That breath you just took. Would it have happened at exactly that time and lasted exactly as long as it did if you hadn’t woken up at exactly the time you did this morning? Would the meal you had this afternoon been different had you decided to wear some different shoes – as if they somehow would affect the way you felt as a whole causing you to choose a different sandwich? What if that sandwich you would have chosen had you worn some other shoes was poisoned? Would the shoes you chose instead have been your unknown saviour?

What if everything we did at some point in our lives had an effect on the future in some way, unknown to us in the present? The concept is based on the popular idea that if time travel were physically possible, changing the past in any way would have drastic consequences for the present and future.

If you hold your breath for just a few more seconds, you could delay things in your life by just enough to prevent some awful event occurring. Or maybe those few seconds gained have just inadvertently put you in harms way. Which is it?

The song you hear on the radio or on your MP3 player. What if it was a different song? It would change the way you were feeling no doubt. Would that alter the course of events too?

Of course, the fact that we assume there is a set course of events or a timeline to follow in the first place, is fundamental to this theory – but only when dealing with the unseen future. The initial timeline must be there to lay out any events that were going to happen such that events in the present allow them to be changed.

The question to ask is this:
Does this prove or disprove fate? If our actions in the present do indeed have a bearing on events in the future, this must surely mean that there is an event in the future already ‘placed’ ready to be altered. If so, this both proves and disproves the theory of fate, as firstly, it implies free will – the ability to make decisions and alter our futures. But at the same time, it also suggests that there is a future event to alter in the first instance and thus implies a pre-defined initial path. Fate.

Are you holding your breath?