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Post by gar on Feb 14, 2018 13:17:14 GMT
Thinking about all of the varied ways people around the world live (children in war torn Syria, garbage dump scavengers in Central America, elderly people sleeping in cages in Singapore), etc.,) I find the idea offensive that there was some purpose to the coming together of the sperm and egg which created me. It was chance. Not luck, not purpose, just random chance. Agreed. I wonder if those people think about questions like this.
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Post by Zee on Feb 14, 2018 13:24:56 GMT
I'm not ready to check out just yet, but while watching Titanic (the old Barbara Stanwyck version), I realized I would definitely give up my seat on the lifeboat for someone younger. I'd like to think I would, but in reality I'd probably cut a bitch to get on. I love life and I can't envision ever being noble about checking out because I don't believe there's anything after this life. And gar covered my thoughts about purpose in life as well. I don't really think there will be anything after I die, but I'm ok with that.
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Post by Zee on Feb 14, 2018 13:31:03 GMT
If I am, my purpose has been served. I had two kids that are now adults and as a nurse I made people's lives better and even saved a few along the way. I'm not ready to check out just yet, but while watching Titanic (the old Barbara Stanwyck version), I realized I would definitely give up my seat on the lifeboat for someone younger. Me too! I actually got there a bit ago, I had a close call car accident situation and I realized my kids are old enough, I’ve done and seen so much...it would be ok. I’d be ok with dying (not that I’m actively seeking it out or anything!). I tried to explain to my DH but he thought I was being really macabre. I too would pass my seat seat to someone younger. My DH doesn't get it either, he thinks the same thing! I'm glad you get it.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Mar 28, 2024 19:04:04 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2018 13:44:13 GMT
Nope.
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Post by LisaDV on Feb 14, 2018 14:08:04 GMT
Yes, and I am religious. I used to look for the reason, thinking it would be some great and wonderful thing. Then I thought that my kids may be my only great and wonderful thing! Personally, I do find them fairly great and wonderful, but they're in and going into those teen years, so I may change my mind. I also think that the purpose may be just to touch one stranger's life and I may never know if that happens.
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Post by pierogi on Feb 14, 2018 14:44:08 GMT
Yes. I was raised Catholic, but my views have broadened beyond doctrine. I think we’re here to learn, to experience different things, and to love and help each other. I don’t know if I’m the only one, but I also believe in reincarnation and karma.
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Post by lisacharlotte on Feb 14, 2018 20:06:59 GMT
I’m on the bench with Spongemom Scrappants. I’d like to think I’d make the ultimate sacrifice but I’m not ready to go. I’ve had issues for the past two years dealing with my mortality. I find it hard to deal with the fact that I don’t have as much time as I want left. It scares me to think I may not be here in 20 years. None of us is garanteed time, but we make assumptions based on our age. I’m going kicking and screaming.
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Deleted
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Mar 28, 2024 19:04:04 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2018 21:32:45 GMT
I have 20 little tiny souls who are happy that I am here.
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Post by karen on Feb 14, 2018 23:50:34 GMT
I absolutely believe I am here for a reason.
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Post by tenacious on Feb 15, 2018 3:50:43 GMT
Yes, I do. I believe I am here for a reason, and that I have a purpose for my life. Even though I am going through some very tough challenges right now, I have been given many blessings that are here to help me realize that purpose. I believe in a meaning for all things, and I believe and have hope that for the things I do not know or understand at this time, there will be clarity in time, and a restoration of all things lost or broken in this life.
I believe every soul has infinite worth and a divine purpose. It is a priority in my life to seek out and understand that purpose, and do my best not to muck it up, as we often do. ;-)
Erin
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louisamay
Shy Member
Posts: 22
Feb 10, 2018 4:27:25 GMT
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Post by louisamay on Feb 16, 2018 0:31:21 GMT
"A reason" sounds too specific. Maybe not for a specific reason. The sperm and egg met by chance. But for me, my mother tried for six years to become pregnant before she carried me. SHE felt then that my birth was special and conveyed that to me. That created a sense that I had to do something good with my life. So in that way I had a reason for being. But no more than everyone has, if she thinks so.
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PLurker
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,730
Location: Behind the Cheddar Curtain
Jun 28, 2014 3:48:49 GMT
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Post by PLurker on Feb 16, 2018 0:44:42 GMT
I don't really think so per se. If you are lucky enough to find the void to fill (place in the world) that suits your abilities, you love doing and are successful at, it may end up feeling that way. Or you may just end up feeling lucky.
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Post by mymindseyedpea on Feb 16, 2018 3:05:45 GMT
Thinking about all of the varied ways people around the world live (children in war torn Syria, garbage dump scavengers in Central America, elderly people sleeping in cages in Singapore), etc.,) I find the idea offensive that there was some purpose to the coming together of the sperm and egg which created me. It was chance. Not luck, not purpose, just random chance. Agreed. I wonder if those people think about questions like this. I feel drawn to answer this question right now. Since I personally believe in multiple lives and pre-planned lives for why we chose to come here,(boy-friend makes fun of me for believing our lives are scripted, and that's not it at all) the idea of soul contracts can fit into this belief as well. I remember when Wayne Dyer gave a talk once that I watched on tv and he said something like: "If you want to learn about self-reliance then choose to grow up in an orphanage." And some might say: "why would I choose to have such and such happen to me?" When I think of something like that, that happened early on in my own life, an answer to that would be: "to wake my mom up". I believe that everything is connected in some way or another. So when I see what the bigger picture looks like to me with all these unfair living situations that so many in this world are going through, I see them showing the word what needs to be changed, and that they are the biggest part of that change. Now, if I only believed in "this is the only life you get" and see so many living their whole life in pain like that, I would be seeing a beyond unfairness. Even entertaining that hurts to think about and doesn't resonate with me at all. But I'm also not saying: "because everyone has multiple lives that it's ok they are suffering in this one because maybe the next one will make up for it." Not at all. They need all the love there is that can be sent to them and appreciated for what they are enduring, and how much it is strengthening their souls and how everyone as a collective is creating a new world in every unfolding moment where there doesn't exist such a space for this pain to be there anymore. All it takes is belief. At least that's how I go about it.
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Post by gar on Feb 16, 2018 8:05:46 GMT
And some might say: "why would I choose to have such and such happen to me?" I think I would say you don't get to choose that stuff. I know you are sincere. but that idea is just unfathomable to me.
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Post by shescrafty on Feb 16, 2018 10:59:26 GMT
Thinking about all of the varied ways people around the world live (children in war torn Syria, garbage dump scavengers in Central America, elderly people sleeping in cages in Singapore), etc.,) I find the idea offensive that there was some purpose to the coming together of the sperm and egg which created me. It was chance. Not luck, not purpose, just random chance. ^ so much this. My daughter’s disease was something she was born with that waited almost 9 years to emerge and kill her. When people say crap like “everything happens for a reason” or everyone has a purpose I would literally like to slap them.
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Post by katieanna on Feb 16, 2018 13:53:21 GMT
Yes, I do. I believe I am here for a reason, and that I have a purpose for my life. Even though I am going through some very tough challenges right now, I have been given many blessings that are here to help me realize that purpose. I believe in a meaning for all things, and I believe and have hope that for the things I do not know or understand at this time, there will be clarity in time, and a restoration of all things lost or broken in this life. I believe every soul has infinite worth and a divine purpose. It is a priority in my life to seek out and understand that purpose, and do my best not to muck it up, as we often do. ;-) Erin Well said. The universe is so fast that it cannot be measured, as is the God Who created it. We may not think we have a purpose; or that the things we do will mean nothing once we're gone; or that our only purpose in this life is to have children thereby giving life to others. But life is like a huge pond. Every movement, every thing that enters into it, leaves it, moves within it, happens within it creates a rippling effect that will eventually reach the nether shores. We don't know the effect a kind word at the right moment may have had on a stranger, or how some unthinking action may traumatize another. How anyone can look at nature and consider all its intricacies yet cannot extrapolate from that a design and a purpose to life is something I have never understood. Everything, whether good or bad, happens for a reason and one day, each of us will be held accountable for the things we've done in this life, whether it was good or bad. Accountability is the first step toward justice. That's how I see it, anyway, and I admit that my perception is a product of my faith.
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Post by Merge on Feb 16, 2018 14:20:11 GMT
Not a reason that some deity decided. I make my own reasons. I serve my community and my family. My reason for showing up may change from day to day, but it’s never decided by some cosmic force. Only me.
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Post by silverlining on Feb 16, 2018 17:01:29 GMT
I feel so very very fortunate to have been born to loving parents, to have gotten a great education, to have found a great husband, to have raised two wonderful daughters, to work in a job I love. I don't take any of that for granted.
I have known many people who had horrible parents, or who were born in war-torn places, or have had children with tragic health problems, or the list goes on and on.
For me to believe that God or another entity planned for me to get all the good stuff, and for other people to have lives of misery would require me to believe in a cruel God, and I just can't. I don't question other people's faith, but for me what works is to be grateful for the random circumstances that added up to make this life I have, and to be grateful, and to use my gifts to make a difference for other people.
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