Fate, karma or God - are you a believer?

[Restinggoddess]

Recently we have had a run of stressful life events- like everyone has from time
to time.

Some friends say they will
pray for me / the family.
Some friends say it’s fate and nothing can be done
Some friends say Karma is a bitch and it will catch up with the people who have created the stresses
Others say visualise the life you want ( and no one wants a list of stressful things do they??)

Not sure what I believe - other than we all have difficulties/ stressful times / bad events and therefore no amount of praying, visualising etc will change that

I would be interested to hear from people who firmly believe that fate, karma, God will play out, so to speak

I find this an interesting discussion- not a judgment of what people believe- looking forward to your thoughts

I believe that free will is an illusion and that everything that happens is fated to happen.

I think that things happen to all people, some good things happen, some bad things happen. It's just life and not the work of something 'other'.

The belief that things happen for a reason or faith in some 'power' brings comfort for some though. If you have that faith it must make the bad times more difficult to bear.

So when something bad happens to someone it is for the best? As in ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’?
And when something good happens it is because it is deserved?

does everyone get their fair share of good and bad?

I do believe in fate. I believe you make your own path in life and in that sense you feel as though you are in control of it, but despite that, ultimately fate rules and my path was already set regardless of what I did.

I don't know why I believe that, I'm not normally one for theories but it helps me to make sense of my life.

I don’t think there is meaningful free will, not in some magical sense but simply on the basis that each thing that happens (including decisions we make) flows from what happened before- we may feel like we’re choosing but actually that choice is determined by preceding events.

I don’t believe in karma in the sense of “you get what you deserve”. I do however think that the sort of person you affects how you interact with the world and that trying to live a moral life gives you a richer and more meaningful experience of being human.

God- not sure, but my definition of the God I’m not sure I believe in is quite a long way from traditional religious views of God and closer to an abstract principle of connectedness. Perhaps I see God as a metaphor for the kind of connectedness this thread is about.

I was into eastern religions before coming back to Orthodox and free church christianity . The law of sow and reap is a bit like karma. The rest in the Bible is not obviously. I recommend reading couple of various religious books from different religions and then deciding

We are random components in a random universe. All random, no meaning, nothing more than pure chance. No aim, no motive, no reason, no plan, no-one.

Good and bad things definitely happen to everyone. Nobody gets a gilded life.
Things aren't always deserved, sometimes they just happen. Bad things - accidents, illness are no more 'earned by previous behaviour' than lottery wins are a reward for doing good deeds.

The difference between people is the way you perceive what life throws at you. Some people think make the most of bad situations and learn from them, some people squander good fortune and it doesn't make them happy.

So when something bad happens to someone it is for the best? As in ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’?

No

And when something good happens it is because it is deserved?

No

Does everyone get their fair share of good and bad?

No

Nope.
That's not what karma is, anyway - it's about reaching the next level of enlightenment (or not) after death. No suggestion of a celestial police force meting out appropriate punishments on the spot!

On a very, very macro scale, you could say I believe in 'fate'. That's about physics, though - the universe rolling along paths of cause & effect that were set in motion by the Big Bang (or whatever it was). What occurs in our tiny lifetimes is neither here nor there. If someone's house disappears down a sinkhole or they get hit by lightning, they've been affected by that general progression of events but it's nothing to do with any of their personal actions.

In terms of what you meant by your subject, we can influence what happens us to a certain extent, by the ways in which we relate to the world we live in right now. If you're observant, on the ball and focus your attention on the things you'd like more in life, you stand a better chance of getting what you want. If you're socially pleasant and keep your favour bank active, you'll generally have a more enjoyable life experience than someone who does the opposite.

But chance is chance, good or bad. I don't believe in any deities, but I like the saying "God's a mathematician" - it's all about probabilities!

@GarlicGrace - I know people who are socially pleasant and keep their favour bank active - and they get shafted by life’s vipers
I have seen deeply unpleasant people get away with so much

Thats why I asked the question

Thank you for your thoughts

Sadly, @Restinggoddess, deeply unpleasant people do get away with a lot. That's why they carry on being unpleasant.

They bank on nice people thinking the best of everyone, and exploit those people. Part of being observant is noticing the unpleasant people, and limiting your exposure 🙂 Boundaries!

Similar to @bellissimiaow and @BrookNoRivals, I'd say there is "destiny" in terms of the potentials you were born with. Some people have inexplicably natural talents. Some have personality disorders, illnesses, disabilities or abilities that determine the type and number of paths their lives may take. Being born into privilege or hardship sets your destiny in a stone that is hard or impossible to carve.

None of this is deserved. A girl born into poverty in a patriarchal culture doesn't deserve to be killed. Children raised in war zones don't deserve the PTSD that will blight their lives. Aristocrats don't deserve their influence or wealth. The preternaturally gifted don't deserve their talents.

Human, animal, plant or microbe - life is not fair. Actually it couldn't be, because everything thrives at the expense of other things. If there were a law of the universe, that would be it, alongside "energy/matter cannot be created or destroyed" (which is basically the same law).

The deity I don't believe in would have to have such an all-encompassing overview of all this that it couldn't possibly be fussed about the mundane events in fleeting human lives. Even if it were, what makes it answer the prayers of a pampered priest but ignore those of a mother whose child is dying?

Given that life isn't fair and nothing will make it be so, everyone reading this is quite fortunate compared to the world average. The best we can do is appreciate this fact and try to make good use of our "destinies".

Thank you all - many good points

I miss such discussions IRL

I agree that we are all more fortunate than we know and should be more grateful and fulfilled

I miss such discussions IRL

Me, too! Thanks for this one.