If you don't believe in a god, do you believe in fate, destiny, luck?

[Mock Turtle]

If you don't believe in a god and believe everything is just part of nature evolving,,,, do you also not believe in fate, karma, destiny, luck, etc?

Why or why not?

I don't tend to believe in any of these, and often the lucky or those seemingly having some destiny are those who prepare best or just don't make as many mistakes as others. Karma, as in consequences for our actions or lack of such, is easily understandable though, even if there is no law for such to happen and often nothing does follow - that we are aware of, but perhaps not seen until later.

 

[Altfish]

If you don't believe in a god and believe everything is just part of nature evolving,,,, do you also not believe in fate, karma, destiny, luck, etc?

Why or why not?

I don't believe in God, not Fate and Destiny either but Luck, yes I believe in luck.
If there is a lottery, let's say they sell a million tickets, there will be a winner, but you will be lucky if it is you.

I am reminded of a quote by golfer Gary Player, "The more I practice the luckier I get"

 

[Nakosis]

If you don't believe in a god and believe everything is just part of nature evolving,,,, do you also not believe in fate, karma, destiny, luck, etc?

Why or why not?

I think humans, maybe some animals too are like an X factor in nature. We can alter the future by the decisions we make. The future is not determined or fated until the process of making those decisions are completed.

 

[stvdv]

If you don't believe in a god and believe everything is just part of nature evolving,,,, do you also not believe in fate, karma, destiny, luck, etc?

Why or why not?

I use God as a word to be able to talk about "the great unknow". It's beyond words, but darn interesting, hence I use the word God

Usually people use different definitions of God, hence God talking gets tricky I think ... lots of miscommunication

Even talking about "what I believe" sounds a bit strange. It's easier to talk about what I know

But what I know, others might not know, whence (dis)belief starts

Much easier to not talk, just be

 

[ChristineM]

Yes things happen. Things have happened.
Why do you choose to believe in one myth and not the other?

Life is not a myth

 

[stvdv]

I believe in luck.

I am never lucky. So, I do not believe in luck

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Thanks. I forgot karma(had to edit and add it). How does karma differ from destiny, luck and fate? Aren't they all supposedly based on our actions?

I don't know. I was using the term lightly. From what I understand, karma is action.

Here is info from a Buddha Dharma perspective. Karma

I honestly don't know if it's the same definition on Hinduism since their goals are different.

 

[Polymath257]

If you don't believe in a god and believe everything is just part of nature evolving,,,, do you also not believe in fate, karma, destiny, luck, etc?

Why or why not?

I don't believe in fate, karma, or destiny since those all seem to imply a goal.I don't believe there is a 'goal' or 'purpose'.

Luck is a strange one. It has to do with causality and, again, our desire for purpose. So, the 'cause' of some event may be something like the wind blowing in a particular way making a dog chase a leaf that means we stumble, thereby not seeing some event we would have otherwise, meaning we make a different decision than we would have, etc, etc, etc.

Is the wind blowing 'luck'? It is also caused by pressure in the atmosphere, heating and cooling from the sun, etc. The term 'luck' implies a randomness that I don't think is usually relevant. It's just that not all causes are *human* causes. They aren't 'dictated' to produce the reaction by humans. But they can still affect us.

I think it is part of our ego that we want to see everything as pointed at us. We like to think we are special and that the universe takes us into consideration. But, I believe, we are simply one collection of chemical reactions and the universe as a whole 'doesn't care' because it doesn't have the capability of 'caring'.

 

[Polymath257]

So its believed to be pre-wriiten? Who wrote it?

More like the initial conditions determine what will happen later through the application of physical laws.

It isn't 'written' in some Big Book that there will be an eclipse in Mexico in 2024. But, because the moon, Earth, and sun obey certain physical laws, we can know it will happen. Nobody *dictates* it will happen. But it happens.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

"
Terms like fate, destiny, luck, I see them more as way of describing one of the many, many things outside of our control."

But if our choices influence them, wouldn't that makes them in our control based on our choices?

If we can have a choice. But that is only a small shard of our lives. Most things are beyond our control, if anything at all is within our control.

 

[We Never Know]

If we can have a choice. But that is only a small shard of our lives. Most things are beyond our control, if anything at all is within our control.

Yes. If I won the powerball lottery am I lucky or did I win because my choice(my action) of buying a ticket?(of course you can't win without buying a ticket)

If I chose to turn right instead of left and arrived in a town where I met the girl of my dreams was that fate or just my choice(my action) to turn right?

 

[We Never Know]

Life is not a myth

I never implied life is a myth. I implied luck, fate, destiny are myths. Things like those happen to use based on the actions we choose to do.

 

[ChristineM]

I never implied life is a myth. I implied luck, fate, destiny are myths. Things like those happen to use based on the actions we choose to do.

Ok

I was replying to your quote

"Why do you choose to believe in one myth and not the other?"

I was talking life, i don't believe myth other than accept them as a story

 

[Polymath257]

Yes. If I won the powerball lottery am I lucky or did I win because my choice(my action) of buying a ticket?(of course you can't win without buying a ticket)

If I chose to turn right instead of left and arrived in a town where I met the girl of my dreams was that fate or just my choice(my action) to turn right?

In each case, your choice contributed, but did not determine the outcome. In the case of the powerball, the particular sequence of numbers that comes up has nothing to do with whether or not your chose that sequence. it had more to do with the air currents in the hopper. That is the type of situation where people typically say luck is involved: your decision had only a small part to play in the outcome. Your choice *did* contribute, of course, but it did not determine what the balls would say and nobody 'fixed' it so the balls would say that because of your choice.

In the situation with the girl of your dreams, the choice to turn left or right contributes. But *when* you chose does as well. If you had started on your walk a minute earlier or later, and still turned right, you may not have met her. if *she* decided to turn left as opposed to right on *her* walk, you might never have met her.

We tend to say luck is involved when the range of possibilities is large and the ones that give a 'nice' result are few. We also tend to say luck is involved when there are a large number of interconnected causes that all need to be 'just right' for the event to happen.

All too often, we forget that most of the causes relevant to our lives have nothing to do with us or even of humans.

 

[We Never Know]

In each case, your choice contributed, but did not determine the outcome. In the case of the powerball, the particular sequence of numbers that comes up has nothing to do with whether or not your chose that sequence. it had more to do with the air currents in the hopper. That is the type of situation where people typically say luck is involved: your decision had only a small part to play in the outcome. Your choice *did* contribute, of course, but it did not determine what the balls would say and nobody 'fixed' it so the balls would say that because of your choice.

In the situation with the girl of your dreams, the choice to turn left or right contributes. But *when* you chose does as well. If you had started on your walk a minute earlier or later, and still turned right, you may not have met her. if *she* decided to turn left as opposed to right on *her* walk, you might never have met her.

We tend to say luck is involved when the range of possibilities is large and the ones that give a 'nice' result are few. We also tend to say luck is involved when there are a large number of interconnected causes that all need to be 'just right' for the event to happen.

All too often, we forget that most of the causes relevant to our lives have nothing to do with us or even of humans.

With the lottery example is it more about probability? The probability of me winning only arises if I buy the ticket.
So my actions brought about the probability.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Yes. If I won the powerball lottery am I lucky or did I win because my choice(my action) of buying a ticket?(of course you can't win without buying a ticket)

If I chose to turn right instead of left and arrived in a town where I met the girl of my dreams was that fate or just my choice(my action) to turn right?

First, if that's the best you can come up with, buying a lottery ticket or not or turning left or right, those really aren't even meaningful choices. It's like Coke or Pepsi. And your brain knew what you would do before you were consciously aware of the decision. For all the evidence we have, it seems like you choices and decisions are made for you behind the scenes.
And lets up this to something more consequential. Like mental illness. Someone who is schizophrenic does not choose to be that way. They don't choose to have paranoid thoughts and delusions. They didn't choose to have a fragile grip with reality. And they certainly don't choose to become ensnared within a view of reality that is detached from reality. And are medications really a choice? A drive to get better or a fantasy belief they are alien technology tracking devices? Seems to me it's as much of a choice as someone who is drowning struggling for air. It's not a choice, it's instinct.

 

[We Never Know]

First, if that's the best you can come up with, buying a lottery ticket or not or turning left or right, those really aren't even meaningful choices. It's like Coke or Pepsi. And your brain knew what you would do before you were consciously aware of the decision. For all the evidence we have, it seems like you choices and decisions are made for you behind the scenes.
And lets up this to something more consequential. Like mental illness. Someone who is schizophrenic does not choose to be that way. They don't choose to have paranoid thoughts and delusions. They didn't choose to have a fragile grip with reality. And they certainly don't choose to become ensnared within a view of reality that is detached from reality. And are medications really a choice? A drive to get better or a fantasy belief they are alien technology tracking devices? Seems to me it's as much of a choice as someone who is drowning struggling for air. It's not a choice, it's instinct.

And none of what you mention have anything to do with god, fate, destiny or luck which is the point of the OP.
Many things that happen in life get contributed to god, fate, luck, destiny, etc.
They all are beliefs.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

And none of what you mention have anything to do with god, fate, destiny or luck which is the point of the OP.
Many things that happen in life get contributed to god, fate, luck, destiny, etc.
They all are beliefs.

I does have much to do with OP, as I gave my response to it and now I am elaborating when asked. And, yes, it is very relevant because things like fate amd destiny, if true, means there is no such thing as free will. If god is omniscient then free will cannot exist because it means we can only do what god knows we will do.

 

[We Never Know]

I does have much to do with OP, as I gave my response to it and now I am elaborating when asked. And, yes, it is very relevant because things like fate amd destiny, if true, means there is no such thing as free will. If god is omniscient then free will cannot exist because it means we can only do what god knows we will do.

Someone having schizophrenia has nothing to do with god, fate, luck, destiny, etc.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Someone having schizophrenia has nothing to do with god, fate, luck, destiny, etc.

It very much does because it strongly suggest there is no such thing as free will. That has major implications for things like god, fate, and destiny.