Hello and welcome to the first Philosophy Friday. The day where I ditch complete humor to talk about profound stuff and make epiphanies... Sometimes, preferably while being funny.
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| My eventual forearm tattoo |
So. Philosophy. That's a fun topic... Perfect for sounding wise, no? Eh, if not, who cares. It's still fun to talk about. Do note that what I talk about below is just personal opinion and in no way meant to offend or belittle. A few days ago I posted the first Madness Monday post which involved a list of inspirational quotes, one of which, you may have noted, was attributed to me. (yes, I'm so cool I quote myself. :D )
The quote goes as follows: "What are miracles but the extraordinary acts of ordinary men?" It's an interesting question that occurred to me a few years ago as an axiom in the argument of fate and destiny. (Yay, a reason to use the word "Axiom") Just so that you as the readers understand what I'm talking about, allow me to quickly define what I'm personally talking about when I talk about fate and destiny.
- Fate: Preordained events that are guaranteed to occur. This is effectively the idea that everything that feels like a choice you may be making is actually guaranteed to have happened. It's the based on the idea that "Free Will" is simply an illusion and that in the same situation under the same circumstances, we would always make the same choice. (Personally, I find this idea rather depressing.)
- Destiny: Events which you were born or made for, but are by no means bound to. The concept behind this being that there may be an intended purpose for your existence, however you maintain free will in your life and may never life up to this purpose. (A preferably existence in my opinion, being that you can choose your own fate.)
So now, how does this tie in to the aforementioned quote? Well, many would argue that miracles are the acts of Gods or other similarly omnipotent beings. Which, for all we know, they just may be in some way?
(This may be a fair place to note that I am speaking both in conjecture and subjectively in terms of my personal views. I can be, and probably am wrong, but part of being human is being able to be wrong.)
So to begin my argument, I ask, how do you attribute the actions of one person to the actions of another? I have heard many times a friend say something along the lines of: "Hooray, I passed my exams all thanks to the glory of God." or something similar. I do not blame them, (after all, I think everyone needs something to believe in.), however, I must question how they think that their studying and mental ability was not the cause for their success, in the stead of God? To which they may argue that He either: A: Was the motivation for their success; B: The person who gave them the mental alacrity required to exceed expectation; or simply both.
In my opinion, those are both fair arguments as they cannot be debunked and as such legitimate in the face of no counterarguments. "The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." However, the argument begins to fall apart in the case of when they begin to attribute the actions of another being to Him. I have had several people of religious inclination be boggled by my belief in forgiveness and my wish to help others, despite my near complete lack of faith in anything more than myself. They argue that "I must surely be a miracle of God" to so willingly help even those that would hurt me.
That would be a fair argument, if I were a tool. Unfortunately, I personally believe in two things. Destiny, and myself. I choose to do these things, I choose to forgive and help. So how can my actions be "by the grace of God" when I'm not a religious person? That it something I cannot truly answer. There is no way to say who is wrong, and who is right. However, what I can say, is that the businessman who stops on his way to work to help you change a tire, or the lady that buys food for children on the street despite being hard up for cash herself, are not accidents or chance happenings. People do as they do, and for some, what they do is seen as miracles by others, either gifts from God, or gifts from man. The definition matters not, simply that miracles occur when the ordinary man or woman decides to take the time out of their lives to do something extraordinary.
I often find that media these days is an often overlooked source of wisdom. Years ago I watched the movie "Bruce Almighty" starring Jim Carrey and Morgan Freeman. In that movie, the line "You want a miracle? Be the miracle." is said. And that my friends, is how I have always lived my life. By taking the time out to help when I can. And honestly, it is a rewarding way for me to live in simply the contentment I find in the joy of those I've helped. That is enough reward for me.
Anyways, I hope that I have given you something of interest to consider, or at least hopefully not bored you to death. Thank you for reading and, as always, have an AWESOME day.
Auf wiedersehen meine freunde.
