What is our Destiny?

I was just thinking tonight about Destiny. Some people believe in Destiny and others do not. Aragorn's Destiny was to become King of Gondor, Neo's Destiny was to save the world from the Machines, Anakin's Destiny was to bring the Force into balance. But what is our destiny? I personaly feel I was meant to do something in this world for good but I have as of yet not figured out what it is I was Destined to do. The reason for this thread was to start a conversation about Destiny, Do you believe in it? If so do you have an idea of what your Destiny is? Or do you feel that you have already fufilled your Destiny? I would like to hear what everybody's feelings and thoughts are on this subject.

 

This is a difficult topic. I can also draw more Matrix philosophy into it. Is there causality? or choice? See, if you believe in causality, then there would have to be destiny. If you have choice, then nothing is destined to happen. However, if you've ever seen Can't Hardly Wait (a great movie I might add) then you'll remember Jenna Elfman's character, the angel stripper, says that there is such a thing as Fate, but it only takes you so far, because then it's up to you to make it happen. This favors some middle ground.

It's kind of ironic... I think one of our initial purposes in life is to find our purpose. I've contemplated on this idea of destiny as well, Sean. These are my own personal views, and yes, I am bringing religion into the picture for my views only. While I incorporate both destiny and free will into my beliefs, which seem to contradict each other and not make sense, I also factor God into this mix... and God is by all means beyond human comprehension. I believe that God knows what is best for us and has a plan for us. So in that sense we are confined to what He gives us to work with. However, I also believe we have free will, and can thus exercise choice. But I've gotten to think that we do this before birth, and it's just a matter of time before we get to that point in our lives when we have to say our answer and try to understand it. So by using our free will, we can make ourselves into whatever we want to become, and have control over our life. It's quite difficult to understand.

But thank you for bringing this up Sean. I look forward to other responses. Do you mean our individual purpose? or the purpose of humanity collectively? I think our collective purpose is to love - love one another as humans, and thus brothers and sisters, and to love God.

 

You did a great job of explaining how you feel and on your views RandomMenace, I agree with alot of what you said and when talking about Destiny and Choice..To quote the Oracle, "It is a pickle no doubt about it." To answer your question I am wanting to hear about both, personal and as a whole.

 

I have a pessimistic/realistic view on this. I think we all fancy ourselves as important to this world and it's future but actually don't amount to didlly squat. I mean we are important to a few peeps in our lives but there is no destiny, there is just life. No matter what we do, who we help, what we save/destroy the world keeps turning regardless and one day we all will no longer exist. This isn't a bad thing, it just is. A dog gets hit by a car at the same time a puppy is born. I guess to sum up this rambling is there is no destiny, just life and what we make of it, we are not as important as we'd like to think and no matter what happens to us or the world, the sun still rises the next day so relax and enjoy the ride.

 

I don't believe in Destiny. Our future is what we make it if we live long enough to do it.

 

i agree with pada-1 to a degree, but you'll never know if you're one of the few who could change things till you try...but as for sean, you're getting married i see, so your path lies there, maybe your suppossed to teach your kids well and they, or grandkids and so on are to do something important....after all shmi gave birth to the new galaxy and she was otherwise irrelevant.....but to everyone else my opinion is destiny is too big to see, if it exists, you'd never be able to see the big picture- you're not "god" or whatever else you may believe, and if it doesn't exist then who cares? i say follow your heart in everything and you'll find your destiny, or at least i'd put feelings in people that led them to their destiny if I was building a universe, and if there isn't a destiny, then you had a damn good time doing it

 

There's no escaping reason, no denying purpose

I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Maybe you just can't see that as you're experiencing something that causes you pain. I think that hindsight is the best vision... and I look back at a few instances in my life where I thought it'd be the end of the world, when I was actually right where I needed to be at the time. I made a few poor choices last year that cost me (what I thought then was) a lot, but had I not lost those things then, I would have been overwhelmed over the last few months. I guess what I'm saying here is, if everything happens for a reason, then that's gotta be destiny. However, the choices you make somehow fall into the grand scheme of things exactly how they should. You choose your destiny. By making a choice, you're sealing your fate as to how a scenario is going to end. But, you're comfortable wtih that choice, or else you wouldn't have made it. So, you intuitively know what you want beforehand and react based upon that. But once you react, your choice is over, and you're destined for whatever to arise.

I hope that makes sense, hehe.

 

I can also draw more Matrix philosophy into it
Eric...I think you'd try to relate Martix philosophy to just about anything.

Up until a couple months ago...I figured everything in my life was going along some kind of timeline: I was with a girl I love very much, had my family (and hers) friends, career was starting to pick up to the point where I could start thinking about "future plans"...
(BOOM!!!)
...My career path hits a roadblock (so there's been money problems), my relationship of almost 7 years falls apart, and almost everything/everyone I valued in life is gone. Do I believe in destiny...if it exists, it just punched me in the gut.

Since then, I've been trying to piece together what went wrong...because if it's "God's plan" what could a guy who was really looking just to live a simple life do to warrent that? kid you not, I was at a wedding (nothing like tearing open that wound) and I spent the entire ceremony looking at the symbols of my "faith" asking If you're trying to destroy me...here I am, DO IT!!!

Now that I've probably shared too much of my personal life...let me say that I still think there is some kind of "Force" guiding us along our lives. And yes, while everyone seems to think they were meant for some grand higher purpose...whenever I manage to piece together what my path is/was/whatever it will be just a simple kind of life.

I just didn't realize that MAY be too much to ask for.