174 replies to this topic

[rookie1ja]

Lazy-bones Paradox - Back to the Paradoxes

If destiny designed a master plan, which defines everything that is to happen, isn't it useless to for example go to a doctor? If I am ill and it is my destiny to regain health, than I will regain health whether I visit a doctor or I don't. And if I shall not be healthy again, than I will not with or without help.
If I am ill and destiny has a definite plan for me, than it is useless to go anywhere.
How could you question the presented opinion?

[Poppa_Bunnyman]

IMO, this "paradox" is easily explained. The man that thinks this, is still being controlled by destiny. The thing is, him even THINKING this is destiny (or future, if you will). If he chooses that going to the doctor will solve his problem, because destiny isn't possible, then that was his destiny all along. It is not as simple as anything that can be told to you, as such palm readers, fortune tellers, etc. can't be real. This fact doesn't change the reality that destiny is what's going to happen, clear and simple. Nothing can change something as basic, and inalianable as destiny, because attempting to change it basically IS one's destiny, if they so choose to go that route.

[comperr]

Without saying my religious affiliation the easiest way to question it is that there is no destiny.
The question relies on the following assumptions any of which can be challenged:
1)there is such thing as destiny
2)destiny can't be changed
3)destiny does not depend on your actions
and a few more that I am too tired to write out right now.

[davidsparkman]

I was predestined to choose.
(Former Presbyterian, now of same religion as above)

[gregoryabbarno]

This is not a paradox........either way you choose, to go to the doctor or not to go to the doctor is what your destiny is.

[tylerross546]

Supposing there is destiny and everyone has a destined path:
If you were ill, it could be in your destined path to go to the doctor to make yourself better. So you may sit around and risk that you get better or believe that it is in your destined path to make YOURSELF better by going to the doctor

[Babers-san]

Without saying my religious affiliation the easiest way to question it is that there is no destiny.
The question relies on the following assumptions any of which can be challenged:
1)there is such thing as destiny
2)destiny can't be changed
3)destiny does not depend on your actions
and a few more that I am too tired to write out right now.

However, if one believed in destiny, the response to your questions would simply be, "it is your destiny to question destiny in and of itself." The beauty or problem with destiny is that it cannot be proven but is simply a matter of faith. If you go or choose not to go to the doctor, either outcome is our destiny (including the ultimate outcome, i.e. you recover or die).

I don't know what compelled me to post this. Must have been my destiny.

[peartree]

The subject of 'destiny' is very difficult to deal with, not least because it flys in the face of 'free will'. Let's say for example that I break my leg. I think to myself, 'I have the choice to go to a doctor and get the bones set'. In this scenario that's exactly what I do and soon after I am happily walking about again. In another scenario I think, If it's my destiny for my leg to heal it will, and if not, it wont, so ther's no point in seeing the doctor'. Eventually my leg does heal but I am left with such a bad limp that I must use crutches for the rest of my life.

Was it my destiny to make this choice or was I just an ill informed idiot who based his life on wishful thinking? It would seem that if we really do have choices to make and act upon them, we alter the potential of our lives.
Lazy Bones says "...if I shall not be healthy again, then I will not, with or without help". But the examples I've shown have two very different outcomes because in the latter the power to make a positive difference is sacrificed to the 'it's all in the lap of the gods' way of thinking.
Things are made more complicated if it is argued that somehow, whatever choice is made, it is our destiny to make THAT choice, rather than a different one. If this is so, it means that destiny unfolds life in it's own fashion and that any sense of choice we possess is nothing but illusion (or delusion). If that's true then the whole world is deluded because surely it must be a fact, that anyone who can think, is busy making decisions of one kind or another.
In a world where destiny rules there can be no point in making choices and yet, if we all stopped this process, our existence would deteriorate and come to an end. If such a hypothetic event took place, we would surely go to our graves knowing that WE had caused it and not some hidden force that we have no control over.

The problem with a belief in desiny is that it robs us of the intelligent manipulation of lifes variables. A kind of que sera, sera. Maybe the future isn't ours to see but you can bet your unborn Grandchildren that it's very much ours to influence.

[Bad Wolf]

As Poppa_Bunnyman say so well: "him even THINKING this is destiny."

If his thinking is controlled by destiny, he would think "I need to go to a doctor" or "I don't." There are diseases that can be cured by a doctor and the destiny is in the decision or whether to go or not. With those cases, the decision to go is the destiny that they are to live.

Also, there are people who go to the doctor and still die. It can be said then that they are destined to die. Before modern science, even with simple diseases, they were very likely to parish. It could then be said that it was destiny for medical science to evolve for people to be able to be cured of those sicknesses.

The status of his condition and the level of efficiency of the doctors along with the current knowledge of diseases would determine whether the disease will kill him or not. Not to mention, a doctor will simply tell him what his ailment is. It is then his choice to accept treatment or not assuming that he is of sound mind.

[hughes417]

I have small understanding of the human condition insofar as free will and destiny. I enjoy hearing it restated in a challenging paradox that seems to poke fun at our collective ignorance.