Fate, or free will? Which controls us?

Edlaine:

Tsch. Fate.

Free will controls me, not fate. Some people say such things like,

"Fate decides,"
"Because fate wants us to,"

so that they would have something to blame other than themselves. For me, it's pathetic.

same here if you ask me

I don't really believe in fate.
I don't like the idea that I'm not in complete control of my life.
Fate, I think, doesn't exist.

i think our lives are already planned out for us, but in lots of different paths, the decsions we make control what path we go down ... if that makes sence lol

A mixture of both

I'm a fatalist, personally.
I believe that what will be, will be.
Of course, I'm pretty mixed up right now...but anyway, that's my view at the moment.

you use your free will to make your own fate

Yeah. Good way of describing it.

free will, you make your own destiny.

Neither CONTROLS us

Free will is the opposite of control

Life is out of control

Therefore I'd have to say free will

Free will, fate is a load of bullshit people say when they are not willing to take chances

Has anyone explored the idea of quantum mechanics? This is the idea until you "measure" something (look at it or test it in some way), nature hasn't decided what is going to happen? I think this ties in quite nicely with this topic.

I would also like to say that ultimate belief in fate is a pretty dangerous thing. Here, in Malaysia, there are so many road deaths because people often believe that if you die it is because God wills it. If there is a car crash and the entire family is killed, its because God willed it. It had nothing to do with the fact that the driver was drunk, the tyres were bald, the car didn't meet safety standards, the driver was nursing a baby, they were speeding and none of them were wearing seat belts. Its so upsetting, but its hard to reason with someone who truly believes that it won't matter because it is entirely in God's hands.

lol sorry off topic but there is this mad dancey song that my dad has that's titled quantam mechanics and i got it in my head when you said that!!

it's kinda sad that they believe that but they have the blame taken care of

I dont believe in fate.
Our own actions and choices control where we go in life.
One decision can change the course of our lives.

i believe that you can't have one without the other. i believe that there is a purpose for everyone and fate (when i say fate i mean God because i believe he's the one with a "plan" for everyone) causes certain things to happen that makes you choose to take certain paths and most things happen for a reason. in other words fate causes big things or even little things to happen. we then choose how we will react to it.
sorry if that didn't make any sense.

I agree with what steef says. But I think many people turn to the idea that fate wanted it that way when bad things happen. As a sort of comfort, you know,
"Well it is a shame what happened to soandso but I mean, you can't change destiny/fate"
but of course when something good happens many people like to believe it was themselves that helped that to happen, no one controlled them, no one helped them, they want the credit.

I'm not saying all people are like that but it tends to fall into that pattern with a lot of people I know.

Personally I like to believe in fate but like Steef said fate has different routes, its your choice which you take. I mean fate might have one path that says you're goign to be a doctor, another that says you're going to be a binman it depends how much hard work you put into your schoolwork and towards getting qualifications (no offence to binmen its just an example).

I like amanda's description though. We choos how we react. Thats cool.

I think its a bit of both, u need luck (fate) but you wont get it if you dont make the right decisions (Free-will)

i dont believe in fate at all

but i also think free will is just us being deluded
as what you do/think is caused simply by the sum of your experiences/genetics and therefore you have no control over such

Hmm I'd have to go with both. Fate and Free-will

I think free will is kind of a part of fate.

I think that you are given a plan for you're own life, but you can change that plan a bit to make it what you want, and in the end its called fate. You have free will, its not like someone tells you how to do EVERYTHING, BUT part of it is also fate. By the time you are old, Crusty and in a nursing home you would have had to have followed a path of some sort to get to that point.

Like if you ended up being a chef, there was something that happened before that choice that made up you're mind or pushed you towards doing that.