Tell me who here believes in pre-destiny?

[Union Label]

I used to think it was true when I was younger and then I grew out of it thinking it was a phase.
But for no reason in particular its coming back to me and I'm thinking it may be real.

[orpupilofnature57]

1. I forget what I was going to say.

[karlrschneider]

2. Predestination vs. free will is one of the great philosophical discussions

that really has no solution. It's a classical paradox but what makes it so fascinating is that many people believe in both. And they don't see the disconnect.

[damntexdem]

13. But it only gets interesting if there is some degree of freedom of will.

Otherwise, you're just playing out what you were fated to do.

On the other hand, assuming some degree of free will opens the interesting questions: How free? Under what circumstances are we freer? How can we stick by decisions we make (e.g., to stop smoking)? How much can we influence others? How can we induce others (e.g., our children) to exercise their freedom? And so on.

[nebenaube]

3. what?

That you get a supporting role in the next Mad Max sequel? That's all I feel destined for...

[orpupilofnature57]

4. More , I no longer believe I can manifest Destiny

[AlCzervik]

5. like God's eternal decree? If thats what you mean than no.

[porphyrian]

6. It's all how you look at it.

When you are dead and gone, there will be a single path through space-time you took through your life. You are already part way along that path. Before you lies the rest of that path, the path you will take. In that sense, your life is predestined - it is the life you will choose to live as it comes. That doesn't necessitate any external intelligence or entity determining the path for you. You will be the intelligent designer of your destiny.

[BeHereNow]

7. I've come to think of it as repetitive energy patterns and not at all personal...

More of a universal math equation to which no entity in the universe is immune.
I've seen far too many examples of its manifestation in my life and the
lives of the people around me.

When I was younger, I thought it was "personal" or directed at certain
individuals for mystical reasons-
I know longer believe that but rather that it is an inevitable
pattern of a repetitive flow of energy that all things in creation are
part of and subject to, although I do continue to believe it
is an incredible and most wondrous mystery.

My 2 cents.
BHN

[rpgamerd00d]

8. Pre-Destiny? Isnt that redundant, like Republican Liar?

[stevedeshazer]

9. I don't. But 99,000 or so posters have yet to weigh in.

There is this free will thing.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

10. I don't think so.

If it were predestined for me to walk over to the radio and turn it on, I would walk over to the radio and turn it on. Instead, I start for the radio, notice a piece of paper on the floor, pick it up, walk to the trash, see my coffee mug on the table and decide to take a drink. While I'm drinking I suddenly realize that I have a piece of paper in my other hand. As I'm walking around trying to remember what the paper was for, I find myself near the radio and ten minutes later, I turn it on. No big picture destiny. Just me, lost in my own little world. :)

[damntexdem]

15. Actually, you were predestined to ...

notice that paper, grab your cup and drink, wonder about the paper, and then to turn on the radio.

On the other hand, the rest of us have some degree of free will. ;-)

[renate]

11. I was thinking about this just this morning

Seriously, I was.

The idea popped into my head that maybe what happens to us may be destined, in the sense that we'll go through certain experiences designed to teach us lessons--that would be destiny or karma--but that how we react to those experiences is our free will in action, and is not destined.

I don't know yet whether I believe that, entirely. But it might be one way that destiny and free will can be reconciled.

[damntexdem]

12. I don't but ...

maybe I was just predestined to think that way. ;-)

[izzie]

14. I don't believe it but so many do that we end up living up to it.

We could change how things would work out but it takes a great many people thinking that way to do it. That is the rub. How do you get a lot of people in order to change what they see coming or think they see coming? The is very rare in the history of things, I would say. Now some one like Lenin thought he could make his and Russians future different and he did it. He got a lot of help from the other side that was sure that things would go on as God wished and planned. The Mayflower people really came here because they wanted to stay English, and they were loosing that in Holland, they could go to their own churches there. 200 years later their decedents made up mind that they did not want to be English any more. So they changed things. For good reasons and bad some times nations and people do not stay on the path of what is in front of them or how things have always been,and I think any one can think they can made this different but few will.

[slowry]

16. Nah. (whoops, meant to reply to OP)

It's like when 1 or 2 people survive a fire that 150 other people died in and think "God was looking out" for them. Selfish BS imo.

[izzie]

18. I am not much on God. I think people just use that to feel good.

It is easy to say God did it when your own will did it. Gets one off feeling bad about ones self also.

[Cleita]

17. Destiny.

It's what you have, not what you are going to get. You come into this world with certain assets, like beauty, health, intelligence. You may or may not get the opportunity to develop those assets, like nurture, health care and education.

Then it's up to you to follow destiny. It isn't handed to you on a gold platter. You may not be able to follow your destiny because of circumstances beyond your control, like being the wrong sex, the wrong ethnicity or not even being tall or short enough or being in the wrong place at the wrong time kind of like a crap shoot.

[Az]

19. The universe is deterministic

That is given a broad enough knowledge of the universe and the capacity to extrapolate the nearly countless interactions one could predict what was going to happen. But we do not have this capacity. We can make short term predictions of simple processes (catching a baseball would be an example). But massive or complex systems are currently beyond our ability to predict.

Thus while every aspect of our life results from predictable rules we ourselves can never experience knowledge of what is to come. Thus we cannot benefit from any sense of predestination.

A further issue with the concept of predestiny is one of intent. If this universe is in fact a materialistic thing devoid of creator then there is no intent behind any of the predictable paths. So in the end the issue of whether there is predestiny is dependent on whether you believe there is a sentient creator behind the universe.

It is actually postulated by many critics of the Freewill claims associated with the god of Abraham that there cannot be freewill in a universe created by such an omnipotent god. When you combine omniscience with omnipotence you create a situation where the creator must know the outcome of any and all things he creates. His knowledge of the outcome exists even before he creates it. It is part and parcel of the creation of anything he makes. There can be no freewill in such a case and all must be preordained.

[lonestarnot]

20. Destined to come across certain things, but how one decides to

deal with these certain things is ones free will.

[tibbiit]

21. I dont believe in free will

I think we dont have free will but not because of some supernatural being.
I believe we create our own personal prisons.
Sure you "Can" move to timbuktu if you want, or any other thing you can think... but true free will would be mental, physical, or emotional and we cant get over one of these to have true free will.

If you want to do something, one of these things will stop you.
I hope this is semi-clear:)
tib

[Anarcho-Socialist]

22. I don't believe in it

[ecstatic]

23. If real, then it relieves us of a lot of responsibility and guilt... nt