Post by Blessed Devil on Apr 18, 2009 8:25:21 GMT 7
If you ever catch me online in YM, you may catch my status message to be “I don’t believe in fate because I don’t like the idea that I’m not in control of my life.”
People who believe in destiny have a tendency to say “Some bad things happened to me, but everything happens for a reason.” Sometimes they say “I guess I wasn’t meant to do X” or “I guess I was just meant to do Y.” And the most frustrating one would be, “God has a big plan for all of us.”
It seriously bugs me. So much that it’s driving me nuts.
Of course, if by “Everything happens for a reason,” you mean everything happens because of the law of cause and effect, then I wouldn’t be so upset. Yes, earthquakes are caused by seismic waves caused by sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust. Rain is caused by water evaporating and traveling into the clouds.
But obviously that’s not what people mean. They mean that everything that happens has a purpose.
It bugs me because it hinders perception of cause and effect. Because if everything that happens has to have some sort of intention behind it, then how the hell are you going to figure out which of those bad things happened because of you, and which ones happened simply by accident which nobody had any control over?
It bugs me because it’s a way for people to escape blame. It’s an easy way to escape the responsibility when everything that happened is, in fact, your fault. It brings us to “I flunked chemistry and now I can’t go to medical school, I guess I wasn’t meant to be a doctor,” and sometimes worse, “I guess I was meant to grow marijuana instead.”
It bugs me because it’s unnecessary. I understand that “Everything happens for a reason” is often a way of saying “This happened so that I could learn from my mistakes.” But it’s completely possible to learn from our mistakes without believing that there’s some higher power in control of your life. In fact, not only is it possible, but it’s easier.
Because it’s much easier to think “Shit happens, that’s life sometimes,” rather than “What is the purpose behind my unusual string of bad luck?”
Because instead of “I guess I wasn’t meant to do X, I guess I was meant for Y,” it would be more honest to say, “I guess I wasn’t really good at X, I guess I really wanted to do Y.”
It would be more correct.
Because what bugs me the most about destiny, what gets me to tear off my hair and grit my teeth, what drives me insane, is that this belief is simply mistaken.
People who believe in destiny have a tendency to say “Some bad things happened to me, but everything happens for a reason.” Sometimes they say “I guess I wasn’t meant to do X” or “I guess I was just meant to do Y.” And the most frustrating one would be, “God has a big plan for all of us.”
It seriously bugs me. So much that it’s driving me nuts.
Of course, if by “Everything happens for a reason,” you mean everything happens because of the law of cause and effect, then I wouldn’t be so upset. Yes, earthquakes are caused by seismic waves caused by sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust. Rain is caused by water evaporating and traveling into the clouds.
But obviously that’s not what people mean. They mean that everything that happens has a purpose.
It bugs me because it hinders perception of cause and effect. Because if everything that happens has to have some sort of intention behind it, then how the hell are you going to figure out which of those bad things happened because of you, and which ones happened simply by accident which nobody had any control over?
It bugs me because it’s a way for people to escape blame. It’s an easy way to escape the responsibility when everything that happened is, in fact, your fault. It brings us to “I flunked chemistry and now I can’t go to medical school, I guess I wasn’t meant to be a doctor,” and sometimes worse, “I guess I was meant to grow marijuana instead.”
It bugs me because it’s unnecessary. I understand that “Everything happens for a reason” is often a way of saying “This happened so that I could learn from my mistakes.” But it’s completely possible to learn from our mistakes without believing that there’s some higher power in control of your life. In fact, not only is it possible, but it’s easier.
Because it’s much easier to think “Shit happens, that’s life sometimes,” rather than “What is the purpose behind my unusual string of bad luck?”
Because instead of “I guess I wasn’t meant to do X, I guess I was meant for Y,” it would be more honest to say, “I guess I wasn’t really good at X, I guess I really wanted to do Y.”
It would be more correct.
Because what bugs me the most about destiny, what gets me to tear off my hair and grit my teeth, what drives me insane, is that this belief is simply mistaken.
Hm. 