Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Fate: Controlled by ourselves, or a greater power?

The tragedy Oedipus Rex, along with most of Sophocles' work, deals with the idea of fate and that no matter what one does to avoid it, it is a Nemesis that one cannot escape. It seems that Oedipus and his parents did everything that they possibly could to try to avoid fulfilling the prophecies laid before them. My question to you is, do you believe that your path has already been chosen by a greater power, or do you believe that you choose your own path? On the same note, do you believe that there is a greater power that controls anything at all, or is the world just a huge collection of random events happening for no particular reason?
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20 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 17, 2012 at 8:40 AM

    I believe that life is made up of random events that make us who we are today. To a point, I do believe that "fate" somewhat controls our lives, because things that happen almost seem to be destined. I also believe that there is indeed a higher power that somewhat controls our outcomes and our futures.

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    1. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 12:08 PM

      I agree that experiences define who we are. I believe in a higher power that knows when we need to experience certain obstacles. That is when our free agency is used. We can either decide to learn from these obstacles or not.

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    2. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 5:15 PM

      Yes, fate I do believe comes to everyone in small amounts. Seeing your long lost friend in the grocery store, what is that? A coincidence, or fate? Or the same thing?! In my opinion, certain things happen because of what we do in our life, and how we take it.

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    3. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 6:43 PM

      I am hypocritical in saying this, but your post is extremely paradoxical. How, I ask, can our lives be made up of random events yet controlled by a higher power? They contradict themselves. I am not saying you are wrong in any way, but can you explain this?

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  2. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 9:47 AM

    This question has a great deal of philosophical, and spiritual implications, and often the answer will change from person to person depending on their ideological as well as theological subscription. This is also a tricky question when the consideration of freewill is brought into play. We all have free will, but is our future determined by some higher power, for instance the Judaeo-Chrisian God? Essentially we all have free well and the ability to chose between right and wrong. These choices play into our overall "fate". I believe that our future is known by God yet he does not interfere in the sense of a puppet master forcing the puppet to do certain things. Rather we were given free will to forge our own "fate"

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    1. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 3:14 PM

      I would assume however Logan that you would deem that God intervenes whenever his will is necessary to change something for a outcome that fits into his "plan". To cite a instance where God intervened, the forced transformation Saul underwent to become Paul the apostle would be a good example.

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    2. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 5:55 PM

      Not to get into a religious arguement, but yes the circumstance on the road to Damascus may have been divinely oriented, however, God did not forcefully change Saul to become Paul it was still Paul's ultimate decision to make the transformation.

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    3. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 6:41 PM

      I did my post before reading this Logan, but I have to say this is the point I was trying to get across, albeit failing at it. People make their own mistakes and and choices, but God knows what will happen.

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  3. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 12:04 PM

    Everyone marches to the beat of their own drum. Everyone is given their particular drum though. Essentially there are all these different paths and the ones we choose take us to different places. All the paths eventually meet up though. People have the right to choose a path, but eventually the ending will be the same no matter what.

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    1. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 4:36 PM

      I was completely against "fate", but your passage has opened my eyes that maybe there is a form of "fate" but maybe in a decreased way. Our paths may always connect in the end. Who knows the truth about if fate is real or not?

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    2. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 5:11 PM

      This is the part of fate that I believe in; the part where we will end up in the same place but we decide how we get there. Wether we believe in fate or not, it doesn't prove that either is right or wrong. Either way the future will come and our lives will unfold infront of us.

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  4. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 3:07 PM

    I do not believe in fate. Much of the world may, and that's okay to believe that some omnipotent life force controls or guides your actions to a predestined outcome. However I see no justification for such a belief. People may cite particular coincides as evidence that the future must be guided by the invisible hand of God, while to me they are nothing more than a random assortment of choices that come together to determine our present.

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    1. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 5:19 PM

      I do think that some people, no matter what their level of intensity of belief of God or to their certain religion, have to trust in fate. Especially when people believe in the 'afterlife' or what have you, that to is equalivant to fate. Or even being judged or whatever, that fate has brought you to the right decisions.

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  5. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 4:34 PM

    Personally, I do not believe in fate at all. We are faced with decisions everyday and that choice can depict the rest of our future. Some religions may justify that there is a God whom has their entire life planned out already. Fate just comes from stories such as the one we read. Everyone has their own mind, and can make their own decisions to fit the way they want their life to be planned out.

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  6. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 5:02 PM

    I believe that we decide our own fate. We have the power to choose from left or right and right or wrong. These are the choices that decide our fate for us. There is not only one designated path layed out for us, there are many. All of our choices guide us between these paths of life until we settle on the future we want for ourselves.

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    1. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 10:22 PM

      I like that outlook on fate. Often times when you look back on a decision that you made in the past, it is clear that you knew what you would do before you ever made the decision. If we could have a foresight as strong as our hindsight our lives might be dramatically changed.

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  7. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 5:43 PM

    I personally believe that our paths in lives are semi determined by outside forces but what happens depends on the choices we make in our lives. Based upon what choices we have made we have a certain destiny. We have the ability to determine this destiny on how we treat others and what type of person we are. I do believe that there is a greater force that manipulates the forces if our world but the way in which this being exists and the way in which the being affects our world is so astronomically different than anything the human species have ever seen we will truly never understand or ever know if it actually exists. All we have to know if the being does exist is our own beliefs in such.

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  8. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 5:44 PM

    I each of us have our own agency to make choices between right and wrong. Every choice we make has its own consequences that we cannot chose. I also believe that every thing happens for a reason and each experience, test, or trial we face is given to us to be able to learn and grow from. I believe in foreordination and not predestination. Things in life do not just happen randomly, everything is part of God's ultimate plan. God does not control each of our lives, but he does play a very significant role in our lives if we will let him.

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  9. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 6:38 PM

    Free will. Personally, I believe that we all have it. If we screw up, that is our own fault. But I also believe that we can ask for help, and sometimes receive it. I have no idea what dictates whether said help is given.

    To get down to it, I believe that God lets us do what we want to, yet still has a plan for us. Paradoxical, I know, but that is just the nature of my belief. I could go much further into the subject of religion itself, but that isn't needed.

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  10. AnonymousNovember 18, 2012 at 10:18 PM

    Everyone has a different view on the world and what they beleive they are to gain from it or give back to it. We are constantly presented opportunities to define ourselves and show what we honestly beleive. I beleive that many of these opportunities are not planned, but it is our behaviors that are not random. People have many experiences or people from their past and present that affect how they make decisions and those are what I believe determines how you will make yourself in the future.

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