Are Our Lives Destined by Fate?

I for the best part have always believed that we are in charge of our own Destiny, but I have had occasions to doubt this and wonder if Fate actually controls it!

I have set out on a path that I have thought was the best one to take, but then part way along it things would seem to turn against me and I feel like I am being pushed into taking a completely different direction.

Is it coincidence or is there something else at play to put me on the path that I should be on?

What are your thoughts?

Original Post by kathygator:

precisely. i think it might be more accurate to express negative and positive emotions they way we describe dark and light. Darkness is the absence of light. Negativity is the absence of positive thoughts like love, kindness, compassion.

But that is balance! you can't have one without the other. 

when i think of balance, i think of opposite and equal. i think love, for instance, exists outside of that balance as infinite and as nomo pointed out immeasurable.

Original Post by nomoreexcuses:

in the case of a scale, there is something against which mass is measured or compared

if the scale is correctly balanced to begin with (not always the case) then putting the same amount of mass on each side will keep the scale level

to suppose that positive thoughts or actions have the same kind of measurability as mass.... that's what doesn't make sense to me -- it presumes limits to things that to me, seem unlimited (thoughts or kindness, for example) - so it just doesn't make intuitive sense to me

 So you are saying that it doesn't matter how much negative thought you have it doesn't tip the balance?

That doesn't make intuitive sense to me.

Someone who goes out and murders someone out of rage or even premeditated cannot possibly be balanced. If they were then the positive side of the scale would have created a level playing field that would have prevented it. A balanced mind does not murder etc.

true. but I think the idea that 'good' is offset by an equal amount of 'evil' in the universe was what nomo was referring to, not the imbalance of a sickened mind.

104: yes, thanks kathy

i'm saying there's an infinite amount of negative thought AND an infinite amount of positive thought -- both are infinitely available for you to choose your actions

If every single person in Asia & Africa (3/4 of the earth's population) suddenly sat down and began meditating on peace and love, I don't believe that it would cause everyone else in Europe and the Americas to suddenly start dwelling on or pursuing war and hatred.  If it had any effect on the people in Europe and America at all, I think it would be more likely to have a positive effect, to perhaps make people feel more loved or more at peace.  It's too bad we can't run that experiment to find out!

Yeah I know but the person with the imbalance is what makes up the offset of good v evil in the universe.

I don't believe that "Love" is immeasurable everything has it's limitations including that.

Original Post by nomoreexcuses:

104: yes, thanks kathy

i'm saying there's an infinite amount of negative thought AND an infinite amount of positive thought -- both are infinitely available for you to choose your actions

If every single person in Asia & Africa (3/4 of the earth's population) suddenly sat down and began meditating on peace and love, I don't believe that it would cause everyone else in Europe and the Americas to suddenly start dwelling on or pursuing war and hatred.  If it had any effect on the people in Europe and America at all, I think it would be more likely to have a positive effect, to perhaps make people feel more loved or more at peace.  It's too bad we can't run that experiment to find out!

 But you are still taking it as a personal thing that you control as I said before for the higher balance that you are talking of the universe finds a way to balance it.

It's ok, annd. I think that's simply where you and I disagree. If there is a limit to one's capacity to love, I haven't experienced it. :)

Yeah I guess we do:-)

Let me ask you this though. Do you feel the  same capacity of love for someone who say raped and tortured someone?

Balance is the key that unlocks the secrets of the Universe, it applies to all levels of our being, body, mind, and spirit. Every Human secretly yearns for a state of inner balance and peace. Most of us are so out of balance, that being out of balance feels normal to us.

Anything that we do can be overdone, or underdone. What may people call neuroses, are actually a state of imbalance. Once we achieve a state of inner balance, it actually may feel odd to us. You should really examine what you have achieved, and how it really makes you feel. Does it feel good, and peaceful? Now you know what it feels like to be balanced, then you will know when you need to make an adjustment, to come back to that center point. If the pendulum swings too far one way, it will inevitably swing back the other way.

The universe strives for balance in all things. Chinese medicine teaches us that we need a balance in all things. Restoration of the flow of qi, and balance will assist the body to heal disease. This applies to physical, emotional, and spiritual imbalances. Many severe illnesses, such as cancer, can be traced back to a severe emotional trauma suffered by the patient. Treatment must apply to the physical body, the energetic body, and the spiritual body in order to achieve complete healing. Balance begins with breathing.

Sit quietly, breathing in slowly. With each inhalation, breathe in peace, energy, healing, calmness, with each exhalation, release negative emotions, such as anger, fear, guilt, etc. When life's situations bring these emotions, allow yourself to feel them, but then sit down, and begin your deep, even breathing, releasing tension, and negative emotions, and bring yourself back to balance. Remember balance in all that you do. Too much of anything, even good things, will not work.

expertwhowrotethis

Aww, Tool comes in handy again.

Ann, you should listen to the The Patient.

A groan of tedium escapes me,
Startling the fearful.
Is this a test? It has to be,
Otherwise I can't go on.
Draining patience, drain vitality.
This paranoid, paralyzed vampire act's a little old.

But I'm still right here
Giving blood, keeping faith
And I'm still right here.

Wait it out,
Gonna wait it out,
Be patient (wait it out).

If there were no rewards to reap,
No loving embrace to see me through
This tedious path I've chosen here,
I certainly would've walked away by now.
Gonna wait it out.

If there were no desire to heal
The damaged and broken met along
This tedious path I've chosen here
I certainly would've walked away by now.

And I still may ... (sigh) ... I still may.

Be patient.
I must keep reminding myself of this.

And if there were no rewards to reap,
No loving embrace to see me through
This tedious path I've chosen here,
I certainly would've walked away by now.
And I still may.

Gonna wait it out.  --Source

If every single person in Asia & Africa (3/4 of the earth's population) suddenly sat down and began meditating on peace and love, I don't believe that it would cause everyone else in Europe and the Americas to suddenly start dwelling on or pursuing war and hatred.  If it had any effect on the people in Europe and America at all, I think it would be more likely to have a positive effect, to perhaps make people feel more loved or more at peace.  It's too bad we can't run that experiment to find out!

Actually, I remember hearing (or reading) about a group of protesters who meditated in Washington DC for a weekend.  Turns out the crime rate dropped that weekend by...I think it was 15%.  Lemme go see if I can find it.

Oh I remember.  It's from the film "What the Bleep." http://www.whatthebleep.com/index2.shtml

Oh I haven't seen that film, was it any good?

It's funny that you should pick patience it's not one of my strongest qualities although I am working on it.

It's a constant working progress

I though the film was cool, but I can see where some would consider it boring.

Patience isn't a virtue of mine either.  That song helps me when I need to remind myself to be patient.

Here's the song the lyrics belong to.  Probably not your cup of tea, but the entire album is about finding oneself.  Give it a listen.  It could grow on you.  The Patient

I like it, listened to 3. I have never even heard of tool but I think I will be getting that album. Thanks jewels

I hadn't made a distinction between "Fate" and "Destiny"(purpose) but I found this, this morning makes a bit of sense to me, but I wish my destiny would remind me what it was I picked before I was born because I have forgotten

 

fateanddestiny

in answer to your question annd: I'm not saying I believe that one has the capacity to love every living being, although some would argue that they do, my point was that when I do love someone, it is without measure, boundaries or conditions. :)

I don't disagree with the concept that physical, emotional and spiritual balance promote good health and/or contentment.

But we're still comparing in the example above a tangible imbalance (of brain chemistry or cellular function) with intangible qualities, like love.

Know of anyone who got cancer because they were too happy with their life?  Because they loved people too much?  If any 'imbalance' causes ill health, then you would expect to find such cases.

Now, there is a way to be out of balance on the positive end - mania we call it - but that is still due to physical, tangible brain chemical issues.

Very few humans have developed the ability to truly love those who have/would hurt us.  That doesn't mean it's impossible.  I love and forgive my alcoholic father.  I forgive my abusive ex-husband.  There doesn't have to be an automatic contradiction or opposition between sorrow and love.  Or even anger and love, come to think of it.  Ever been angry at your child?  That's a good example of how you can love someone and be very angry with them at the same time.  We tend not to have the same experiences with people outside of our families, but they are someone's children too.

I think it sounds like we disagree because annd is talking about 'balance' for an individual and kathy and I are talking about 'balance' in the universe - for an individual in this physical (finite) realm, there is a midpoint to everything and so a balance point -- for the universe, there can't be a midpoint of infinity:

 ∞ ÷ 2 =  ∞

so in the universal sense, balance is what we make it, we either make the balance positive or negative, there is no universal scale to enforce neutrality (or if you think there is, what is it and how can one identify it?)

jewels, wow, thanks for the link!  I should watch that movie again - it's been quite a while - maybe it will sink in a little more now. 

 

What the bleep do we know is full of pseudoscience and mysticism. I would not really take anything it says as fact. 

:-D

Carry on.

We'll just have to agree to differ you clearly don't view the world the way I do and I just can't view it the way you do or even begin to comprehend your train of thought it just makes absolutely no sense to me. So I'm not even going to try.

We clearly live in two different worlds