Fate

[merid]

I am interested in who believes in fate.

I personally believe in fate and I shall explain why, just so you can disagree with me. When I have acted upon something I realise that I was always going to do that. Which leads me to think about why I was always going to do that. To me, everything that has happened to me in life has made me who I am, so when I am going to act upon something, who I am dictates what I will do. Therefore fate.

Now, I know that you are going to throw random acts in. But I ask, are these acts so random? For instance you are driving your car but you are late and are in a crash, you are late becuase you had a phone call as you were getting ready for work/school. The phone call was always going to happen because the person that phoned you is who they are and the events that happened were always going to happen because everyone involved were always going to commit their actions because of who they are.

If someone asks you to pull a relative off of life support, what would you do? Can you really see another you, an exact replica of you making any other decision than the one that you make?

This is not fate, in that everything is pre-determined because its not. If lightening strikes you, yes you were standing in the spot at the time because of your own choice, but does lightening have a choice?

I realise this is just a load of questions, but do you believe in fate?

[Jgib5328]

If you believe in the 10 dimensional theory, then free will is an illusion because every possible situation and outcome already exists in the universe. So what you do tomorrow and everything that could've possibly happened tomorrow already exists, so you don't actually have free will in life since you didn't created those situations, they were already created.

If you don't want to look at the 10d theory you can just look at logic. Exact fate may not exist, but a certain degree may. Think about it like this, say you are born a 5'5 120lb male. Because of your given situation, it's impossible for you to play professional sports, no matter how hard you try. So your free will is limited. Now you are forced to decide what else that you can do in life, and again you will come up to another limitation and will be forced to limit your free will again. So in that case you don't have complete free will and some things were predetermined by your given traits.

[Moriarty]

I agree with Jgib's assessment that genetics (and many other envorinmental factors) will channel you into many decisions that affect your future. Like he said, not everyone can be a (successful) pro basketball player, or write the next classic novel, or any number of high-standard achievements.

As for the notion of predetermination in a mystical sense, I have no reason or need to believe in it so I do not. Considering that it (like many mystical beliefs) can't be proven or disproven, I'm forced to take a logical stance of agnosticism; however, my agnostic attitude doesn't mean I consider the odds of mystical predetermination to be fifty-fifty. ;)

[muguly]

If you believe in the 10 dimensional theory, then free will is an illusion because every possible situation and outcome already exists in the universe. So what you do tomorrow and everything that could've possibly happened tomorrow already exists, so you don't actually have free will in life since you didn't created those situations, they were already created.

If you don't want to look at the 10d theory you can just look at logic. Exact fate may not exist, but a certain degree may. Think about it like this, say you are born a 5'5 120lb male. Because of your given situation, it's impossible for you to play professional sports, no matter how hard you try. So your free will is limited. Now you are forced to decide what else that you can do in life, and again you will come up to another limitation and will be forced to limit your free will again. So in that case you don't have complete free will and some things were predetermined by your given traits.

Just a random,top of the head thought: if we do choose to subscribe to the 10 d theory, then would that 10th dimension, in essence, be god? Is it possible that god is simply a system of theories and equations that control and alter our world? Just a 2 minute thought.

[ShaiGar]

There's no proof either way. It becomes a philosophy of who's submissive and who's dominating.

[Antares]

I've stopped believing in fate a long time ago. All of my 'feelings' (those like merids) turned out to be false. Life is just a series of coincedences to me. If I become a millionaire, and I look at all the past events of my life, all the loose ends seem to be tied here; and all of the events eventually led up to this. So I was fated to become a millionaire? Or are they just favorable coincedences?

[thod]

There's no proof either way. It becomes a philosophy of who's submissive and who's dominating.

Not at all, it can be empowering. I recall watching an interview with a British officer about why they hire Gurkha's (Nepalese mercenaries).

The Gurkha believes in fate. He knows that none of the bullets will hit him. Only the bullet that was destined to do so can hit and there is nothing he can do about it. Thus he eliminates fear. He can run at the enemy machine gun with complete confidence that the bullets will miss. Fear is pointless with predestination. An admirable quality to have in your soldiers.