Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Gonna make you sweat!"

Matthew Heller (nocoffee) wrote in ridgeway_comm,
@ 2010-05-11 18:36:00

Entry tags:

angel, claire redfield, connor reilly, cordelia chase, dracula, gabriel, john locke, ~dropped alice cullen

So, I'm bored and curious and a little annoyed at all the people asking about my life. Which means you all get treated to my philosophical mood. Let me ask you this:

Destiny. Is it immutable? Is every single thing we do just a plan playing out that we have no say in? Is predestination a load of bull and our choices are all that there is? Or is it something in between?

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iamrefuge
2010-05-11 10:49 pm UTC (link)

I think, in a way, we shape our own destinies.

I know, it's strange coming from a girl who lived in a zombie apocalypse world, but I believe that if everything we do, everything that happens to us, shapes who we are, it should also sort of shape what we become when something big happens to us.

For example, if my brother and I weren't as close as we were, when the apocalypse hit and we got separated, I could have caved in and decided not to fight. But we were close so I was sort of strengthened by it and decided that I was going to weather the madness and go look for him ~~which started a whole new downward sp~~.

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	nocoffee 2010-05-11 11:03 pm UTC (link)
	So you come down on the pure free will side, then? That we're the only ones in charge of our destinies? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	iamrefuge 2010-05-11 11:05 pm UTC (link)
	For the most part. But there are some parts of your destiny that you're meant to face. Just...who you are determines how you face them. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	nocoffee 2010-05-11 11:10 pm UTC (link)
	Okay, I think I understand what you're saying. So why do you think some of these things have to happen? Especially the bad ones. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

iamrefuge, 2010-05-11 11:18 pm UTC

nocoffee, 2010-05-11 11:24 pm UTC

iamrefuge, 2010-05-11 11:35 pm UTC

nocoffee, 2010-05-11 11:54 pm UTC

iamrefuge, 2010-05-11 11:58 pm UTC

nocoffee, 2010-05-12 12:02 am UTC

iamrefuge, 2010-05-12 12:07 am UTC

nocoffee, 2010-05-12 12:23 am UTC

iamrefuge, 2010-05-12 12:28 am UTC

nocoffee, 2010-05-12 01:01 am UTC

iamrefuge, 2010-05-12 01:04 am UTC

nocoffee, 2010-05-12 01:24 am UTC

	thisismyofframp 2010-05-11 10:57 pm UTC (link)
	Everything? No. Not everything. Last time I checked we all still had this thing called free will. But there are some things that are meant to be that you just can't fight, no matter how much you might want to. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	nocoffee 2010-05-11 11:08 pm UTC (link)
	There are some people out there that believe that free will is just an illusion, though. That we only think we've got free will because we can't see the puppet strings. I'm guessing you disagree with that? Okay, so then what do you think controls that sort of thing? And more importantly, why do these things that have to happen, have to happen? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

thisismyofframp
2010-05-12 03:37 am UTC (link)

Those people clearly haven't seen the things I've seen, and I mean that literally.

For me, in my reality? It was the Powers That Be. They called the shots. They decided what had to happen and what could be allowed to slide. As for the have-to's, the reasons vary. If someone has a destiny to fulfill, odds are that they need to do it to keep something even worse from happening if they don't.

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nocoffee
2010-05-12 03:58 am UTC (link)

Well, yeah, that's true. I don't really buy into all that "free will is an illusion" stuff either, but at least where I'm from, there's a surprising amount of people that do believe it.

I think I get what you're saying. Although it raises questions about people who are destined for one of those "do something bad for the greater good" things. I mean, should they be punished for doing something wrong? Or just left alone because what they did was ultimately for the greater good?

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	sneersgenetic 2010-05-11 11:49 pm UTC (link)
	Some things you can't fight, but I also believe that destiny's there to be challenged. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	nocoffee 2010-05-11 11:56 pm UTC (link)
	What happens if you can't challenge it? Or if you challenge it and lose? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	angelusdomini 2010-05-12 03:22 am UTC (link)
	Doesn't matter if you win or lose. What matters is that you tried. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

nocoffee, 2010-05-12 04:00 am UTC

angelusdomini, 2010-05-12 04:09 am UTC

nocoffee, 2010-05-12 04:23 am UTC

angelusdomini, 2010-05-12 04:48 am UTC

	tinyandannoying 2010-05-12 01:19 am UTC (link)
	I have a feeling that if destiny was all there was and choice didn't matter, I wouldn't have to wait for someone to make a decision to see their future. Therefore, I tend to believe in free choice. But, of course, some things just seem to happen no matter what path you take. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	nocoffee 2010-05-12 01:29 am UTC (link)
	You can see the future? Wow. That's...I'd say cool, but I imagine it's not always all that fun. See, that's what I don't get. What's the point of free will if, in the end, some things just have to happen regardless? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

tinyandannoying
2010-05-12 01:34 am UTC (link)

I can only see the futures of humans and vampires. Anything else just seems to make a big blank spot. Really, I rather like it. It's a big help in battles, when you can see what your opponent is going to do before he does it.

You could argue that those things happen because of random choices made throughout your life and that it's not destiny at all. That you caused it in some way that you don't even understand.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

nocoffee, 2010-05-12 01:39 am UTC

tinyandannoying, 2010-05-12 01:45 am UTC

nocoffee, 2010-05-12 01:57 am UTC

tinyandannoying, 2010-05-12 02:04 am UTC

nocoffee, 2010-05-12 02:42 am UTC

tinyandannoying, 2010-05-12 02:51 am UTC

nocoffee, 2010-05-12 04:04 am UTC

tinyandannoying, 2010-05-12 04:44 pm UTC

nocoffee, 2010-05-13 02:55 am UTC

tinyandannoying, 2010-05-13 03:32 am UTC

	angelusdomini 2010-05-12 03:20 am UTC (link)
	I think Petersen's already made it clear where he stands on this, but me? I've been implicated in one too many prophecies to discredit destiny, but I believe that the choices we make have a bearing on the future to come. I have to. Because it's the fight that matters--it's all that we have left, at the end of the day. Nothing is ever over until somebody gives up trying. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	nocoffee 2010-05-12 04:06 am UTC (link)
	I don't know, man. Sometimes it seems like there are situations that are just completely hopeless. You try to rail against them, but in the end you can't do anything at all about it, y'know? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

angelusdomini
2010-05-12 04:11 am UTC (link)

Yeah. I know exactly what you mean. It didn't end well, but at least I took something from it. Maybe you can't beat the great big monster, but you can still make a difference in all the lives that you touch in the process of fighting it. Thing is, the monster can't win. Not really, until every last one of us has given up. We keep it in check. All of us who refuse to abandon hope.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

nocoffee, 2010-05-12 04:26 am UTC

angelusdomini, 2010-05-12 04:45 am UTC

	lucyimhome 2010-05-12 04:12 am UTC (link)
	Everything is predestined except the plot of Lost. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	nocoffee 2010-05-12 04:33 am UTC (link)
	So it's all one big master plan? We're all just playing the parts we're assigned? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lucyimhome 2010-05-12 05:49 am UTC (link)
	I played mine. You played yours. Bad things happen when you don't. Bad things happen when you do. Or maybe there was a plan and it got lost down the back of the couch. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

nocoffee, 2010-05-13 02:57 am UTC

lucyimhome, 2010-05-13 05:09 am UTC

	what_he_can_do 2010-05-12 01:18 pm UTC (link)
	Every choice we make is not our own. It's destiny and fate leading us to the peak of our life. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	nocoffee 2010-05-13 02:58 am UTC (link)
	The peak of our lives? What about people that are destined for crappy things? That doesn't really seem like something you could call a peak. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	goingtowin 2010-05-13 02:21 am UTC (link)
	Some destiny can be avoided. Other parts, not so much. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	nocoffee 2010-05-13 02:59 am UTC (link)
	That seems to be the general consensus here, yeah. I'm not really sure what I believe. I know that I'd like to think we have control of our own lives, but...yeah. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	irradiated_ants 2010-05-13 04:36 am UTC (link)
	I'd like to believe we all have our choices. I like Gottfried Leibniz's idea that the world we are conscious of is the 'best' of all our decisions. Don't get me wrong, I'm a God fearing woman... But I'd like to think that God isn't so cruel to stick us in a peg that we detest. (Reply to this)