NationStates Jolt Archive

Have things happened in your lives and you just wonder if there's any reason or rhyme to it? I wonder about that sometimes. I mean do things happen for a reason, for a purpose, or is our lives really nothing more than a series of random event that seem like they have reason and purpose because that's what we tell ourselves to make it seem like our lives are heading somewhere?

I believe that things do happen for a reason, the events we experience do have reason and purpose to them, but I'm still trying to figure out what they are.

Discuss.

Whichever gives you peace. Seriously. Some people really believe in God... some people just don't like the idea of life being "pointless". Me, I like it. If the whole of existence is a random chance that will ultimately come to an end that no one will remember, I can't screw it up too bad, can I?

I have seen how many events in my past have lead me to where I am right now. For example, the short comings of my church and my own spiritual life, have led me to resent inaction, division, etc, and now I am in charge of my campus ministry's outreach area. My job is to take action, and present the Gospel as being unified, along with the body of Christ. And the things that I will go through here, will lead me to be a better missionary when i get to that point. So yes, I think that many events will have some sort of purpose, if you look hard enough at the causes and effects.

Whichever gives you peace. Seriously. Some people really believe in God... some people just don't like the idea of life being "pointless". Me, I like it. If the whole of existence is a random chance that will ultimately come to an end that no one will remember, I can't screw it up too bad, can I?

Unless your name is Hitler, Stalin, Vlad the Impaler, King Henry the Eight, or that Queen who bathed in the blood of Virgins.

I have seen how many events in my past have lead me to where I am right now. For example, the short comings of my church and my own spiritual life, have led me to resent inaction, division, etc, and now I am in charge of my campus ministry's outreach area. My job is to take action, and present the Gospel as being unified, along with the body of Christ. And the things that I will go through here, will lead me to be a better missionary when i get to that point. So yes, I think that many events will have some sort of purpose, if you look hard enough at the causes and effects.

But did those things happen for a purpose, or did you draw your own lessons from random events? If some of them hadn't happened exactly that way, would other things have happened that might lead to the same place? Is the place you're in now the place you're "supposed" to be?

Have things happened in your lives and you just wonder if there's any reason or rhyme to it? I wonder about that sometimes. I mean do things happen for a reason, for a purpose, or is our lives really nothing more than a series of random event that seem like they have reason and purpose because that's what we tell ourselves to make it seem like our lives are heading somewhere?

I believe that things do happen for a reason, the events we experience do have reason and purpose to them, but I'm still trying to figure out what they are.

Discuss.

I like the rhyme, but I've been trying to cut down on the reason. :)

I like the rhyme, but I've been trying to cut down on the reason. :)

No no no, it's the other way around!

But did those things happen for a purpose, or did you draw your own lessons from random events? If some of them hadn't happened exactly that way, would other things have happened that might lead to the same place? Is the place you're in now the place you're "supposed" to be?

I like where my life is right now when it comes to family, and school, love life is another confusing and complex thing that I'm still trying to figure out.

Unless your name is King Henry the Eight

Aside from the beheadings, he wasn't all that bad. Without him, I highly doubt that the Reformation would have survived and the modern world would be completely different

Aside from the beheadings, he wasn't all that bad. Without him, I highly doubt that the Reformation would have survived and the modern world would be completely differentWtf? The bulk of the Reformation took place in Germany in the confrontation between emperor Charles V and the de-facto-independent Reichsfürsten (especially the Electors) who had converted to the new Protestantism. H8 only profited from the calamity that the church was already in.

things do happen for reasons. reasons that have more to do with statistics and probablity then any sort of belief though. although sometimes our invisible friends can put in a good word for us in that reguard.

but there is a kind of conservation of probability, even as there is of matter and energy. though it isn't as off the deep dark side as the exploitive, would for their own agendas, coerce us into imagining. can often be witnessed even here, into attempting to.

i've never looked at life as sequences of events but of evolving contexts. influenced in their direction of movement, but never unilaterally controlled, nor controllable.

and everyone plays a roll in creating the conditions everyone else, themselves also of course, but not more then anyone else, experiences.

decisions are made at all levels in response to incentives and perceived incentives, and those, collectively, and to a large part perhapse subconscoiusly, we all contribute, statistically to the creation of.

policies, interacting in complex and often unforseen, though not nearly so often unforseeable ways, then create the ambience of our surrounding conditions.

and then of course we react to those conditions, creating more incentives, whose nature, and the nature of the mechanism by which we togather create them, is seldom given a fraction of the honest and analytical thought they so thoroughly deserve.

or deserve if we want any honest right to bitch about them. because we sure don't if we just unthinkingly, as so often happens, let them fall where they may.

=^^=
.../\...

Well, seeing as everything has a cause, yes, things do happen for a reason.
However, I assume you're asking about purpose here, to which the answer would probably be "no".
Most things in life are entirely random, but since humans are extremely good at finding patterns, whether there are any patterns to find or not, we tend to see purpose in random events.

I have seen how many events in my past have lead me to where I am right now. For example, the short comings of my church and my own spiritual life, have led me to resent inaction, division, etc, and now I am in charge of my campus ministry's outreach area. My job is to take action, and present the Gospel as being unified, along with the body of Christ. And the things that I will go through here, will lead me to be a better missionary when i get to that point. So yes, I think that many events will have some sort of purpose, if you look hard enough at the causes and effects.

Your purpose in life is to annoy harmless people who never did anything to you? Why?

Well things happen in reaction to other actions ...

But as for whether there is something deeper to it i don't know.

I did some congratulatory fanart for a webcomic's anniversary. The picture went up on my birthday. Likewise, I share my birthday with the lead singer of a band. Makes listening to a song where the singer wishes herself an anyone around a happy birthday rather funny.

Things happening for a reason as in according to some greater plan in place governing the universe, or things happening for a reason as in actions -> consequences?

Things happening for a reason as in according to some greater plan in place governing the universe, or things happening for a reason as in actions -> consequences?

Either one.

Either one.

things happening for a reason as in actions -> consequences?

So you're asking if actions have consequences.

Um... yes?

Every event in history, however minute and mundane, has conjured up to create the present reality and you in it.

I bear this in mind when I live, so I act responsibly (most of the time) lest somebody else's life in the future is bunged up by one of my actions.

I have always believed the choices I made directly affected what happened to me.

Unless your name is Hitler, Stalin, Vlad the Impaler, King Henry the Eight, or that Queen who bathed in the blood of Virgins.

Henry VIII was, until the 1540's, a reasonable monarch. Therafter, he may have been a vacillating, wasteful, inpecunious aging buffoon, but he was not a monster.

As for the proposition, I am unsure. I would like to believe in a panentheistic universal, organising force, but all evidence points to its absence, without quite proving it.

of course things happen for a reason. cause and effect. the economy takes a downturn, people earn a bit less, delegates are a bit late paying up for an event we ran, we can't afford to pay me my full salary this month, in the coming weeks i can't buy something i've had my heart set on (eg GTA IV)... its a simple example, and not true (i'm getting GTA4 later today!), but the event is not being able to get something i've been looking forward to, the reason is simple.


however, i figure you mean it to mean more than that, Mr OP. in which case i would say there's no forward-looking reason (eg: "i can't get GTA4 this month, but its ok because it must have happened for a good reason"), largely because i don't believe in any overarching purpose, plan, or anything of the sort. its more simply an incredible, giant equation with each persons' decision a variable, with the outcome unknown. my own actions and decisions may have a strong outcome for me, or not, depending on the other variables decisions and weighting. if that makes sense.

That just about sums it up.

Have things happened in your lives and you just wonder if there's any reason or rhyme to it? I wonder about that sometimes. I mean do things happen for a reason, for a purpose, or is our lives really nothing more than a series of random event that seem like they have reason and purpose because that's what we tell ourselves to make it seem like our lives are heading somewhere?

I believe that things do happen for a reason, the events we experience do have reason and purpose to them, but I'm still trying to figure out what they are.

Discuss.
you could argue it either way.
In a sense everything has a reason to happen, the cause and effect nature of the universe tells us this.
However this cause and effect idea can be refuted, some things are a little harder to understand where the cause came from. I'm also sure you could link in the philosophy of time in there to really muddle things up a bit.

Perhaps there is no reason to why things occur, maybe we are just part of an automated programme from an ultra-intelligent lifeform computer.

Personally i'm not sure, i put yes things have a reason, although whether it's a good reason, or not is another problem to figure out.
In fact you could argue almost any part of philosophy into that question

Things happen for any reason you attribute to them. Your life is a bunch of stories so it's impossible to go through life truly believing the events of your life are random and purposeless. Even if you know rationally that is the case you can't feel it.

Have things happened in your lives and you just wonder if there's any reason or rhyme to it? I wonder about that sometimes. I mean do things happen for a reason, for a purpose, or is our lives really nothing more than a series of random event that seem like they have reason and purpose because that's what we tell ourselves to make it seem like our lives are heading somewhere?

I believe that things do happen for a reason, the events we experience do have reason and purpose to them, but I'm still trying to figure out what they are.

Discuss.

Things happened in consequence to what we do. So yes, they do happen for a reason, they happen because we make them happen.

No no no, it's the other way around!

It's been working well so far. :)

Have things happened in your lives and you just wonder if there's any reason or rhyme to it? I wonder about that sometimes. I mean do things happen for a reason, for a purpose, or is our lives really nothing more than a series of random event that seem like they have reason and purpose because that's what we tell ourselves to make it seem like our lives are heading somewhere?

I believe that things do happen for a reason, the events we experience do have reason and purpose to them, but I'm still trying to figure out what they are.

Discuss.

i guess it depends on what you mean by happening for a reason.

many things in our live happen because of the choices we have made. why did all my teeth fall out? because i have been smoking meth for the past 3 years. the reason is my own stupid actions.

or to use an example that oprah used on her show one day years ago....when the airline loses my luggage is the universe teaching me a lesson on patience? HELL NO. it was lost because a baggage handler put it in the wrong place somewhere along the line. the reason is his mistake. (oprah opted for the universe theory but she is an idiot)

is there some plan of god that is unfolding by the way our lives go? no.

is it karma--payback for something we did in some past life or for some (completely unconnected) thing we did years ago? NO

life is a combination of random chance and the choices made by us and those around us. kinda like a game of monopoly eh? you do your best with the roll of the dice you get. there is no more meaning than that.

I don't believe that things necessarily happen for a reason.

However it's comforting to try and salvage some good from bad situations.

And just because things do not necessarily happen because of a predetermined higher purpose, it does not mean that good cannot be salvaged.

I think I'll just say salvaged a few more times.

Salvaged.

I don't believe in karma and I don't believe God chooses anything to happen.

I think we have what we have, and it's best not to wish for things you can't have, and to get on with what you've got to try and help and improve as many people's lives as possible.

Just because there may be no higher purpose doesn't mean you can't have a purpose.

Wtf? The bulk of the Reformation took place in Germany in the confrontation between emperor Charles V and the de-facto-independent Reichsfürsten (especially the Electors) who had converted to the new Protestantism. H8 only profited from the calamity that the church was already in.

You have to remember that the German Reichsfürsten were essentially small-scale, weak powers that would have eventually been pulled back under Catholicism given the course of a century or so (and the provision of things such as the Inquistion). Of course, with England, as a major power backing them, it would always be difficult for the Holy Roman Emperors to force their way with regard to the religious question without potentially invoking war, a war that the Holy Roman Empire would find it difficult to win (even if Spain and France backed them, with France being a very unlikely ally).

Either one.

The latter is a (mostly) inviolable property of the universe. You could just as well ask if gravity makes things fall.