Is everything predestined? Then why go out of the way to change things?

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   Sundeep Katariaposted 9 years ago

   Is everything predestined? Then why go out of the way to change things?

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   peeplesposted 9 years ago

   I don't believe anything is predestined. We have the ability to make almost anything we want out of life. Life is a series or actions and reactions. There are no puppet strings. If everything was predestined it would imply rape, murder, and hatred were not changeable. Thankfully all of that can be changed.

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      Mklow1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Technically it would not imply those things were unchangeable because maybe the change was predestined. It is a catch 22 so to speak.

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   kessposted 9 years ago

   Because the idea that there should be changes is also predestined, so as to represent the discontentment of the present, the status quo, to the end that hell would be created to justify and accommodate any and all discontented and their discontentment.
   
   This occurs so that existence can continues its happy and merry way without a single hitch.

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   DATALOADposted 9 years ago

   If it were predestined, enjoy the ride. If it's not predestined, enjoy the ride even more.

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   lone77starposted 9 years ago

   Life is not predestined.
   
   Mechanical things are. Paths of planets, etc.
   
   If a car rolls down the hill toward a collision with children, predestiny would say, let it happen. But I would say, "Do something about it, if you can." Try to stop the car, if it's moving slowly enough. Or run down the hill yelling to the kids.
   
   God created us in His image and likeness, and He is not Homo sapiens. He is a creator, so that makes us creators. To heck with predestiny. But to heck with ego, too. Ego is the trap that stopped us from know who we really are. Ego is the separateness that blinded us, forced us to need human eyes to see, human brains to think. With everlasting life (no ego), we no longer need the physical.

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   humahistoryposted 9 years ago

   If everything were predestined, then we would have no need for 'if'.
   'If' is there for past actions, and for future actions.
   There is, as there was, a chance for a different path to be taken.
   We have choice. Choice determines also that predestiny is a fallacy.
   The only thing that is predetermined is that we cannot undertake anything that is against the laws of physics.

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   Don Fairchildposted 9 years ago

   Destiny is determined by those who strive to make a difference. 
   If destiny were a driver-less car careening toward a cliff with no one wanting to take the wheel, then that is your destiny.  On the other hand, if I were in the car, I would grab the wheel to save the car.  That would be my destiny.
   So who is driving tonight?

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   Tusitala Tomposted 9 years ago

   I would like to answer this with a paragraph I wrote in my autobiography back in 1996.  It reads as follows:
   
   "Another aspect of life which many find hard to comprehend but which is readily comprehensible to me is the matter of 'Free Will versus Fate.'  My concept of this is that we have Free Will.  But no matter what we do and no matter what the outcome, the result is always as it was meant to be.  There is no conflict.  Sure we have to do our best, strive, plan, reach for our goals.  But whether we fail or succeed is exactly as it should be at that time.  The planning, striving, doing the common-sense things, are subject to one set of laws - Free Will.  Over-riding these laws, at a higher level, is Fate.  One set of laws :"develops" us: the other ensures we are kept on course within the parameters determined by our karma."
   
   Hope this helps you.   For us, in practical terms, we need to live as if we have complete Free Will, because at our human level of consciousness this is what we have to work with.

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      Sundeep Katariaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Such an answer can come only from a person who is risen spiritually very high and has understood the deep meaning of life. Thanks.

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   Lee Teaposted 9 years ago

   I've been wondering lately if atoms move the way they do, and universes too, then how much control do we really have over our every movement and action?  Could be that "free-will", "reason" and "logic" as illusions of our motivations, that maybe they're more like "centrifugal force" and "gravity"...
   
   That being said lol, I don't go out of my way much to change things anymore.  I go within and change myself.

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      Sundeep Katariaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Beautiful observation. High level thoughts. Thanks

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    dashingscorpioposted 9 years ago

    "It was meant to be" is a very common statement. A person misses their flight and the plane ends up crashing. Was it destiny? Luck? Clearly they did nothing intentionally to alter their fate.
    Whenever something bad happens to us it's natural to replay the events that took place and the choices we made prior to the incident. If only I had left the house five minutes earlier or took a different route to work that day, or ordered something else from the menu....etc
    There are other instances where something traumatic happens in life which changes our course and leads to a better situation. The loss of a job or failed marriage can lead to finding a better job or a new mate who is far more compatible than one's previous mate. This causes many to say; "Everything happens for the best."
    Lastly for those who believe in God the vast majority state that he knows everything you are going to do before you do it. However since (we) don't know what we're going to do ourselves we have a sense of choice or controlling our destiny. Nevertheless it is impossible to surprise or shock God.
    If God knows what you are going to do does that mean he is making the choices for you? Is your life predestined? No, I don't think so. At least not from (our) perspective. Just because someone knows you better than yourself or has the ability to see the future does not mean they are creating your future. I would call it "infinite wisdom".
    Life is about the "journey" and not the "destination". We know that we are going to die and yet we don't know how or when. From (our) point of view (death is predestined) however everything that happens prior remains a mystery full of possibilities and experiences. You could say; Why should I eat "right" and exercise when I know I'm going to die regardless? Whether one smokes two packs of cigarettes and drinks a quart of whiskey every night or eats raw vegetables and drinks water all day long the end result is still death. Even though we (know) the "end" we're interested in the (quality) of the moments.

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    Harishprasadposted 9 years ago

    We just have to understand what predestined does mean ? I have given an exam, got booked a ticket to visit some place, pruned some vegetables to cook, sown some seeds in the field, studied a subject thoroughly, spent all the wealth on luxuries, abused some powerful persons, committed theft, misappropriated money kept in the charge etc. etc. These are my karmas or good  as well as bad actions and by indulging in them in a specific way I  have predestined my destiny. Haven't I ? Either I will fail or pass  in terms of my performance, taste my cooked food,grow plants in  the field,get insight in my knowledge,live in penury, be beaten or  avenged by the powerful persons,be booked and might be jailed  on account of theft and misappropriation. I have myself set my destiny as predestined and there is nothing for me to cause any alteration. I have either to suffer or enjoy what I had done already. These all are at tangible level but the same will apply to my good as well as bad tendencies and thoughts. Can I assume my rest of the life as wholly predestined and not pursue a life of action at all ? Our actions are not predestined, we have to indulge them in one way or the other and then we predestine our life. In other words, we predestine the fruit of action. That is why scriptures stress on action and not on fruit. What I have done is done and thus predestined my life to that extent but to live my rest of the life, I have to proceed with it by following some desired actions. This is the theory of predestiny as I view it. Also, when we complete our life and gather fruits in lieu of actions performed  in this very life, it happens that some residual fruits are left to be attained and that we have to receive when we reincarnate. You see this way we do not go out of the way to change any thing, rather we just proceed with our actions that God exhort us to follow for nobody escape them, even the persons who attained very closeness to God had to do actions to live their life. This is Dharma or in modern sense right religion of every being. This is my view of the scheme of things the All Mighty God has fixed for the whole existence. Having said it, I do not claim it as all true as I just compel to say like that and only God is the real  authority to reveal for us the truth of all that He has bestowed very kindly upon us.

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    rohanfelixposted 9 years ago

    I don't believe everything is predestined. If that was the case, our choices wouldn't matter, but the fact is, our choices do have an impact.

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       Sundeep Katariaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks rohanfelix for sharing your views.

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