Monday, January 11, 2010
does everything happen for a reason?
i have been doing lots of thinking recently, and what i have been thinking about the most is, does everything happen for a reason? there can really be two answers to this, either everything happens just by chance or fluke, or some divine being has everything planned out. personally i think everything happens by fluke or chance, for example, if you knock over a cup of water and it spills all over your phone or computer, then that's just bad luck. or if somebody drops their metro pass then you happen to find it, that's what i call good luck. but then again this can all have happened because our divine being had set it to happen, all the good and bad luck will eventually end the way they wanted it to. i guess if you think of it this way, everything happens and works together, like the inner workings of a clock, or the way a timing belt keeps everything in an engine working in a synchronised fashion. if the timing belt shifts or snaps, the engine will be damaged beyond repair, the same way if our divine being stops conducting or managing everything, our existence will be chaotic and damaged beyond repair. but that's only if our everything is controlled by a divine being, and so far to me it seem as if everything just happens cause it does, so the vase in the living room didn't fall over because a mouse ran underneath the stove in the kitchen.
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ReplyDeleteIt really depends on the individual. If an individual believes on God, he/she would believe that everything has been already decided for him/her but if an individual does not believe on God than he/she would believe that it was just a chance.
ReplyDeleteAs far as my personal opinion is concern, I do not practice my religion as often as I should but i do believe in my religion and God. I believe that everything has been already decided for me and I cannot change it. Even thou if I try to, it will not work out for me and speaking of stuffs not working out for me, i have learnt this from my own past experiences and at the end, I have always came to the same conclusion that it was all God's will, just can't change it.
True i geuss, but lets say you are doing somthing, like buying somthing. You are so set on buying the orange t-shirt and you think that there is nothing that will change your decision, that is what God has planned out for you to do. But what if seconds before you are about to purchase it you suddenly think the green t-shirt is much nicer and you end up buying that one instead. Is that God suddenly changing his mind or is that you just acting on chance? So i geuss what im trying to say is are spilt second decisions also chosen by God or is that just us makeing our own decision because maybe god wasnt paying attention at that time, which led to a split second or twoo of 'chaotic thinking', which after that happens you think to yourself and say, "why did i buy that green t-shirt?? what was i thinking?"
ReplyDeleteI feel that saying everything happens for a reason is taking the easy way out. It is a way to not have to be held responsible for the choices one makes, as if everything happens for a reason, then you chose that path for a reason as well. This can excuse bad choices we make in life and make us all feel better. At the same time, it can also provide humanity with hope in thinking that there is a purpose for everything and we're not all just here for absolutely no reason. I'd like to believe that everything happens for a reason, but that's something I don't know if I will ever be sure of.
ReplyDeleteAlana's point that "it is a way to not be held responsible for the choices one makes," is an idea which helped pave the way for existentialism.
ReplyDeleteIf everything happens for a reason, why then have millions of innocent people died in countless conflicts in the past? Why do good people suffer and die from horrible diseases? I see no reason is such senseless suffering.
I believe that we are here with a purpose and that our lives are planned by somebody/something devine that is above all but this raises other questions like: where is out choise? Do we even have a choise? Are we just some puppets in somebody play/theater? I honestly don't have an answer for all this questions but all religions teach us that we do have a choise, we can choose evil or good. So I guess what is happening in our lives is based on the decisions we make each day.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alana. If really willing, one can justify right about anything with that "reason". Like that $20 bill flew in my face for a reason (either so I would be able to afford something I wanted for a long time, or to be generous and 'pass it on' to help someone else). I mean, sure, I'd like to believe that there is someone just playing "The Sims" and I'm just another character, because so far they've done a pretty good job. However, what about people starving, poverty, etc.? What reason is there for this happening to those people?
ReplyDeleteHume's philosophy never really made sense to me, because the moment you start looking for a reason behind everything is the moment you go against "knowledge".
There is no reason why things happen, it is just as it is and not what it is!
ReplyDeleteAsking this question is similar to the question of "How can there be a God when the world is full of so much suffering?" I think the idea behind a faith in a higher power as well as the faith in "everything happens for a reason" both have to do with accepting what you can not know. Just as Ms.Darby pointed out, this is the same idea to philosophy, which asks the questions that there are no definite answers to. We can't know for sure if everything does happen for a reason, just as we can't know that there is truly a higher power out there. I think it depends on what you as an individual believe.
ReplyDeleteThe presence of an instigator in an event does not necessitate a reason. Reasons are manufactured by US to understand and make sense of things. Therefore if a series of freak events lead to a death someone, i.e. the guy in Final Destination who was crushed by materials held up by a crane that was controlled by a worker who was startled by a pidgeon, does not necessarily mean he was destined to die and the pidgeon's loss of navigational skill was imbued with any meaning.
ReplyDeleteWhile everyone here have more or less appealed to ignorance, Moore would agree for that he believes only an argument with a premise that can be demonstarted could be considered valid.
Does everything happen for a reason? I think this question is very relevant to the film I heart huckabees that we just watched in class. Jason Schwartzaman sees a man three times in his life and thinks that there must be a reason for it, so he goes to the existential detectives to find out what seeing this man three times in his life would mean.
ReplyDeleteThrough out the film he is introduced to various forms of existential philosophies, that would purpose different meaning in his life. Although there are main strands of existentialism, there is a primary belief in the philosophy that we as the individual give our own life meaning.
I think religion has quite a strong relevance when we ask " Does everything happen for a reason?"
ReplyDeleteReligion is a way for people to make meaning of their lives. It gives them hope,purpose and answers in day to day life.
Religion would believe that yes everything happens for a reason;that life is full of meaning.
This is like in Plato's Apology when Socrates is being sentenced to death. Socrates says that he is not afraid of death because surely it must be better than life .As it is either a.) Nothingness (which is better than living in earth) or B.) Heaven
I am also a believer. Although I think we are given the choice to choose in all that we do. Yet, I find it hard to understand why we would be given the "illusion" of choice if everything was already chosen for us. It would be like telling gravity to go down and then thinking it did because you said so. If there was no free choice why is there good and bad? But at the same time, our "freewill" is determined generally by our experiences and state of mind at the time, unless we are authentic.
ReplyDeleteAlthough just a theory, there could very well be specific points in time that are fixed and meant to occur, but between these points we are free to choose how the story progresses (- Dr Who). Hmm..
i do believe that things happen for a reason.for every action you make there is always going to be a reaction. good things and bad things happen so people can learn from them.i believe also that God Does have a plan for each individual, but that is also why he/she gave us Free Will. God gives us the things we just have to decide how to use them by choosing one way or another.(good or bad).
ReplyDeleteBelief in a higher power, or God, is acceptable, even when it is believed dogmatically. It's fine to believe in whatever as long as is doesn't diminish good in the world. As long as the dogmatic believer is ok with living in bad faith, as Russell said, in a "walled city." Ignorance is bliss. The same goes though, for those who dogmatically believe that there is no God. There simply isn't any conclusive evidence for either side.
ReplyDeleteIt's alright to be religious, to each his own, but having faith in the existence of a God that gave us life, freewill, and has a plan for all of us, must be really restricting. It seems to me like a pret y random thing in which to cling to so tightly. I've never encountered anything which would lead me to dogmatically believe in God. Again, God is a possibility but so is the possibility that this reality is just a dream of mine; and I am actually a bear hibernating for the winter or better yet, an alien creature in a galaxy far, far, away. Like why don't we all just believe that I am God and that I gave you all freewill; It seems so absurd.
But believing in dogmas, clearly can help people to escape from the anguish that can come with possibility. So once again, to each his own. To me though, it seems almost ludicrous.
I do not really believe that there is a divine being dictating our life and what happens in it, though I do believe that everything happens for a reason. This is because everything is connected. Bernard, the existentialist detective in I Heart Huckabees, would use the example of the blanket. Another example which has already been given is a $20 bill flying into your face. The reason is simply that someone lost the bill, it flew into your face, you spent it, the product you bought was made from wherever, that maker is making money, and you are getting what you want(in a simole and vague sense, that is how it works). It works as a functionalist society or functionalist ‘constant conjunction’. As for world pain and suffering, the reason is balance. When one person dies in the world, another is born, and thus the cycle of life.
ReplyDeleteI think people find comfort in belief, especially the belief in God. I am not sure if it takes off the responsibility of someone’s actions, but does the opposite by making him/ her accountable for what happens to them in the after life if that is what they believe.
I think there are flaws in the concept of divine beings creating a pathway for the course of our lives, but at the same time is there really such a thing as coincidences? I think on some level each moment has an impact on us (big or small) and that in some form shapes our life ahead. An example is the movie‘Butterfly Effect’. The events which occur in life really do have a profound impact on the destiny of each moment. I make choices based on my rational and empiricist thinking, but in the end the turnout always seems to, for me, have happened for some reason or another. And the result of this reason has brought me to where I am today.
In one of the very first classes we had, Ms. Darby said that even though we think we are completely free and we can do everything we want we are influenced greatly by the people around us. In other words, many of the things we do are dictated and connected to our surroundings. Therefore, I believe that everything happens for a reason, but a divine being or god controls nothing, it is just a result from the different objects, events, and even people interacting. Basically everyone and everything has its own path and form time to time the paths of two ore more things will cross and something will happen and whether it is positive or negative we would call it good or bad luck.
ReplyDeleteHume always emphasized the fact that nothing happens for a reason. "Cause" is never certain, but we can always say "in constant conjunction with".
ReplyDeleteThis I can understand because perhaps to one person, something could happen as an act of God, but to another, it could be because of the marvels of science. Hume specified that since we will never know (we will always look back on ourselves and prove our past selves wrong), we cannot make such assumptions.
When I was younger, I used to think firefighters lived at the fire station, and that was why they always got to fires so fast. As I grew old, I learned that the reason why there were always firefighters was because they would work in shifts. Perhaps in ten years I will learn a new revelation and then realize how silly my seventeen year old self was.
I think by the expression, “everything happens for a reason,” is meant to imply that there is a plan and purpose for everyone. For instance someone drops a bill, later someone finds it; the reason could be because the person who found it needed it more, or deserved it, etc. I think that idea is false. There was a reason the person found the bill, someone dropped it and this person happened to cross its path. Pure Chance. Everyone is in charge of their own destiny; each choice you make shapes future occurrences.
ReplyDeleteAnd to the argument that these occurrences are too common to be just chance, I say that the commonality of them not happening is infinitely greater. Think about how often people need money and don’t find it; there is no checklist here, it’s purely chance. One’s actions, and the actions of others, shape future actions. There is no plan, except the plan you make.
Maybe specific things don't happen for a reason. The events in your life guide you as you grow. However, the events in your life are made up of the world's constant state of change. The world doesn't stop changing, so you have to move with it. So maybe things happen because it's inevitable. The reason behind the worlds change is hard to understand, but that allows you to come up with your own theories on why things are as they are.
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