Who believes in Fate? Or are our lives somehow predetermined by a greater power?

Question

Looking back in the past 4 years, a series of events happened. Is it true that we have to go thru h**l before we get to heaven(ie. emotional happieness)?

Answer 1

Destiny and free will exist simultaneously. We have choices and we choose. But we don't have just random choices, they are predermined by US before we entered our body.

For example I have two options in my life.

1. I will have everything there is to wish for. but before that I will go through h**l. (this would be true to your statement that ''we have to go thru h**l before we get to heaven(ie. emotional happieness)'')

2. Quite a meaningless life, without any real h***s, a boring life with no real money, no husband, no kids, not living in the country of my dreams etc.. nothing... only doing a work similar to drilling holes to Swiss cheese.

And I will choose. There are minuses in both. But I choose the first life.

Answer 2

I do not know the answer to this question and nor do I want to pretend that i do.

However, I once heard someone say this;

Life might be predetermined.  Life might also be your freewill to choose.  And these would seem to contradict each other.  On one hand the outcome is already decided for you (by God perhaps) and on the other you have free will to choose your own way.  Perhaps the solution to this paradox is in you choosing which roads to take that all lead to the same eventual destination.

Answer 3

>Hi Ghost, I am not sure that fate exists. It all depends on what you believe. In my case, I believe in the Cristian God. And God gives us freedom of thought and freedom of choice. If fate was so much a part of our lives, I do not think we would go through the hurts, heartaches, and tribulations we put ourselves through in a lifetime. I do believe, like one of your earlier answerer's, that everything we have done to this point in ours lives, makes us who we are. I don't believe that God would fate some of us to this life or that life. I don't believe that God would fate some to hate and some to love. I believe that through our free choice, we either make it through our own man made h***s or we become shells of self pity and despise.

We all know right from wrong, we all choose which we will follow. I think that in today's world, happiness is a virtual hit or miss emotion. Because we make so many choices based not on what is right, but rather what is feeling good at that moment to each and every one of us. i wont say there is not fate, but I personally believe that fate is the choices we have made.Each and every one of us can look back to the past and find moments where we made choices that dictated where our lives were heading from that point on.

Answer 4

Fate may Haydone.

Answer 5

I believe that everything happens for a reason. I believe that God knows everything that is going to happen before it does, even our thoughts.

Answer 6

I like to believe that everything is preordained, that our life is written out for us by a higher power (God) and that it is up to us to figure out what our destiny is and how it fits into his plan.  I honeslty think that's how people "fail" alot in what they do because it is now what God wants (it's what we want) and when things don't turn out right we blame our higher powers for not making it so instead of asking Him what is is that I am supposed to do in this life in order to help man/womankind?

Answer 7

At any given moment you're the composite of all your experiences until now.  If you hadn't gone through them you'd be someone else.

If you like who and what you are you've no choice but to be grateful for each, good, bad, or ugly.

I don't believe in fate.  I believe life is a series of challenges, growth experiences we encounter, respond to, and grow from.

Answer 8

Let me offer this.  Fate or choice is only a matter of perspective and interpretation.  Looking at something from this angle makes it look like fate, looking at it from this other angle makes it look like choice.

Life looked at from a fragmented perspective offers an anthropamorphic God as the mover and shaker, life looked at from a whole (or as whole as is available to humanity at that time), integral or holy perspective shows you clearly that you are God.

As human beings we can't avoid both perspective and interpretation and therfore we can never, ever get outside to really see what's going on, we are 'in the relative realm' prisoners of our perspective (fragmented or more whole) and our psychological frameworks of interpretation.

Even more interesting though is your observation that emotional happiness is heaven.  I would like to suggest that any emotional state pleasant or unpleasant will eventually end up being h**l.  Emotional states come and go and its impossible to maintain a constant pleasant emotional state.  Every contemplative tradition is unanimous on this point, true happiness (Bliss) lies in our ability to remain centred and equanimous in spite of our emotional states.  

Emotioal states may be liked in a very real way to drug induced states, except that they are natural drugs our body produces, oxytoxin, seratonin, testosterone, adrenaline ...etc, these passing states can't be heaven precisely because they are passing states induced by drugs produced by our endocrine and limbic systems.

They all (for Christian to Hindu to Zen) maintain that Bliss is freedom, free from everything, it is the posture and realisation that you are free, have always been free and nothing else but free. Even free from emotional states - it is absolute, unmoving, unchanging ever new, ever present.



Hope this helps

Answer 9

Yeah i believe in fate and that everything happens for a reason!!!

I have had my fortune read many times and everything they have said has comes true!!!

How can this happen if things arnt planned for us???

Dont ask me who plans it though lol

Answer 10

I believe we make our decisions based on a combination of our genetic predisposition and our personal experience.  It's the old nature/nurture angle.

There are also things that impact our lives over which we have no control, so sometimes important matters really do come down to the toss of a coin.  Some people may call this fate, but using that word implies something was meant to be.  I choose to see life and the world around us being the result of natural processes rather than a supernatural cause.

Answer 11

From experience, something good happens out of something bad, sometimes all we need is a little patience. Everytime we make a choice, or even when something happens we call fate, it changes our direction in life,.. I find, out of the bad things that happen to us, there are always valuable lessons to be learnt from it, once we have learnt them, new choices will come along....just got to have a little patience, and the events will unfold as you learn and move forward....

chris has the right idea, with the two examples..

i have this little saying i found long ago..

"life means progress, and progress means suffering"

Answer 12

Time is an illusion of our minds. What will happen has already happened. Our limited neural connections and physical bodies cannot comprehend reality or God.

The source of all suffering is attachment. I recommend that you study Buddhism.

Answer 13

IDK..I just know that they say we have "free will"..but I don't see that I've had "choices" most of the time. My life has mostly been determined by other people...and their choices.

Edit. I do agree with what 'Skeptic" said about what Buddha said...about attachments. If you don't love anybody or care about any things..you can't really get hurt..and you'll only think of what's best for YOUR life. Guess it's a "Catch 22".