Within Judaism, there is also an ongoing discussion about this topic. Nearly all Jewish authorities agree that God has a grand plan for humanity and many smaller plans for individual people. Here is an outline of the Jewish understanding of providence, fate, and human purpose.

Self-improvement

In Judaism, the starting point is this: To achieve His goals, God has decreed that both good and evil exist in the world, and each person fulfills their life’s purpose by striving to acquire good qualities and overcome bad ones. For example, pride is a bad quality, while its opposite, humility, is a good quality. Mercy is a good quality, while heartlessness is its opposite. Being content with what one has is a good quality, while its opposite is bad. All qualities can be judged in a similar way.

To create an environment for these qualities to exist, God has placed people in different stations in life. Each station is a test for a particular individual, where all bad qualities can exist, but the individual has the opportunity to...

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