The worst is when people reply to something I said with "that's what I'm talking about"
No it isn't! I just said it! It's what I'm talking about!
And how do you know that the other person didn't say the same thing in another conversation with somebody else? Ain't nothing wrong with that expression.
My mother came out of this really old black forest farmers family and those guys used enough sayings to string long coversations out of them... Most of them were really horrible, some of them funny but they all don't really work if translated into english...
But, as a philosophy, I can't fault it. You can look at it as a simplified version of Nietzsche's notion of Amor fati (love of fate) wherein you accept every occurance in your life as positive and necessary. Or in Judaism, the saying "gam zeh letovah" ("this too is for the best").
i think this is precisely why it bugs me so much because i don't believe in fate at all and believe things happen because of chance and/or your own actions. like bassie said, this saying is a little too close to "it's God's will"
the other part that bothers me is that when it is said, it reeks of lazy thinking (or none at all) or is used as a cop out excuse for taking no accountability for your own actions, (i.e. well if everything happens for a reason, i really don't need to put any effort into examining this)
for those reasons above, i have always been irked by the shallowness of the saying.
I guess I'm looking at it from a different perspective. I don't believe in the will of God or predetermined fate either, so that's not really what I was trying to say. Nietzsche's quote is "Amor fati - Love your fate, which is in fact your life." So as you go through life, instead of looking at things that happen to you as "good" or "bad" things imposed by circumstance or outside forces, embrace it all as your life, for better or worse.
So on the contrary, instead of giving up and floating through life as if everything is out of your own control, you can look at every experience as a positive and necessary part of your life, and therefore within your own control, and use that to craft your own future.
I doubt people think that much about saying "Everything happens for a reason"; I think it's just a thing people say when they don't know what to say. But that's how I see it.
"Life is not about finding yourself ? it's about creating yourself." - sign in one of my co-worker's cubicle. I just went looking for it to get the exact phrasing right, and noticed she also has one that says....
wait for it........
"Everything happens for a reason." (American proverb)
I [...] believe things happen because of chance and/or your own actions.
What is the nature of chance then? Are you connecting it to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle?
what's that? you sound smart. probably not the best way to word it but i meant chance as in an unpredictable random occurrence.
But what explains the existence of unpredictability and randomness? I'm personally not inclined to believe in anything that can't be fully explained, be it fate or chance. The case for chance on a quantum level has been made but it hasn't been clearly connected to what takes place on a macro level.
I'm with LadyDay on this one. The always-omitted flipside of "everything happens for a reason" is that you rarely get to find out what that reason is. Still, as she points out, labeling things as "good" or "bad" doesn't change anything. Assigning blame rarely does, either, but I'll admit that it's pretty irresistible.
But, as a philosophy, I can't fault it. You can look at it as a simplified version of Nietzsche's notion of Amor fati (love of fate) wherein you accept every occurance in your life as positive and necessary. Or in Judaism, the saying "gam zeh letovah" ("this too is for the best").
i think this is precisely why it bugs me so much because i don't believe in fate at all and believe things happen because of chance and/or your own actions. like bassie said, this saying is a little too close to "it's God's will"
the other part that bothers me is that when it is said, it reeks of lazy thinking (or none at all) or is used as a cop out excuse for taking no accountability for your own actions, (i.e. well if everything happens for a reason, i really don't need to put any effort into examining this)
for those reasons above, i have always been irked by the shallowness of the saying.
I guess I'm looking at it from a different perspective. I don't believe in the will of God or predetermined fate either, so that's not really what I was trying to say. Nietzsche's quote is "Amor fati - Love your fate, which is in fact your life." So as you go through life, instead of looking at things that happen to you as "good" or "bad" things imposed by circumstance or outside forces, embrace it all as your life, for better or worse.
So on the contrary, instead of giving up and floating through life as if everything is out of your own control, you can look at every experience as a positive and necessary part of your life, and therefore within your own control, and use that to craft your own future.
i can get behind that. unfortunately though, i doubt this is how it's used by most. the majority of the time i hear this saying around San Francisco, it is used either as a stock response or in a faux-spiritual manner that is supposed to be deep but in reality it's counter-productive because it deads the conversation (and the process of thinking and examining it).
One of the aspects of Buddhism that I find most compelling is the notion of karma, which essentially affirms one's ability to do precisely this. I think karma, however, is a hard concept for people, perhaps Westerners in particular, to wrap their heads around, because it deals with time on such an incalculably large scale. No, treating people with love and compassion isn't going to slip a winning lottery ticket in your pocket, but it will set up favorable circumstances for you in the future, even if that future is several million or billion lifetimes from now.
One of the aspects of Buddhism that I find most compelling is the notion of karma, which essentially affirms one's ability to do precisely this. I think karma, however, is a hard concept for people, perhaps Westerners in particular, to wrap their heads around, because it deals with time on such an incalculably large scale. No, treating people with love and compassion isn't going to slip a winning lottery ticket in your pocket, but it will set up favorable circumstances for you in the future, even if that future is several million or billion lifetimes from now.
Yesterday I read a quote in the front page dedication of a Dean Koontz book, of all freakin things, that really struck me. It went something like (paraphrasing), "Each small act of kindness reverberates across time and distance, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away. Likewise an unkind act becomes an act of evil."
I like this. Would you say that this is related to the idea of karma?
It's a bit hard for me to think about without immediately associating it in my head with Ashton Kutcher and that awful Butterfly Effect movie, but I do think that kindness is contagious, so in a sense, yes. There's a Buddhist allegory about the Buddha once being reborn into the hell realms, where he was endlessly being crushed in a giant burning mortar with countless other sentient beings. There was a moment when it occurred to the Buddha that the person to his side might be spared a modicum of pain if the Buddha threw himself on top and absorbed the brunt of the pestle for a while. Just having that thought was enough to assure that he was next reborn in a higher realm of existence. So in that sense, yes, small actions can have a monumental effect on the future if the surroundings are right.
But what explains the existence of unpredictability and randomness?
Unpredictability is merely the inability to predict something. It doesn't need an explanation.
If I were to get rear ended on my way to work tomorrow, the randomness of that happening and my inability to predict it happening is not something that needs explanation. The opposite would be true - if I were able to predict it then that would need to be explained.
Your question doesn't really make any sense. Unless you mean it in a more sciencey (real word) sense, like chemistry or whatever, certain particles behaving unpredictably...? In that case man's inability to understand something doesn't mean it can't be explained, it just means we haven't found a way to explain it yet.
But what explains the existence of unpredictability and randomness?
Unpredictability is merely the inability to predict something. It doesn't need an explanation.
If I were to get rear ended on my way to work tomorrow, the randomness of that happening and my inability to predict it happening is not something that needs explanation. The opposite would be true - if I were able to predict it then that would need to be explained.
Your question doesn't really make any sense. Unless you mean it in a more sciencey (real word) sense, like chemistry or whatever, certain particles behaving unpredictably...? In that case man's inability to understand something doesn't mean it can't be explained, it just means we haven't found a way to explain it yet.
I would be very interested in your explanation of how you were able to predict a car accident. I would also be interested in your explanation of why you were not able to predict a car accident.
Comments
And how do you know that the other person didn't say the same thing in another conversation with somebody else? Ain't nothing wrong with that expression.
Crisitunity!
however were all the same in the end
asi es
asi son las cosas
asi es la vida
la vida es asi
asi son las
como estas..bien gracias a dios
fica com deus
what's that? you sound smart. probably not the best way to word it but i meant chance as in an unpredictable random occurrence.
I guess I'm looking at it from a different perspective. I don't believe in the will of God or predetermined fate either, so that's not really what I was trying to say. Nietzsche's quote is "Amor fati - Love your fate, which is in fact your life." So as you go through life, instead of looking at things that happen to you as "good" or "bad" things imposed by circumstance or outside forces, embrace it all as your life, for better or worse.
So on the contrary, instead of giving up and floating through life as if everything is out of your own control, you can look at every experience as a positive and necessary part of your life, and therefore within your own control, and use that to craft your own future.
I doubt people think that much about saying "Everything happens for a reason"; I think it's just a thing people say when they don't know what to say. But that's how I see it.
"you can wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which one fills up first"
GFC related?
craft your own future
"Life is not about finding yourself ? it's about creating yourself." - sign in one of my co-worker's cubicle. I just went looking for it to get the exact phrasing right, and noticed she also has one that says....
wait for it........
"Everything happens for a reason." (American proverb)
F*ck, did I actually say that?
Just accept things as they come, and keep it moving. Y ya.
this thread is really coming full circle and we could apply most of it to facebook statuses
so many horrible, out of place, random quotes
i honestly couldn't tell you that.
i can get behind that. unfortunately though, i doubt this is how it's used by most. the majority of the time i hear this saying around San Francisco, it is used either as a stock response or in a faux-spiritual manner that is supposed to be deep but in reality it's counter-productive because it deads the conversation (and the process of thinking and examining it).
It's extremely difficult to verbalize Amor Fati without sounding trite or just mangling it altogether. I'm certainly not down for it at the moment.
Suffice it to say that it little to do with the banal homilies being discussed here, nor does it require a belief in fate per se.
One of the aspects of Buddhism that I find most compelling is the notion of karma, which essentially affirms one's ability to do precisely this. I think karma, however, is a hard concept for people, perhaps Westerners in particular, to wrap their heads around, because it deals with time on such an incalculably large scale. No, treating people with love and compassion isn't going to slip a winning lottery ticket in your pocket, but it will set up favorable circumstances for you in the future, even if that future is several million or billion lifetimes from now.
F*ck! I forgot to use the word effervescence.
Yesterday I read a quote in the front page dedication of a Dean Koontz book, of all freakin things, that really struck me. It went something like (paraphrasing), "Each small act of kindness reverberates across time and distance, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away. Likewise an unkind act becomes an act of evil."
I like this. Would you say that this is related to the idea of karma?
Unpredictability is merely the inability to predict something. It doesn't need an explanation.
If I were to get rear ended on my way to work tomorrow, the randomness of that happening and my inability to predict it happening is not something that needs explanation. The opposite would be true - if I were able to predict it then that would need to be explained.
Your question doesn't really make any sense. Unless you mean it in a more sciencey (real word) sense, like chemistry or whatever, certain particles behaving unpredictably...? In that case man's inability to understand something doesn't mean it can't be explained, it just means we haven't found a way to explain it yet.