Fate

[Ginger Harp Seal Pup]

Do you believe in fate? I do. Okay, so it would be nice for me to have a boyfriend and was wondering what my next boyfriend would turn out like. I'm waiting for him to come along and I believe that fate has already set the future out for me. I will either find him or I won't find him. Heck, fate could even kill me off tomorrow! I believe my future has been planned out from start to finish. Fate has determined if I'll get a boyfriend, get married, have kids, fate has determined how I die and what I die of, fate has determined everything. My mom says I'm being lazy and that I'm just letting the world pass me by as I wait for fate to unravel my life for me. What do you think? Do you believe in it too?

If you voted in either one of the last two options, try to explain fully why you chose that as your answer, just to make yourselves a bit more clearer and stuff

[May]

I voted for "kind of". I think some things in life are meant to happen, but not everything is pre-planned for you. One of my favorite movies has a great quote about fate: "You cannot leave everything to Fate, boy. She's got a lot to do. Sometimes you must give her a hand."

[Kugetsu]

I'd like to, but no. I do think that the Earth's fate is to eventually be destroyed, but that's not used in the same way that you're thinking. There are some things that are going to happen no matter what we do (death and possibly physiological conditions that are determined during development, for example). I think things like that are the only true way you can use the word "fate", since we know it's going to happen, and in most cases, there's nothing we can do about it (though birth defects are iffy in that way) Other things such as relationships, jobs, things like that are not one's "destiny", as they are deterined in some way or another by the parties involved, and are not just set out for you. If everything was already set out for us, we wouldn't have the homeless, killers, and other things that we never want to see. I don't think it is ever a person's"fate" to be abused as a child, or a person's fate to be laid off of work and lose their house, car, etc. I think things just happen as a response to other things happening. I

f everything was set out for us, we'd have absolutely no choice in what we wanted to do at any time, which would practically make us just a train on a track, going whereever we are guided, which I really don't think we are.

[btjaus]

Fate is an illusion... to think that the universe, or some greater power, has a predestined plan for you, that you will inexorably follow throughout your life, well, it's simply an exercise in hubris, narcissism, the greatest of arrogance!

Perhaps, as Kugetsu so eloquently put, some things will, without fail happen - but even this can never be known. To be strictly scientiffic - there is a chance that the Earth could survive the death of our sun... as the laws of thermodynamics are purely statistical, after all. However - these probabilities are so small, they are essentially zero - in fact it would be best expressed mathematically as an imaginary number:

1 X 10 ^ - (INFINITY - (1/INFINITY))

Essentially... 1 X 10 ^ - (infinity, or the largest possible numerical concept, ---minus--- 1 divided by infinity, or the smallest possible, positive value)

Which, for all intensive purposes, yields a very small probability. (UNDERSTATEMENT ALERT)

But, after all, a low probability only makes something unlikely, not impossible. Therefore - anything is possible, anywhere, anytime...

To think that fate is planned... I think it's silly. But it's a moot point, neither can be ever be proven/disproven... as any outcome of one's life could simply be labelled their 'fate' - it's a truism, something that simply cannot be argued against. Importantly, however, this does not make it true.

Certainly not.

[Paul]

No, I don't believe in fate.

[Trick]

I don't believe in fate but I do believe (in most cases) that things happen for a reason.

I also believe that if you are a good person then good things will come. If you are a bad person then you will get what is coming to you.

[Keylia]

Ginger, your mom is right. Thinking that things will inevitably happen, no matter what, just because it's "fate" isn't logical at all. That's like saying that it's your fate to get an A on a test even if you don't study and don't pay any attention in class. Everything that happens is the result of a previous action. Now you may say it's "fate" that caused you to fail the test but you could have easily changed that. So it's not "fate". You have to make choices in your life to make things happen, even if that choice is to do nothing at all. If you leave everything to "fate" it will lead you to failure because of your lack of impetus and action.

I can't help but see a 400 lb fat guy sitting on a couch stuffing his face with cheese puffs saying:
"It's not my fault I'm fat. It's fate."

[shapu]

If I believe in fate, then I believe that nothing I do will change anything that could ever happen - thus, that I am predestined to make a difference in the world, or that I am predestined not to make a difference in the world.

And neither one's really appealing to me. If I do or don't make a dent in the corrugated metal hood of time, I prefer to think that's on my shoulders.

That said, I do believe that we see things and say "It must be fate" and then work to achieve whatever goal we think Fate has in mind for us. Sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[Asthaloth]

Fate is set in stone.
You will die.
That is all though.

Destiny is another matter, and must be taken.
Destiny is what could happen, Fate is what will.

[Skynetmain]

Only in the same sense that has been mentioned by many, many others already: you create it yourself. If you go to a banquet, you're fated to have a great meal. If you you sit in the sun, you're fated to get nice tan. If you try talking to that very cute girl on the bus, you're fated to look very stupid, but still walk away feeling better than if you didn't talk to her since you ended up with her phone number. You have to create it yourself, not have it creat you.

[Mongrel]

I think there is fate--in the sense that one way or another, things have to happen the way they happen. That doesn't make your decisions any less important. You can't blame bad decisions on fate. Because we don't know the future, our decisions are still made with complete free will, but if we did know the future, we wouldn't be able to fight it. Think of Oedipus the King: the prophecy was fulfilled despite all attempts to make it not happen. Maybe fate can't be fought, but there's a reason we don't know what it is in advance.

[Drake Redcrest]

Fate takes the blame off of people. People make choices which cause things to happen. You choose what happens to you, you cannot sit around and wait for it to happen.

[Bangel]

Fate takes the blame off of people. People make choices which cause things to happen. You choose what happens to you, you cannot sit around and wait for it to happen.

I agree. :)

[Divine]

I put "kind of". I don't believe that our lives are set in stone, but I believe that fate is at work, for example, during coincidential encounters.

I guess I believe it at times when it feels like something could never happen, but does anyway.

[Jen]

I do not believe that fate falls on people however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.