Do you believe that things happen for a reason?

[Croconaw]

I understand this can be a controversial topic and many people have different opinions on this, but are you a believer that things happen for a reason? Do you believe that certain things happen to us for a reason?

I’m honestly a firm believer that things do happen to us for a reason. I do want to hear others’ general thoughts on this topic, though. What do you think? Are you a firm believer, or do you not believe in it?

Yeah, I have things in life I wish I had not done. However, I think those things have made me a better person overall. I feel like those things that disappointed me at the time made me a stronger person.

 

[EpicGamer12]

You can put a reason behind anything that happens if you want to. If you need to use "everything happens for a reason" as a way to promote self-growth (or as a coping mechanism for traumatic events), I don't see anything wrong with it. From a philosophical perspective, this kinda ties into free will vs determinism. And in a more general sense, Thomas Aquinas' efficient causation proofs.
Does event x always lead to event y? Or can human choice change what happens? Do we make the choice or would it happen again the exact same way if it restarted? There is no way to know.

 

[lowaltitude]

While I don't think things happen to us for a reason, I do believe that everything THAT happens to us, affects us in one way or another. Nothing really matters on a grand scale, because the universe doesn't care. But on a small scale, the scale of a human life, things may seem pretty significant, and i do think that that holds importance to the individual. At least at this point in space and time.

 

[Midoriya]

I believe everything happens to us for a reason, but I’m more concerned with how these things affect us. Sometimes it may be hard to point out the reason why something happened to you, but it’s easier to look at how it affected you. Just my two cents on the matter.

 

[Bcat]

Sometimes I do. But I think it’s more about how you respond to them

 

[UglyMonsterFace]

No I don't believe things happen for a reason. I actually hate this idea, especially when people say this to me when something bad happens. I'm all for other people believing what they would like, especially if it brings them comfort. However, I cannot believe that people are raped, or children die young, or that whatever hateful and evil thing that happens "happens for a reason." And I don't believe my abuse or the tragedies in my life happened for any reason other than it just happened. There is no bigger picture. And it brings no comfort to me to think otherwise.

So if anyone wants to believe this, they completely have every right to. But i think that to tell someone that their pain or loss happens for a reason is very insensitive. Hope this makes sense..

 

[Snowesque]

As in fate, karma, or divine intervention? No; not in the slightest.
I know people are sometimes careless and it effects others negatively; whether it's intentional or not.

 

[Alienfish]

No I don't believe things happen for a reason. I actually hate this idea, especially when people say this to me when something bad happens.

So if anyone wants to believe this, they completely have every right to. But i think that to tell someone that their pain or loss happens for a reason is very insensitive. Hope this makes sense..

Yeah this. It really annoys me when people say that, or like "it's not meant to be" or other bull**** there are. And yeah regardless of reason I find it insensitive very much. Like no someone did not die "for a reason" or whatever and "lol you and those pants were not meant to be".. uh yeah there might be reasons behind those but it's hardly comforting to know why if you do know why already :/

So yeah there might be reason but telling someone they were abused because " lol it was for a reason and we dunno/don't feel sorry etc. " .. like yeah there could have been ways to prevent it and god know. So yeah no this bs needs to stop.

 

[Soot Sprite]

I think things happen for a reason but that reason is related to your actions in some way. I'm not a religious person, I don't think divine intervention is a thing, but I do believe actions have consequences and sometimes things come back to bite you. I feel like there are a million examples I could give, but it's very easy for me to look back and say "Oh, this happened because I did this" and so on. I see "everything happens for a reason" as a little bit of a cop out in a way? I also agree with the post above mine that says it's insensitive.

 

[Bluebellie]

No I believe things happen because you make it happen.
I don’t believe in luck, Fate, Devine intervention, etc.


Right now I have a situation that’s bothering me and I keep getting family members telling me not to worry about it, because if it’s meant to be , it’ll happen. Like no. It’s going to happen because I’m I’m putting 100% of my self into it and making it happen:

 

[Antonio]

Well, yeah. There is usually something that causes that other thing which then causes another thing and so forth.

 

[Chris]

Absolutely. I find that even if something negative happens, there will be a good thing that eventually occurs that could not have happened without that bad thing (or a sequence of bad events) having taken place first.

 

[Buttonsy]

Not really. I like to frame any experiences I've gone through that were hard as making me a better person, or a stronger person, but I don't really necessarily feel like they were fated to be, nor that I'd be a bad person if I hadn't gone through them. I don't have a specific spiritual or religious belief, so I feel like in order to believe things happened for a reason, I'd have to firmly believe that there's someone or something very intentionally pulling the strings in the world, and I don't.

That being said, I guess I don't feel like things need a reason to happen to happen, I prefer to try to control things towards positivity and things that make me happy and safe, but I kinda view the universe as too chaotic for things to really need a reason to exist, the fact that we even exist at all doesn't really need a reason. I guess what I mean is that even though I don't always believe that everything happens for a reason, that doesn't mean I go around saying "this thing shouldn't have happened", y'know?

 

[cornimer]

Seems to be the unpopular opinion in this thread but I do believe most things happen for a reason. While some things like mass shootings and stuff are obviously senseless, I believe that most events in a person's life happen for a reason. Like for example,while at the time I thought my relationship with my ex-best friend crumbling apart was the worst thing ever, in the end it made me realize she was abusive and I was better off without her. Obviously I wouldn't go around pushing this belief on everyone but it gives me comfort and I don't know what I'd do without it.

 

[hamster]

Only sometimes

 

[RedTropicalPeachyFish]

If "for a reason" here means on a smaller scale, like "this (positive thing) wouldn't have happened if I didn't experience this (negative thing)", no. But on a larger scale, I feel there's a big stream that tries to run the way it's meant to run.
I'm hesitant to use the word divine here, 'cause the view on Lord of mine and some people's look like having fundamentally different concept at the base. But I do believe there's something greater than human being, and things look running the way it's planned.

It never means things will go the way positive for us human or for each individuals btw. The metaphor, if the planet earth is one person who has 80 years old of life, the length of actual human life is 0.0000000165 seconds. Even the length of all of human history since our closest ancestor was born in Africa, until this day - 50,000 years - is 39-40 seconds, if the age of earth is 80 years old. We human are very temporary existence, apparently.

 

[demoness]

wait until you have to teach kids

i think you'll have the answer

it's no.

 

[Stalfos]

No. That would be messed up. :/

 

[mogyay]

i don't believe in fate or destiny or karma or the world balancing itself out. it's not that i'm against people thinking it but i can't bring myself to. to me it undermines our hardships and struggles but also achievements in life. if i'm successful in something it's through hard work (or just luck) and i don't want to credit my own success on 'oh it was just planned out that way', i want to feel like i'm in charge of my own destiny, otherwise i'm scared i'll constantly be waiting on the universe making luck for me

 

[Elov]

I don't think there's some divine power with a greater plan or anything. But I do believe a lot of the circumstances in your life are uncontrollable. You can't choose others actions, and a lot of things are just simply out of your control. And even if you are able to play some influence to these events, it really doesn't matter because once the end result occurs, you can't change it. Whatever happens, happens. The only real decisions you can make are things regarding yourself, what you want, who you want to be with etc. But even then it can still be a two-way street. You can't be with someone without the other person mutually wanting to be with you back. So in my mind, whatever happens was supposed to happen. Life is a journey, and there's going to be many pit stops and pit falls by the time you reach your destination. Some things need to fall apart, in order for other things to fall together. So as long as you are able to overcome it's hardships, and find little slices of happiness along the way, then everything else is worth it.