Do you believe the universe tries to tell us things

Don't think I've ever heard it described as cool before!! It's fascinating.. especially to an atheist like me. It's a huge mix of sociology, psychology, history, philosophy and the obvious theology. It has very little to do with practising faith though and I'm not qualified to talk about anyone's personal experience of prayer or what faith does for them. I don't think it "works" on a logical level or philosophical one, but that doesn't mean faith in itself is wrong as such.

I don’t really understand what people mean when they say “the universe” in this context as if it is a sentient thing. Seems like it is just a substitute for God, for people who are “spiritual” as opposed to religious.
Anyway, no I don’t think the universe is a sentient being that controls us or tries to communicate with us.

What's it trying to tell us..

That is so cool. Genuinely wish I was a theologian.

Do you believe the universe tries to tell us things

Nope, not in any way at all.

I believe in coincidences, or more precisely, the fact that human brains tend towards seeing patterns that don't exist, and mistakenly link consequence with entirely unrelated cause, but the idea that the universe is not only aware of your individual existence, but actively communicates with you as if it somehow cares about your existence is nonsense.

We're a species of pointless, sentient beings inhabiting a rock that could be obliterated tomorrow and the Universe would carry on regardless. It really isn't any more complex than that, so I see no reason to try and add totally unnecessary complications that just pose more and more irreconcilable quandries.

If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, sometimes it is indeed just a bog standard duck.

Maybe at the life stage you currently are at, being where you are is causing problems from a practical point of view. Would it be easier if you made fundamental changes or lead to more problems further down the line?

Of course it does. Things happen FOR you, not TO you.

I think that buddism is the closest religion that I have found to explain the universe.
Buddhists focus on inpermanence....change is inevitable...including death. The universe is in a state of constant change or impermanence. Change causes suffering. If we can embrace impermanence and change, even death then we can reduce suffering.

I am sorry for all those who have lost loved ones though. I don't think any religion can help with that tbh.

Subjugate, appease, beg, bargain. Ignore the hard questions with "it's all God's plan". I'm a theologian. I study and teach this. None of the philosophical or theological attempts to answer either the evidential or logical problem of evil work. As pp upthread said...the idea that life is easy if you're "good" and hard if you're not if incredibly problematic and frankly offensive.

I think that there is great meaning to the universe...it is miraculous. No clue at all what that meaning is but it is there!
I think that it is when we ignore that gut feeling or what the universe tries to tell us thrn we run into trouble.

YANBU.

What you call the ‘universe’ I call God. And when we are on the right path for us, things are easy. Doors open. Opportunities and chance meetings happen. Life happens. When we are not on the right path, things are difficult and we feel like we are walking through mud.

I know this makes people angry because how can tragic and awful things happen if it’s ’God’s plan’? Well no one knows. Faith and the meaning of life is a mystery that we don’t understand.

But the answer is to ask the universe what the right way foward is. Pray. Listen. Follow.

If the Cosmos is trying to tell me something, I've not heard a peep

No.

Likely no. But I am an arrogant human who believes I am the highest life form and understands the way life works.

But, we have been around for such a short amount of time. We believe we are the centre of everything which restricts our thinking. We have no idea. Absolutely none. We invented science and we make it bend within the rules we understand. Humans do not understand billions years of existence. So who knows.

Ok, but so what? Someone else would have been born. I had kids with someone who turned out in the long term to be an arse, putting it mildly. It really winds me up when people try to say "but if you hadn't known him you wouldn't have had your beautiful DCs.." well no, but I'd have had kids with someone else and they'd have been amazing too, and I wouldnt have known the first pair.

All this naval gazing about meaning is so time-wasting. There's a great Terry Pratchett quote about "if you believe in your dreams and follow your heart you'll still get beaten by the person who got their head down and worked hard". Something like that.

And this is exactly why I don’t believe that things happen for a reason. But we can’t wish those things away because to do so could change everything. The fact that your grandparents died young could have led to your father making choices that brought him to your mother and resulted in your birth.

OMG. So sorry for that.

Quite

I reckon Trump must be thinking that about now.

I don’t believe that the universe is trying to tell us something or that things happen for a reason. I believe that that every action or event has both a positive and negative impact on our life. It’s up to us to try and find the joy and positives in the things that happen. Whether you decide to stay or go will have both a positive and negative impact on your life. Try to commit to a decision and, once you have made that decision, commit to finding the good in it.

No, I think that smacks of privilege and a massive ego.

Erm, nope. That's ridiculous

No. I think things happen sometimes due to our own actions, like we move somewhere and it turns out to have bad points, or randomly, like someone becomes ill or dies. I think we process these events in our minds and make decisions based on them. If you are feeling like you want to give up and go home its because you think in light of the disadvantages about where you live now, you'd be better off at home. It's not 'the universe' talking, it's your own mind reacting entirely normally to your situation. Now all you need to do is put it to work and reflect on the pros and cons of going home and choose.

Infallible proof that it does indeed speak to us.

No.