It is because it was always meant to be so.
It is because it was always supposed to be so.
What is the difference between meant and supposed? There must be more but all I can deconstruct is that meant is a verb dependent upon the unquestionable intention of the subjects purpose and supposed is a description of intention realized without as much value for outcome given to absolute per determination. Can anyone clarify this for me?
Best Answer
As an aside, I would start both sentences with It is so,.
Something that is meant to be a certain way certainly indicates a purpose on the side of an agent that supposedly made it so.
Something that is supposed to be a certain way indicates a certain expectation from the side of the observer.
The artist has the intention to shock.
Well, I heard that he meant to shock people with his art, but honestly, I do not find it shocking at all.
However, supposed can also mean that something is expected to be a certain way because it is the proper way for things to be:
Sometimes we can actually substitute meant in those cases:
However, more commonly you would use should as a substitution:
In your example, I would use meant.
Using the first sense of supposed, it was always supposed to be so seems like a rather non-committal ah well, we always expected it to be so, which can hardly be an explanation of why it is so.
Using the second meaning, it was always supposed to be so seems to indicate that in the past this was how things should be - but no longer. So again, it doesn't explain why it is so at present. If you change it to the present tense, you can get the desired meaning: