is fate predestined or is it in your hands?

Answer 1

Fate is how you make use of the opportunities that are in your hand.

Answer 2

The word "fate" means predestination of some sort, be it through some supernatural or natural power or effect. Thus when we refer to someone as "fatalistic" it has the negative connotation that they no longer believe that direction of their life can be changed or re-directed. To answer the question, fate is always predestined or predetermined, because that is what the word "fate" means. Whether or not human existence is bound by fate or predestined is another kind of question.

Answer 3

It is predestined. Now it is in my hands. It is fate .. that it will be out of hand...

Answer 4

It relies more on probability, possibility and reality. Probability, when some things are most likely to happen i.e. When you smoke, you're more likely to suffer lung cancer than breast cancer although both organs are close to each other. Possibility, when some things are able to happen even with the slightest chance of happening (even .01% chance) i.e. After several safe rides on a roller coaster can still get you to an accident because of a small loose bolt or some stray bullet hitting you by accident. Reality, when one thing is bound to happen. i.e. When you jump and fall back due to gravity. These three things decide "fate" or the outcome of things.

Answer 5

fate is actually a combination of both.

true, there are a lot of things in our hands. as human beings, we were given freewill and the capacity to make decisions. we were given intellect and conscience that we may be able to weigh our options. our words, actions and thoughts influence the flow of our lives. some things are laid out but it is up to us to take them. often, life's paths are chosen.

however, there is still that constant factor of the inevitable. sometimes, no matter what you do, some things happen. there are still those things beyond our control. i guess to prove this, there's that whole cliche concept of luck that has become a common belief. there are always those unexpected things. as long as there's the unknown, there would always be matters out of our hands.

Answer 6

Some of it is predestined and most of it is in your hands.

Answer 7

You know it is predestined. But the future lies in your hands.

Answer 8

It is firmly in your own hands.

I've just decided to have a cup of tea - I don't think that's fate, it's because I'm thirsty.

Of course, if I fall down the stairs on the way to the kitchen, that could be fate..................

Answer 9

Fate is in your hands to the point where you can choose to something which affects your future, and you were not compelled to make this choice for any reason. Most people, have a different definition of choice, but I define choices to be decisions which cannot be forced or compelled by anyone or anything other than yourself. For example, according to this defintion I would say that the above gentleman may have chosen to drink tea on his own free will, but his thirst to drink was forced. I suppose it can argued that he chose to obey his thirst or that even his decision to choose tea was compelled by something that happened in his life and that it was fate that he chose tea. I consider both arguments extreme, although these are my definitions, and not universally accepted. Also, I consider these definitions to be mostly my choice and yours whether or not to accept them. Any compulsions to accept these definitions are pretty weak. Also, if you were to accept my "decision" to make these defintions compelled from learning from past experience, then I believe you must believe in predestiny, although this is also an acceptable possibility.

Fate is predestined to the point where choice becomes an illusion, and somewhich which could have already been predicted from past experience. This would seem contrary to free will, but there are examples. For instance, you could decide not to look at the answers that people have given to this question. You are certainly capable of making this choice. But most likely, you have already made this choice unknowingly when you decided to ask the question. Also, there may have been things that happened to you today which were out of your control which contributed to your decision to answer this question. You could have decided not to ask this question, but something may have compelled you to ask it anyway.

So to a certain extent, you have free will. And to a certain extent, this free will is a bit of an illusion. I was hungry today, therefore, I decided to eat. Perhaps you could say that I decided to eat. Perhaps you could say that I was compelled. In either case, my choice was clearly influenced by factors out of my control. I did not choose to become hungry.

True believers in predestination believe that everyone fate's has already been determined for them. I think to believe this means that all events somewhere are predictable by someone or something.

For many people, the idea of predestination upsets them and makes them feel powerless. I knew one person who rode a horse and had no control said that he insisted on going the direction that the horse wanted to go. I guess the person who chooses to eat could be saying that they insist on agreeing with their body's desires. My guess is that we all need to feel some level of control over our lives and many of us express our feelings in this way. Am I saying denial is bliss? Maybe.

As for the truth, well thats probably complicated. Most people will probably not choose to change their opinion on predestination simply by reading my answer. If they believe in predestination, then they were simply predestined to believe in it. Or they may insist on believing they have choice in how their life turns out, because if they dont, well then that must mean that they are weak and helpless and are just using fate as a crutch. Or perhaps, they will choose to change their mind. Or maybe fate brought them to read my answer and they were predestined to change their mind to believe in predestination.

As for me, I believe in statistical thermodynamics. In statistical thermodynamics, some events occur randomly and their outcomes can only be expressed in terms of probability. I extrapolate this reasoning and apply it to choice, figuring that my decisions and most other peoples in any given circumstance will vary and could not be accurately predicted until all random deterministic events which would affect the outcome of my decision have occured. Can you really have predicted when you were five years old that you would grow into the person that you are today?

This may blow your mind but if you push against a wall, there is a very small probability that you will go through that wall. This chance can actually be calculated, and it turns out that if you pushed for an eternity, on average, you would have to wait longer than the current age of the universe before this would happen. Coincidently, due to the random motion of the molecules in the wall and the number of particles in the wall, there is an average space between those particles and it follows a bell shaped curve due the molecules unpredictible nature of random collision. Although it is a very rare event indeed, there is a chance that you could push through that wall.

And if you did, would you say that it was fate? Or would you say that you chose to do it? My guess is that choices function in some bizarre but similar manner. Do you attribute the parts that you can predict to fate and the rest choice? My answer to your question has led me to this question.

Answer 10

even if you knew you wouldn't be able to change anything.

we cannot change the past.
history never repeats itself.