improve your life, but are there times when you are “tempting fate?” We can waste a whole lot of effort trying to change the course of something that is just not changeable! Should we attempt to fight the natural flow of water rolling down a hill, or just join it?
In the early 90s, my course was landing me in a computer / networking technology career. That just seemed to be the path that I was going to go down. To resist that, or to fight that would have just seemed folly at the time. The water was rolling down hill fast and heading to a specific direction. I had a choice, I could try to reverse the course of the river or just get my raft setup and head down as fast as I could.
So if something is hard, that is good. Be content. Good things are always hard. However, if things are really hard, like the entire universe is trying to get you to go in a certain direction and you keep resisting then maybe you should consider letting go for a while and see where the norns take you?
Guy Reams
