Wednesday, September 21, 2011

What's the difference between coincidence and fate/destiny


What's the difference between coincidence and fate/destiny?
Is it just a question of odds? For example, if I bump into my cousin in a village in Mongolia, is that coincidence or fate? If I bump into my cousin in the living room at her place, is that coincidence or fate? If it is just a question of odds, at what odds does it cease to be coincidence and begin to be fate?
Religion & Spirituality - 11 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
destiny/fate is "bound" to happen, and coincidence,, just happens because of, well, coincidence
2 :
Only one exists
3 :
one of them actually exists and the others are fate and destiny.
4 :
Coincidence is real. Fate/destiny don't exist. It would only be strange if we lived in a world where strange coincidences *never* happened.
5 :
it depends on if youre religious or not
6 :
They both exist, at the same time.
7 :
fate or destiny implies that the event of you bumping into your cousin was predetermined by some higher power. Coincidence is just odds.
8 :
The first one exists, the other does not. If you bump into your cousin in her living room, it's neither coincidence nor fate, it's the direct consequence of prior actions taken by both of you.
9 :
coincidence is when something just happens, not on purpose. fate/destiny happens for a reason, usually unknown. if you bump into her in a village or in he living room its coincidence, but if it led to something beneficial, then it is fate/destiny
10 :
It never ceases to be coincidence and become fate. For most such things, it's impossible to actually calculate any "odds." But keep in mind: even with "odds" of 1 million to 1, there's still that 1 on the right side -- if that 1 didn't actually happen now and then, the "odds" would be wrong. The odds of winning the California State Lottery (where I live) are approximately 1 in 18 million. Yet *somebody* wins it about once a month on average. Which is just what we'd expect without any "fate" being involved. Peace.
11 :
That depends on whether you are a fatalist or not. If you are a fatalist, then everything is fate. Pre-determined. You have no actual free will because everything that has happened, and everything that ever will happen was decided at the beginning of time. If it was fate for you to bump into your cousin in Mongolia, then every event and decision you made leading up to that event was also fate, all the way back to your birth. And every decision your parents made before that. And so on. If you aren't a fatalist, then there is no such thing as fate, and anything unlikely that happens is just coincidence.






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