Free will or Predestination?
 

These are two very different,very conflicting ideas about the state of humanity,things that call our entire lives into question.

After all,if there is fate,then we are bound by what is destined to be and yet if there is free will then everything is a random happening of chance. Neither seems to be a very comforting option and both seem to totally disagree,but what if they dont?

Re: Free will or Predestination?
 

I think predestination implies religious belief. Athiests will say its free will, many Christians will say predestination (don't know about religions other than Christianity.) As for me, I really don't have a clue, and I don't think anyone else does either. Just like the devine creation and evolution debates. Nobody can definately say one way or the other.

Re: Free will or Predestination?
 

I believe God has a plan for people, but we have the choice to go against God's plan if we choose. Ultimately, though, God's plan always falls into place. So, I suppose you would say I believe in both.

Re: Free will or Predestination?
 

Free Will is free thinking, freedom of thought is important to the development of the human race.

While we all can't get along in this world, I place the blame squarely on the power struggle that is religion. Don't get me wrong, religion has it's place and it is important for us to hold hope. Religion can give people the extra will power necessary to complete a task. But religion also gives people the power to kill. While the human race can't work together as one we can never hope to get any REAL scientific research done.

It's important to know that everything that lies in front of us is not fate but chance. Evolution has not advanced the way it has because of "fate" we are not humans because of "fate" we are humans because of chance. We have 2 eyes by chance, we have what we perceive as colour, we have a lot of things due to chance

People should definitely takes morals from religion but imposing a religious dogma on yourself and others does not mean that you're sanctified. i propose that people should have a "roll your own religion" where you honestly tell yourself what you believe in and why conforming your ideals to a single religion is silly, look into the messages of other religions.

I have my own ideas about religion and refuse to limit myself to one set of dogma.

Re: Free will or Predestination?
 

I believe that both can exists at the same time, and most of the time belivieve that we are all part of a devine plan.:)

Other times though I feel like we are all just some clever lifeforms living on a cool planet left to our own devices.:-/
hehe

>BstrucT

Re: Free will or Predestination?
 

I think humanity in general is just some research project of a superior race... and they are currently tweaking it... adding and removing things that do not fit well. Is it just me or does time seem to repeat itself, Deja Vu is often an understatement.

Re: Free will or Predestination?
 

Life, including one's reactions to events, can be summarized as a ton of chemical reactions. How then can we possibly have "free will"?

Re: Free will or Predestination?
 

emotions can be boiled down to a chemical reaction within your body.

One thing people know is that the body releases chemicals based on what our input is. This means auditory, tactile, visual and THOUGHT dominate our emotions, what comes first the chemical reaction or the visual queue? I believe that we perceive something and then our body reacts accordingly.

Thought can control emotions. in fact thought could be defined as emotion. the truth is brain researchers know that the brain retains lots of information but they have no idea how it makes your personality. They think it might have something to do with various events in life where you learn a valuable lesson.

How we perceive reality is a mystery, open your doors of perception and look inward. reality is not a set of chemical reactions. emotions are a chemical reaction with reality as the catalyst.

Re: Free will or Predestination?
 

Yes, but even the perception itself is a bunch of chemical reactions. Vision, for instance, is a chemical reaction started by certain wavelengths of light entering and interacting with the cells in your eye. By the time it reaches your brain, there's already been a whole series of reactions.

Re: Free will or Predestination?
 

even though everything we can physically perceive can be narrowed down to chemical reactions even reality it self. There is still a mental perception of 'self' a spark, or some say a soul, another realm within your own mind which is has an uncanny resemblance to the universe.

There is something else in us, that makes us have a sense of self. I've been reading a bit about the pineal gland which produces a hormone called "melatonin" (this is not the pigment in skin) which regulates our sleeping patterns (called your circadian rhythm) and is also thought to make us dream and have out of body experiences (it is known you have an out of body experience when dying), it has been said that it releases a chemical equivalent of dimethyltryptamine or DMT for short which is a very potent hallucinogen that produces full out of body experiences. Some have even said that the pineal gland is the seat for your soul, and for the most part I believe this.