Destiny as Process: The Ship in Sail & the Tree That Bears Fruit

Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Living Ancestor Podcast.
This is your host, Ramon Castellanos.

Today, I would love to discuss destiny with you.
Specifically, the exploration of two potent metaphors that can help us orientate towards destiny in a way that is more functional and embodied.

Destiny as a Lived Process

One thing to understand about destiny overall is that it is a lived experience and it is a process.
It is not something that we can classify as a kind of noun, or even a destination.

Destiny unfolds through the unfolding of life.

Whether or not we are aligned with it has a lot to do with how we are orientating to the moment as it emerges, and how we organize ourselves in response to what occurs.

Two Metaphors That Seem Almost Opposed

With that said, these two metaphors seem almost opposed to each other in terms of the energetic dynamics they describe at an embodied level.

This is very helpful.

Each metaphor may speak to a different kind of person.
And depending on where you are at in life, if you are overly fixated on the one that feels most comfortable, then the opposite metaphor can actually be a kind of medicine.

They also both describe how one relates to the experience of life at different times, depending on what is happening.

So with that said, let’s explore the two metaphors, and then I’ll tie them together as we go along with what destiny is in terms of a functional process.

The Ship in Sail

The first metaphor is one that I have worked with a lot and spoken about often in my teachings, and that is the ship in sail.

This is something I have come across in multiple traditions. One of the ones that stands out the most is Hellenistic astrology, where life itself was spoken of as a ship in sail, and the sun sign, moon sign, and ascendant were understood as the different figures responsible for steering that ship.

This is a helpful metaphor for many reasons.

If we are consciously engaged with the sailing of the ship, then we are already in alignment with destiny.

The destination one is moving toward defines the ship in sail as a process.
If the process itself is not coherent and aimed at a particular outcome, a north star, so to speak, or simply a destination in and of itself, then the ship cannot arrive.

This metaphor points toward:

the management of the ship and its resources
the helmsman being able to see the helm
the ability to manage the crew
the capacity to keep everything coherent when dealing with inclement weather or disruptive waves

All of these forces may not be consciously attempting to derail you, but their effect can still pull you off course.

If you were to let go of the ship entirely, without conscious participation, you would not reach the destination.

This metaphor describes life as a journey.
A process.

A working process.

Resources, Skills, and Inherent Gifts

In this way, destiny asks us to understand what we have at our disposal.

This includes the food on the ship, the crew, the kind of ship you have, the maps available to you, the navigation equipment, and the knowledge and skills that have been acquired.

And when we speak about destiny, those skills are not only the ones developed through effort and training.

They also include the inherent and innate gifts and talents you were born with, which are products of the soul.

The soul comes with gifts already preceded within it.

At this level, we are looking at life holistically:
in motion
encountering obstacles
oriented in a particular direction

It is an active journey.
You are working.
You are moving.
You are responding.

If the process is coherent, it takes you somewhere.

But the key point is this:

Alignment with destiny is the ship in sail itself.
It is a verb.
It is the process.

Not simply the destination.

Fate and Destiny on an Axis

To deepen this, it is helpful to think of destiny on an axis with fate.

Fate refers to the circumstances that arise without conscious participation.

Much of life is fated.

We are born into fated circumstances:
the time and place of birth
the family
the body
the cultural and societal conditioning
the religion we are raised in

All of this establishes a kind of soil.
A ground.
A momentum.

That momentum unfolds in a particular way.
That is fate.

It is a set of probabilities driven by momentum.

A Miner’s Son

Imagine a miner’s son.

His father was a miner.
His grandfather was a miner.
Perhaps generations before him were miners.

From a fated perspective, he simply steps into that role.

There is no conscious participation.
Only continuation.

That is fate.

Destiny as Possibility

Destiny begins when something wakes up.

A recognition of innate gifts.
A spark of possibility beyond probability.

Perhaps this miner’s son discovers a gift for medicine, for systems, for healing.

The upbringing gave him discipline, responsibility, endurance.

Those fated qualities become resources.

He brings them into a different expression.
Medical school.
Healing others.

This is not a rejection of fate.
It is an alchemy of fate.

The Seed and the Tree

This brings us to the second metaphor.

Within fate, there is a seed.

A precededness.

And conscious participation is the catalyst that allows the seed to unfold.

A seed is destined to become a tree.

Inside it is a blueprint.

Let’s use the metaphor of a fruit tree.

A tree does not go anywhere.
It unfolds.

Roots anchor.
Growth reaches toward the sun.

If the tree has nutrients, light, water, and resistance from wind, it grows.

Eventually, it bears fruit.

The fruit is destiny.

Destiny here is not arrival.
It is fruition.

Excess Will and Excess Flow

This metaphor is medicine for those who are overly willful and destination-fixated.

A tree does not force fruit.
It becomes.

Destiny in this way is the unfolding of something already inherent within you.

The fruit you are here to bear is already inside the seed.

Where the Metaphors Meet

These metaphors intersect beautifully.

The way someone sails a ship is already part of their preceded nature.
Style.
Disposition.
Temperament.

How one manages resources.
How one navigates.
How one relates to the crew.

All of this arises from both fate and soul.

The ship and the tree are not separate.

They describe different dimensions of the same process.

Conscious Participation as Catalyst

When we consciously participate, we become the catalyst.

We do not need to go anywhere.

We do not need to arrive somewhere else.

Destiny is not a place.

It is the unfolding of an organic process that came with you into this life.

Destiny Is in the Process

I hope these two metaphors serve you.

They are myths you can return to when orientation feels unclear.

Destiny is in the unfolding.

Even if there is fruit to bear, nothing arrives without the process that precedes it.

Be well, my friends.