Jump to content

Do you believe you can "manifest your own destiny" ?


Recommended Posts

Like that?:naughty::roftl:

 

Yeah...

 

And as you know, we can't have people bitching and fighting in here... then again, BJM did start the thread :naughty:

 

 

 

Melanie, I'm not picking on you, it's just that a lot of the time when you start a thread, people end up fighting in it... *huggles*

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 110
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

You know, there's no need to make fun of Melanie for this. If it works for her, great. If it's not your bag, well, pass on by. We all have personal philosophies that help us get through and that work for us at various points in our lives.

 

Personally for me, when I was younger and depressed, existentialism helped me a lot. It isn't really positive thinking but it also isn't the idea of total self-reliance and creating the change you want or whatever, because that philosophy was part of what was making me so depressed in the first place. It's a good philosophy for some people, but it was making me anxious and stressed because, after all, if everything's up to you, then there's always the Damocles sword of failure. You always have to try, try, do your hardest, be your best, fight fight strive to get ahead. I had been trying to do that but by that point I was pretty much burned out and terrified that I'd make some kind of mistake--on my APs, in my decision process of where to go to college, in general--that would sink my battleship, so to speak. I didn't believe in God, so I couldn't rest happily thinking that there was some cozy plan for me. Existentialism helped because it said that yeah, life is absurd, random and unpredictable--but that was it, you just had to see it and laugh at the absurdity of it, and then you could rise above it. If there was no point to life except what you made of it, there was no path I had to be following--no expectations to disappoint. "Every choice is a good as any other" so long as you owned it and made it in full realization of it as a choice, existentialism held, and that was such a huge relief. And if you accepted life's absurdity, and took conscious experience of life itself as your only goal per se, then you couldn't really fail. You could be happy even in the the worst situation. (See Camus' Myth of Sisyphus for instance.)

 

I modified the basic philosophy a bit for my specifics, of course (I am idealistic enough to feel that the betterment of the life experience of others is life's goal as well as its experience by oneself, and pessimistic enough to feel that some situation you really can't "triumph over," but in general)... and though I don't think of it as much today, I still think it holds true. But others don't find it's so for them, and to a lot of people, existentialism is a cynical, negative, alienating and jarring philosophy, rather than one of great hope and relief and empowerment.

 

And it's like this with everything, isn't it? Belief in God is the same. The idea of an all-knowing, supposedly benevolent God's plan is comforting to some and downright obscene to others. The Holocaust, for me, blows it out of the water--I can't believe that could ever have been part of any benevolent being's plan, and no supreme being that would make it part of a plan could possibly be benevolent to me. To the gay prisoners who were castrated and pumped full of hormones and used as medical experiments without anesthesia, I doubt there was much relief in the idea that it was all part of God's plan. To the men and women who were starved and worked near-to-death and brutalized and dehumanized for years on end (and these were the lucky ones!) who often could not leave the lager behind even years after they were freed, who committed suicide--I don't think they would have wanted to hear talk of an all-loving God who was benevolently overseeing their life course. I don't think I see the work of a benevolent God in the fact that about 70% of Earth's population lives in poverty, constant fear of war and violence, that beyond the scope of the priviledged Western countries, statistics say that "up to one-third of adolescent girls report forced sexual initiation," that children lose their limbs working in diamond mines and their health working in sweatshops (even our Western concept of childhood is a privilege), that in India in the 1990s the police said they received "more than 2,500 reports of bride burning"...all of that does not put me in the frame of mind to say that God has any sort of plan and that the suffering of most of the world is somehow validated, now or ever.

 

But I'm not everyone. And for every parent who lost a child who would consider it unspeakable to imply that the death of their baby was because "God must have wanted it for some reason," there is another who takes comfort in that same thought.

 

And so, if directed positive thinking helps Melanie, I don't see why that's anything to mock her for. It really is no different than any other religious, spiritual or philosophical belief.

 

--Jack

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm definatley no stranger to people thinking this is craziness, and pointless. :wink2: But I figured I should make a thread about this, just because I was curious if any of you felt the same.

 

I trust this way of thinking, because I've seen results. It's as simple as that. But I still don't want people to think it's a wish upon a star kind of thing.

 

You DO work for what you want. But the focus on believing you can have what you want is what keeps you on the path. It doesn't mean you avoid stuggle, you're just better trained to handle it and move forward.

 

 

and as far as my threads generating fights, well I can't help that. I'm not combative unless people disrespect me. I understand GOOD humour and even sarcasm. And the problem is certainly NOT with the majority of people on here. I think it's .01% to be honest.

 

I'm definatley not offended by opinions that are presented without the intention of making me feel foolish. I'd never feel foolish for practicing this.:wink2:

 

I like hearing other people's opinions.:wink2:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know, there's no need to make fun of Melanie for this. If it works for her, great. If it's not your bag, well, pass on by. We all have personal philosophies that help us get through and that work for us at various points in our lives.

 

Personally for me, when I was younger and depressed, existentialism helped me a lot. It isn't really positive thinking but it also isn't the idea of total self-reliance and creating the change you want or whatever, because that philosophy was part of what was making me so depressed in the first place. It's a good philosophy for some people, but it was making me anxious and stressed because, after all, if everything's up to you, then there's always the Damocles sword of failure. You always have to try, try, do your hardest, be your best, fight fight strive to get ahead. I had been trying to do that but by that point I was pretty much burned out and terrified that I'd make some kind of mistake--on my APs, in my decision process of where to go to college, in general--that would sink my battleship, so to speak. I didn't believe in God, so I couldn't rest happily thinking that there was some cozy plan for me. Existentialism helped because it said that yeah, life is absurd, random and unpredictable--but that was it, you just had to see it and laugh at the absurdity of it, and then you could rise above it. If there was no point to life except what you made of it, there was no path I had to be following--no expectations to disappoint. "Every choice is a good as any other" so long as you owned it and made it in full realization of it as a choice, existentialism held, and that was such a huge relief. And if you accepted life's absurdity, and took conscious experience of life itself as your only goal per se, then you couldn't really fail. You could be happy even in the the worst situation. (See Camus' Myth of Sisyphus for instance.)

 

I modified the basic philosophy a bit for my specifics, of course (I am idealistic enough to feel that the betterment of the life experience of others is life's goal as well as its experience by oneself, and pessimistic enough to feel that some situation you really can't "triumph over," but in general)... and though I don't think of it as much today, I still think it holds true. But others don't find it's so for them, and to a lot of people, existentialism is a cynical, negative, alienating and jarring philosophy, rather than one of great hope and relief and empowerment.

 

And it's like this with everything, isn't it? Belief in God is the same. The idea of an all-knowing, supposedly benevolent God's plan is comforting to some and downright obscene to others. The Holocaust, for me, blows it out of the water--I can't believe that could ever have been part of any benevolent being's plan, and no supreme being that would make it part of a plan could possibly be benevolent to me. To the gay prisoners who were castrated and pumped full of hormones and used as medical experiments without anesthesia, I doubt there was much relief in the idea that it was all part of God's plan. To the men and women who were starved and worked near-to-death and brutalized and dehumanized for years on end (and these were the lucky ones!) who often could not leave the lager behind even years after they were freed, who committed suicide--I don't think they would have wanted to hear talk of an all-loving God who was benevolently overseeing their life course. I don't think I see the work of a benevolent God in the fact that about 70% of Earth's population lives in poverty, constant fear of war and violence, that beyond the scope of the priviledged Western countries, statistics say that "up to one-third of adolescent girls report forced sexual initiation," that children lose their limbs working in diamond mines and their health working in sweatshops (even our Western concept of childhood is a privilege), that in India in the 1990s the police said they received "more than 2,500 reports of bride burning"...all of that does not put me in the frame of mind to say that God has any sort of plan and that the suffering of most of the world is somehow validated, now or ever.

 

But I'm not everyone. And for every parent who lost a child who would consider it unspeakable to imply that the death of their baby was because "God must have wanted it for some reason," there is another who takes comfort in that same thought.

 

And so, if directed positive thinking helps Melanie, I don't see why that's anything to mock her for. It really is no different than any other religious, spiritual or philosophical belief.

 

--Jack

 

 

The bolded text is definatley true I find, though I still find difficulty in trusting my decision making skills... Everything is a learning process I suppose. Experimenting with spirituality is one of those things.

 

and Thank you Jack:huglove:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you serious? I mean really, why would you bring that up?

 

Why? I thought you were done with ME much less my threads.

 

 

I NEVER pranced around these forums claiming I would get into NYU. Never did I make it a point to do that. I talked about it with my FRIENDS on here. People who I trusted, and I said that I HOPED for it. People who respect me on here, absolutley know my struggle the entire year with my hope to get into that school.

 

and just because I didn't get into NYU doesn't mean I won't. I'm working for that. And if its not NYU it'll be somewhere else.

 

I don't get it. You never spoke to me once about NYU and yet you observed my failure and decide to bring it up now.

 

 

 

Mel don't stress about the NYU thing. SOME people in this world survive on the pain of others. I'm happy about this whole manifest your destiny thing. And I believe it works too. I've had my own successes with it :naughty:

 

And thats why I know you can do ANYTHING! Now all you have to do is block the constant negativity of others lol (hmmm I wonder who that could be!). People are always gonna try to take u down, but its up to you to keep yourself up.

 

I love your new philosophy! And I have complete faith in my Mel lol!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mel don't stress about the NYU thing. SOME people in this world survive on the pain of others. I'm happy about this whole manifest your destiny thing. And I believe it works too. I've had my own successes with it :naughty:

 

And thats why I know you can do ANYTHING! Now all you have to do is block the constant negativity of others lol (hmmm I wonder who that could be!). People are always gonna try to take u down, but its up to you to keep yourself up.

 

I love your new philosophy! And I have complete faith in my Mel lol!

 

lol I love my Mandy:huglove:

 

People better not mess with her for defending me:boxing:

 

She's the only one on here who really understands what I went through with NYU...anything else said about it, is hot air.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know, there's no need to make fun of Melanie for this.

 

I don't know if you're directing this at me, but all I want to say is that I only said what I did before because it often happens. It's never personal against Melanie, but sometimes she creates threads that can create conflict cause of the topic. I personally think it's great she brings up topics that cause discussion like this, though I don't agree with people picking one her.

 

And I'm sure she can defend herself very well (and I'm not having a go at you Jack).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IT is Not easy to think postivley, thank you :)

 

especially in this cynical, miserable world. *sigh

 

:naughty: Sorry... I'll take my cynical self away now and watch the HP teaser trailer :naughty:...

Because my sister told me I had to!

That's my point. So how will I possibly come up with the money?

 

Erm... get a job? *shrugs*

 

I put myself through uni for 4 years and worked every weekend. During the holidays I had 2 jobs. I hated it cause I could never go out, but now I have a lower loan than what a lot of other people I went to uni with would have.

 

Failing that, I'm sure you could get a student loan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know if you're directing this at me, but all I want to say is that I only said what I did before because it often happens. It's never personal against Melanie, but sometimes she creates threads that can create conflict cause of the topic. I personally think it's great she brings up topics that cause discussion like this, though I don't agree with people picking one her.

 

Nope, I was directing it at those who made fun of her. There have been plenty of dissenting opinions here and most of them were politely stated--and like I implied, I don't really hold faith in the manifest destiny/Secret myself--but there were some posts that were just out-and-out mocking. And I see no call for that, especially since in the case of personal philosophies/religion/spiritual matters, unless one's an absolute atheist (and maybe even then) it's rather the pot calling the kettle black.

 

--Jack

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:naughty: Sorry... I'll take my cynical self away now and watch the HP teaser trailer :naughty:...

Because my sister told me I had to!

 

 

Erm... get a job? *shrugs*

 

I put myself through uni for 4 years and worked every weekend. During the holidays I had 2 jobs. I hated it cause I could never go out, but now I have a lower loan than what a lot of other people I went to uni with would have.

 

Failing that, I'm sure you could get a student loan.

 

I have a job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

oh yeah i've heared of this sort of thing there's a guy called wayne dyer who talks about manifesting your destiny & i'm kinda a bit unsure about it all part of me believes it's possoble part doesn't i'm a pessimistic optimist so go figure :bleh:

 

talking of stuff like manifesting your destiny reminds me of this site I came accross not too long ago it's called real wishes I won't try to explain it i'll just end up gibbering like an idiot just check it out for yourself if you wanna know what it's all about

 

http://www.real-wishes.com/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Privacy Policy