I don’t believe in fate, but I do like the idea of fate.
It’s such a typically human thing to think: we’re so important that god or the universe (or whatever) has a vested interest in making our lives turn out a certain way. We crave meaning, and what could be more meaningful than being assigned a specific task by the creative force that made all life possible?
I think what our tendency to believe in fate actually speaks to is our (again, typically human) ability to make sense of our lives by retroactively applying a story arc to everything that happens to us. And that’s a pretty good survival tool, when you think about it. If our big human brains curse us with the knowledge that so much is random, it’s pretty great that those brains also give us the ability to apply reason and patterns and narrative to all the randomness.
And on those rare occasions in our lives when things just fall into place, it’s a wonderful thing to experience. Thinking of all the small things that had to go right for you to meet a specific person, it feels so great that it’s hard not to think of it as having been planned by a higher power. Charlotte Bronte put it poetically in “Jane Eyre” – “It is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame.”
I’m not sure if Taylor Swift believes in fate but her 2020 song “Invisible String” captures the wonder of fate (or coincidence) just about as nicely as Charlotte Bronte.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The production on this whole album has been widely praised, and a good chunk of that praise goes to Aaron Dessner of The National who produced it. The key production choice in this song is the guitar, which has a wonderfully soft sound to it, likely the result of a rubber bridge.
2. Like any Taylor Swift song, it’s catchy enough to stick in your head for days, especially the descending melody on the “meeeeee” in the chorus.
3. The lyrics make me think that maybe Taylor Swift both does and doesn’t believe in fate. “Isn’t it just so pretty to think / All along there was some invisible string tying you to me?” That line from the chorus, despite mentioning the invisible string of destiny, phrases it like a question posed by someone who isn’t sure if it’s real or just poetic.
Recommended listening activity:
Deciding what to do tomorrow by flipping a coin.