The Forces Within and Beyond

(A reflection on life, by Sal Godoij)

Many forces move us throughout our lives: class, health, trauma, family structure, historical conditions, discrimination, and opportunity. These are practical, visible, and tangible forces. Yet, there are others, more metaphysical, of which we barely understand, that still quietly shape our existence.

After a lifetime of observing the human condition, I have arrived at this reflection on luck, destiny, and the unequal weather of human life; a pattern I have seen circling the edges of many lives.

I have concluded that three inevitable forces inhabit us throughout our lives, taking turns to shape the outcomes of our actions. I have named these forces the Kind, the Indifferent, and the Mischievous.

You may give these forces any other name you like; for example, you can call them spirit, essence, presence, divine will, or luck. I call them “forces” simply because we are not as strong as we believe we are. Undoubtedly, there are forces that drive the changes that either benefit or wound us, and there is nothing we can do about it.

These forces connect us to the universe and to nature, and dwell within us from the moment of conception, remaining with us from birth until death. If they answer to anything, it is to something older than mercy: the grinding of the Earth, the sleep of mountains, and the black arithmetic by which the universe counts its dead and living.

Thus, I picture life as a great tabletop game where these forces are the players, and we are the pieces. It’s an intriguing game because, as pieces, we do not know the rules. Yet somewhere above the board, a hand older than memory may already be arranging the layout. We may choose how we move across the board, but we cannot determine the game’s outcome. The final move belongs to the forces.

Intriguingly, though these forces play for their own amusement, they do not know the pieces deeply; thus, they don’t govern our reason. Although they don’t command our impulses, our thoughts, or our character, they profoundly influence the actions that arise from them, shaping outcomes to make them favourable or unfavourable for us and those around us.

The three forces affect us, either positively or negatively, at any moment in our journey. No one escapes them. We may label the milestones of our lives as positive, ordinary, or negative events, but It’s these forces that set them in motion.

In our effort to understand them, we have invented religion, myth, superstition, and philosophy.

Let us observe what happens when the first of these three forces takes its turn in your life.

The Kind Force

The Kind force prepares the golden cradle at your birth and, as you age, rolls out a red carpet for your every endeavour. Doors open before your knuckles can touch the wood. The storm bends around your roof, hunting elsewhere. Even your errors return dressed as messengers bearing gifts.

Yet, the Kind force is entirely practical, devoid of emotion, keeping you firmly grounded in the present. It aids you regardless of your behaviour, thoughts, or feelings, though it yields better results if you are prepared. (Remember the old saying: Fortune helps those who are prepared).

We must remember, however, that favour does not equal love; indeed, favour has its own dungeon. A person carried too gently may never grow bones strong enough for the road. A cradle, even a golden one, can become a coffin. That is its hidden terror: it may feed, shelter, and rescue you while remaining as cold as a moonlit altar. Still, under its spell, the table is sometimes set before hunger has even named itself.

The Indifferent Force

The Indifferent force grants you dreams and hopes, but it will never intervene to bring them to fruition. It leaves everything to you, keeping you suspended between the present moment and an uncertain future. It allows you absolute autonomy, never interfering in your affairs. It offers dreams and hopes merely as toys or tools, remaining an aloof observer that neither helps nor hinders your plans.

The Indifferent force is not cruel; cruelty, at least, would be a form of attention. It’s more terrible than cruelty because it’s exact. It leaves the seed in your palm and the winter in the sky. It neither opens the door nor seals it; it simply allows the frame to stand, and beside it, the dark. Under this presence, you become either the architect of your life or the witness to its undoing. Dreams arrive as tools, not promises. Hope becomes a forge, and the soul, if it survives the hammer, may finally discover its own metal.

The Mischievous Force

The Mischievous force ensures that everything is difficult. From the day you are born, it leads you down a road riddled with pitfalls, though it occasionally conceals them beneath a red carpet. When this force governs, predictability vanishes; it may grant brilliant opportunities or snatch away every good chance, equally amused by your triumphs and your failures. It toys with your emotions, your health, and your fortune, sometimes giving, sometimes taking, but always with a sly grin.

You may curse your destiny or find gratitude in what remains, but you are caught in a constant trial of faith and hope. It’s exhausting because its mood is entirely unknowable, tossing your mind across past, present, and future. You might have everything perfectly prepared, smiling as success nears, only for this capricious presence to unravel your efforts in an instant for its own entertainment. Yet sometimes, out of sheer boredom, it allows you to win. Because you can never know its next move, you keep trying. Through persistence, it may allow you a few rare victories. This force is not purely hostile; It’s erratic, playful, and almost sentient in its unpredictability, creating a life of constant oscillation where hope persists precisely because certainty is denied.

Ultimately, these three forces reveal that life is shaped both by our choices and by circumstances far beyond our control. We can reason, decide, hope, labour, and endure, but we cannot dictate the outcome. The Kind force smooths the path, the Indifferent force leaves the reins entirely in our hands, and the Mischievous force disrupts our finest designs. Yet, in every scenario, we remain responsible for how we interpret our experiences and how we move forward. Perhaps our true freedom lies not in controlling the game, but in learning how to face the board with honesty, patience, and courage.

If you are looking for examples of the effect of these forces in your life, and how they affect you, I bet you have plenty of examples already. That said, based on your life experience so far, under which spell do you feel you find yourself: the Kind, the Indifferent, or the Mischievous?

Summary

This reflection presents life as a struggle between personal choice and forces beyond human control. It describes three forces: the Kind force, which brings ease, protection, and opportunity; the Indifferent force, which gives dreams but leaves their fulfillment entirely to the individual; and the Mischievous force, which creates uncertainty, reversals, and occasional unexpected victories. Together, these forces suggest that although we cannot fully control what happens to us, we can still choose how to interpret our experiences, respond to hardship, and continue moving forward with courage and awareness.