Fate and Destiny: a philosophy thread

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

Wicca does not involve blood-letting, animal sacrafice or running around naked in the woods.

Damn

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

Wicca does not involve...running around naked in the woods.

That's not what you told me last Saturday!

[scaeagles]

To which part?

Killing a few cats would make it appealing to me.

I guess it would depend on who was running around naked.

Blood letting? I suppose it depends on who was bleeding.

[Capt Jack]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

I have a very cool reminder ........I will awaken only once in the middle of the night and open my eyes to see my clock display an odd series of numbers. It's either 1:11 a.m. or 2:22 a.m., or .....

I could throttle you.

Woke up @ 3:33 am this morning...saw it, thought of your post and started laughing....rendering me even more awake.

so much for what little sleep I was already getting.

[Not Afraid]

One day I'll stop contemplating this question and write about it.

I guess there are certain things that are unknowable to me and that's fine with me. I just try to keep taking steps in the right direction and the rest will become evident.

In regards to Karma, well, there may be a "Karma Police" but I'm not on the force. I let them do their job and keep to what I can "control".

But, I'm sure there's more going on in that minefield of a brain of mine.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I like to believe in Karma because I like the idea that everyone gets what they deserve. Cause and eventual effect. Doesn't mean that I have any evidence that it's real, and I wouldn't debate anyone on it, but it's a happy idea, and it makes sense to me.

I think this relates to what people are talking about "wiring". When my faith in fairness falters, I get depressed. I've seen enough injustice in this world to be really dismayed by it. I need to believe in the triumph of truth and understanding. Otherwise, this world would suck too much for me to feel good about living. I think this is part of what people refer to when they say "I just know God exists." I just know that things turn out correctly, eventually.

I'd venture to guess that those that are perfectly happy with an Atheistic view are also happy with a world that simply is, with only the observable laws of nature as we understand them to govern it.

I'd say we accept our own realities that we are most comfortable in.

[CoasterMatt]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

In regards to Karma, well, there may be a "Karma Police" but I'm not on the force. .

What about the Dream Police?

[Not Afraid]

They live inside my head.

[Alex]

I'd venture to guess that those that are perfectly happy with an Atheistic view are also happy with a world that simply is, with only the observable laws of nature as we understand them to govern it.

I wouldn't say that I'm happy with the way the universe is, just accepting of the fact that wishing the universe and life have purpose doesn't give it one. But a lot of people say that to me, don't I find it depressing to think that the universe just is what it is. That we are incapable of making things better. That things will get worse or better (as we perceive worse and better) due to essentially random interactions of physical laws? I don't know how to respond, because it really doesn't bother me. It doesn't make me happy but it doesn't depress me either.


I am also accepting of the fact that not everything is knowable. It may be that one day we'll understand all the physical laws and properties of the universe. It may be that the human brain is physically incapable of comprehending certain things that would be necessary for such understanding. I just don't deify that which isn't or can't be known.

I see a lot of "I believe this because I would prefer it be true" in people's faiths and I must admit it confuses me. I'm not saying you have to justify it (at least not in this thread; when people insist on real world results from of their faith and worship then I do tend to request supporting evidence), just that I can't fathom it. Lani is this way. She believes in an afterlife. Ask her why and she'll say something along the lines of "because I like the idea of it" or "because I don't like the thought that we just stop." She's not religious, just hopeful.

[€uroMeinke]

We all have to figure out what we're going to do in the face of the unknown, so we all need beliefs of some fashion. While I suppose there is some value of attaining a Zen like comfort with the now and pure being - to paraphrase an I <3 Huckabee's line, the is the inevitability of Human Drama to draw us in. We have a corporeal experience that has wants and needs to be satisfied and so we need to make decissions on how we will navigate our lives - we don't know our futures, yet we continually move in that direction (or such is my experience ).

I'm comfortable with the unknowable, and titilated with the absurd - so I'm a shoe in with the existentialists and dadaist of the world. There just is too much to laugh about to get depressed about something I have no control over.

Perhaps the benefit of Faith, is that it allows you to pass along those things you have no control over to an entity that presumably does. You no longer have to worry, and can be relieved that someone is doing something about the perceived injustice, evil, and bad hair days of the world.