Is there such a thing as foreknowledge of one's fate? Carl Jung thought that such a phenomenon existed. A patient of his dreamed of being in a skiing accident in which he was killed, and Jung advised him sternly to cancel plans for a forthcoming ski holiday. The patient ignored that advice and went ahead with his plans: He actually did die in a ski accident during that ski trip!
I am thinking of this because a friend of mine used to tell me that her greatest fear was of becoming a bag lady in her old age. I laughed at the suggestion: The woman was in her early fifties at the time, and was the editor-in-chief of a well-known magazine. She lived in an elegant apartment in Manhattan, commanded a substantial salary and was a staple of the New York social scene. That was fifteen years ago. Since then, she has been retired from her job, lives on her accumulated savings and has wanted for nothing. But I just heard that all of her money was invested with that scoundrel Bernie Madoff. She is broke. The destiny she most feared is upon her. What made her so sure it awaited her? Was there something ineffable - something that she just knew in her bones?