Death and Fate

[Jaded Cat of the World]

My Uncle was just killed a week ago in a car crash. This got my mind thinking a lot about death and Fate vs. Chance. So what are your veiws on death. And can you die earlier or later then you really should?  

[TeaDidikai]

My path has an interesting framework tied to destiny, fate, chance and luck.

Fate: In what situation and/or location one is placed by those that treat humanity like pieces on a game board.

Destiny: Where one’s path in life intersects with Fate.

Chance: Random variables that are not part of Fate’s hand. Think of it as the fact that said gods might spill their soda on the game board and then knock the pieces this way and that while they sop up the liquid with divine paper towels.

Luck is the personal and familial effects of the willful actions of the individual’s “Bok” that acts for their boon or bane.  

[PhantomPhoenix0]

My idea of Fate/Destiny is pretty hard to explain. The closest way I've seen it portrated is in an episode of Fraiser. Those familar with the series, its the one where he decides to go speed dating.

Anyway, in the episode, he sits down, and before he goes speed dating, he debates leaving what he has on, or putting on a sweater. The episode then plays out to where he
a) leaves what he has on, and misses the speed dating, meets a girl and has a great time
b) changes, makes it to the speed dating, and has a terrible time.

Overall, thats the way I see it. Everything is all laid out for us, the only difference we make is choosing how we experience it, and how we get there.

On death, I am a firm believer that you die when you are supposed to. Not before or after.

And Im sorry for your loss.  

[Pelta]

I believe there are certain things that certain people are "supposed" to accomplish in their lifetimes. This is obviously different from person to person depending on what they need to do or learn. I say "supposed" because there's nobody saying you have to do it. It may be suggested by gods that you follow a certain path but you can always deny them. We do have choices. And if you don't learn your lessons this lifetime you learn them in some subsequent one. It just depends on how quickly you learn and do what you're supposed to.

I think chance is pretty much choice. People's choices that effect everything else in some minute way lead to chance occurances.

I think my brain's fried from too much sun. Am I making any sense? ninja  

[Starlock]

Starsfire2477

My Uncle was just killed a week ago in a car crash. This got my mind thinking a lot about death and Fate vs. Chance. So what are your veiws on death. And can you die earlier or later then you really should?

The thing is... how can you possibly tell if the person has died earlier or later than they should have? I have to take an Agnostic stance here; it isn't possible for us to know this, partly because it is based on an unprovable set of presuppositions about the world. Perhaps it better to just accept death when it happens rather than play mindgames about whether or not someone was *supposed* to die at a particular time. Regardless of wheter or not it was supposd to happen, it happened. End of discussion, eh? That's all there is to it from this one's standpoint.

On the larger question of fate as a whole, though, that's not all there is to it. But we're not talking about fate as a whole in this thread... heh.  

[Doctrix]

I believe that there is a framework within which our choices are made. We cannot escape the framework, but our choices within are infinite. Sorry for your loss. My dad died about two months ago. I believe it was his will. If y'all knew the man, you couldn't believe otherwise! I believe that we choose when we enter and leave this world.  

[TeaDidikai]

[Kudzu]

I believe that there is a framework within which our choices are made. We cannot escape the framework, but our choices within are infinite. Sorry for your loss. My dad died about two months ago. I believe it was his will. If y'all knew the man, you couldn't believe otherwise! I believe that we choose when we enter and leave this world.

sweatdrop I forgot to mention free will.