When you spend a lot of time in bars talking to people, you always talk about the meaning of life, and I always draw the picture above. I believe in the perfect combination of free will and destiny. This may sound crazy but it also fits with the Christians' belief of free will and God's plan. I think life is like the picture above. Your life is already laid out on a graph, but it's a possible graph. A graph of possibilities. Every intersection is a choice and sends you in a particular direction. Sometimes you can end up back at a certain intersection and that means you were meant to meet that person or get that job at that specific time, not when your lines first crossed. Or it may mean you didn't get something right the first time, whatever that was. Every single choice sends you in a certain direction. Some people stay inside a loop and keep doing the same things over and over. I guess they don't recognize the intersection points (which represent choice). I felt this idea about the meaning of life many years ago and it just makes sense to me. I like the idea that it's all laid out but the choices are there. What do you think?
13 comments:
I believe in God's will but that doesn't necessarily mean I follow it. I'd like to, but I don't always know what it is. In other words, when I reach an intersection and go left instead of right, it will be my "destiny" to go left but not necessarily God's will (if he preferred I went right). I don't know if that makes any sense. (I haven't had enough beer to fully engage in this "discussion." lol)
It would be nice to know that my destiny is in tune with God's will, but who knows?
Interesting post. It's thought provoking...and I like your drawing and what it represents.
I think I love the drawing. I'd totally hang it on my wall. But as to the meaning of life, I think it's all random. I don't think we're anymore special than all the other creatures and life forms on the planet in that we have some sort of destiny. I think the choices we make in many ways determines the sort of life we have, but there's also a lot of shit we can't control that affects our life -- a lot of completely random stuff... like getting hit by lightening or shot in a driveby or infected with a virus -- just because we happened to be in a certain place at a certain time.
Scarlet,
~~I suppose that if you are trying to follow God's will, you would be basically following your conscience. (Wasn't that Jiminy Cricket's song in Pinocchio?) And following your conscience or as Oprah calls it "Your Inner Voice" is supposedly God's voice. Whether it's God or some smarter part of our brain telling us to turn left or right, I think it's usually the wiser choice.
Xup,
~~So you see life as chaos? Whether you're struck by lighning, a gunshot or virus or win the lottery - that's all random and nothing was meant to be? In that case I guess you believe in luck: bad luck or good luck. I think the concept of luck mixes well into chaos theory.
Exactly. Good and bad luck are as random as the roll of the lottery balls -- a pretty good metaphor of life. You've got some wee bit of control since you make the decision to buy the ticket, but the rest is up to chance. Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people and people make themselves crazy trying to find meaning in it - karma, god's will, test of faith, fate, destiny, what have you..
I'm with XUP on this one. I don't think all the possibilities are mapped out in advance. You make a choice and whatever happens, happens, and you make more choices based on that...
Actually, I think it would be comforting to be able to believe in destiny...
Since God created man in His own image, I think that the free will aspect of our character is part and parcel of how we are reflective of God's image. CHOICES are such a very important part of the equation! Other people’s choices certainly have an effect on us. For example, my dad chose to leave my family when I was 4 years old, and that had a profound effect on the rest of my life. As I grew, I learned however that it was up to me to “choose” how to let things effect me. My “choices” can also bring about change and/or effect other’s lives. We also learn from our “choices”. I hope I choose the choice cuts from the choices I have to choose from.
Your picture makes me think about what I’ve heard about the mathematical principles of chaos theory and string theory; both very interesting and complex, and neither of which I have much understanding!
I find your thesis doesn't speak to me. Either it is all mapped out, or it isn't. Where do 'the choices' come into that? I mean, if it REALLY IS all mapped out, you have no choices....!
Anyway...you asked! (lol)
I don't think it is all mapped out, at all, and I DO think there is good luck and bad luck--no matted what Oprah says--I know she doesn't believe in Luck, at all--But I disagree. I've known too many truly talented people who SHOULD have had Great great careers--And, they didn't. Not having the luck to be in the right place at the right time happens ALL the time, and if that is already mapped out---Well, give me the Gas Pipe!....And as another of your commenters said, Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people---do you think that is mapped out, too?
Anyway...it is a very interesting discussion....and one that will probably go on till the end of time.
As to your question in your comment on my blog, I will e-mail you. I need to think about it. My first respobse was Negative. So, let me think about it a bit longer and I will let you know.
Off this subject, but about your last blog post, today my daughter and I went to the Fair. We had the Chicken Fried Bacon! It was pretty tasty, especially with the honey mustard. My favorite food though was the Fried Smores. YUM! Daughter preferred the Fried Cookie Dough though. We shared. Oh, and the Fried Green Tomatoes were delicious! We rode the Himalaya (same ride...different name). We thought the dancing dogs were fun! I ran into our neighbors, the roofer with wife and kids. We thought it would be less crowded being a weekday, but it was apparently "free kid" day and the schools were out so the kids could go to the Fair. It was super crowded! haha Best laid plans and all that...
Jazz,
~~Yes, I guess I find comfort in my theory but I like the combination of choice with destiny. I don't think I'd be completely happy if I believed it was all random and chaos.
Naomi,
~~As far as the bad things and good things happening to good and bad people, maybe it is part of a long term plan. Maybe if this or that person had had this great career, they would have changed in a bad way or caused some sort of far-reaching damage. There is always good and bad and it has to happen in equal parts everywhere, sort of a balance of nature thing. I know Oprah says that good luck is ony "preparedness meeting opportunity" but I believe in luck. On my illustration above, you start on any given line and at each intersection you choose where to go next. You may make a lucky choice or an unlucky choice. If you think back on your life you will see hundreds of times where you made a big choice and can noticeably see the difference in the turn of your life. But the other path was there, already laid out. Anyway, that's just the way I se it.
Carole,
~~I'm sorry you ended up at the fair on kid day! I bet you had fun anyway. Also what are the odds you ran into the neighbors?!? That's crazy. I also can't believe you ate the chicken fried bacon. You are very brave. You're so right about choices reaching out like a web to affect so many others. It's like the butterfly effect, which oddly enough is part of chaos theory.
I love the drawing.
Oh, I see above that you mentioned the butterfly effect already. I have found that if I put too much thought (and worry) about whether my choice is God's Will, my destiny, or simply the most correct, then I was often paralyzed by fear of getting it wrong. I often make random choices based on whim or the weather or my mood or someone elses decision and have learned not to fret over the consequences. Sometimes I end up where I perhaps should have been all along but through a circuitous route full of mistakes along the way. Life through a labrynth.
VioletSky,
~~Well my drawing supports ending up back at a certain place that you may have skipped on the first go round. You are wise to not fret. We can't unring a bell and simply agonizing over the sound it made is pointless.
I like your analogies! Some things take a long while to learn (for me, anyway.)
hey! you got inside my brain! lol Can I have it?
I'm not religious, don't believe in god and all that. But when I stop to think about all this, I often come to the conclusion that although I am solely responsible of what happens in my life, i.e. choices, moves, decisions, destiny plays a big part in all this. Of course, there is sometimes chaos if I try to control a few things and I bang my head against the wall, which still happen with frustrating regularity lol
At the end of the day though, I firmly believe that everyone is entitled to their way of living. What works for one doesn't necessarily work for another and it's not wrong at all to be different.
Post a Comment