I believe in free will and am very spiritual.  Therefore, I have a lot of help from whomever and whatever beings help me.  I believe that may mean friends and people I meet now or whoever have been.  All I know is that I have been getting help all my 73 years.   And I am very thankful.

I thought I did , ask me again in 10 years, maybe then I will have an answer.

Presently, Western culture tends to scoff at the idea of destiny whereby our lives are guided by some preordained plan with little or no room for free will or choice. However, Eastern Culture believes very strongly that nearly your entire life has been set out in stone according to your destiny. Very different views indeed, little room for integration of the 2 schools of thought. However, if examined carefully, I believe that these 2 divergent ideas regarding destiny both have a place in human life.

For me, I see human choice as the first line of direction when encountering the idea of destiny. We ultimately make an initial choice regarding a majority of things in our life. Think of every little thing in your life…Where to live, what time to get up, the route to work, what to eat, and so on. Now then, once most of these choices are made, it can be difficult to change the direction they take on. You decide to take a different route to work, you run into major road construction and are late to work. Your initial choice to take a different route was "free will" the fact that there was road construction "destiny." As you can see the consequences seem to filter down and affect more of your life then your initial choice. Therefore, I would weight free choice to be the lesser of the 2 at about 25-35% while destiny to be 65-75%.

The crucial aspect in all of this is exactly HOW you utilize your piece of free will, because once you have made a choice, you may very well be unable to intervene in the following steps the decision take on. That is what our parents meant when they would say "It is your decision, but remember if you chose to … suffer the consequences." For instance, say in our teen years we decide to have unprotected sex. Even as minors we have considerable free will. However, a few weeks later, we find ourselves pregnant. Now, instead of facing up to the consequences, we often turn to our parents expecting them to direct the flow of Destiny we started with a foolish choice utilizing our piece of free will.

I do not believe in an all or nothing approach when it comes to destiny or free will. In life, it has become more apparent that there are few things that can be studied from an all or nothing eye. We sometimes call people who ardently support only one view or another "fanatics." These people tend to miss the whole picture by focusing in on only 1 piece of the pie. Those who chose to see only 1 piece of 8 in a pie, have severely limited their ability to engage in free will and as a result tend to be much more constrained by "their destiny." Moral of the story: Keep an open mind, weigh your options very carefully, in this way you will increase your free will options lessening the chances of negative consequences stemming from poor life choices.

I believe that somethings in our life are destined, it’s how we act, react, behave, or decisions made to those things that is our own doing. I also, believe that people come into and out of our lives for a reason. They may have something to teach us, or it maybe us who have something to impart to them. Whatever you believe; life is a gift that should not be wasted.

Other, I guess. Having been close to death several times, and there twice, all I do know is that our own "something" speaks to us and out of that, at least for myself, a decision is made (even when at 12 and in a coma for many weeks) - whether such makes any difference in outcome is a question, there are too many variables for my scientific mind to ponder. That being said, I have always tended to move against anything that smacked of fate, and I do have a sense of much of what is deemed coincidence is not that at all (makes me appreciate the universe so much more - may be simply human wishful thinking).

All I do know is that I, personally, take charge of myself, and if I can help others believe I must be willing to do so, at all costs. Perhaps we are "fate."

When I’ve had so-called spiritual encounters, and I’ve had many, I have to wonder if they arose from my subconscious, which I do believe is far more vast that most humans realize, or can even imagine - our brains absorb and record every minute sensation from the moment it is developed, and out it comes when needed, or not needed as the case may be.

Fun topic, though. Baker’s hugs to all.

 

I believe in fate.  And I follow that up with faith.  Someone far larger than me is in full control.

I do believe and live my life with faith.  I believe there is a place we start and a place we stop… and everything we do in between is ruled by our free will and our need to learn or relearn the lessons we desire and to get us to our place we stop.  We are not always aware of the lessons  but I believe everything we do or that happens to us has the bond of faith attached to it. My belief in living my life, is to be in the moment, with grace and awareness and to pay attention to all that happens to me. 

I do not believe in fate.  I believe in hard work, taking on difficult times and triumphing.  At my age, I have had to do this many times over, and it doesn’t get easier.  I adore that feeling, that absolutely wonderful, yes!, feeling that comes with the smallest triumph over adversity (although I would prefer not having the adversity in the first place). 

I believe in my good friends and that one wonderful man (D., you know who you are) who has been in this woman’s life for 14 years and counting. 

Can I prove fate?  No.  Can I prove I’ve worked, loved, and lived to my best ability my entire life?  Absolutely. 

Fate/luck all has to do with things you can not control - being at the right place at the right time.  Beyond that are the things you can control - your attitude, how prepared you are for the unexspected things that happen.

I beleive I could win the lottery, I’ll buy a ticket now and then, but I’m not going to expect it to happen.

The only fate I believe in is that which is not pre-determined and not that which is manipulated by others to insinuate that it is fate.