This was sort of inspired by both my philosophy class, and the discussion in the Thoughts and Sharing Thread.

Do you have your own personal philosophy, or is there a philosophy from someone (ex. Aristotle, etc.) that you agree with wholeheartedly? And by philosophy, I mean everything. Your philosophy on the world, people, god, whatever.

Please, discuss.

Alright, here goes :

Life more or less makes up its mind about who you're going to be and what you're going to have the moment you are born. Yes, I am a fatalist, however let me explain my philosophy further.

While I did say that life makes up its mind about you the moment you are born, you can change your course - but it may and probably will be excruciating to do so. It may even kill you, but at least you died knowing you tried to change your fate, right?

When it comes to the divines and gods, I lean more towards atheism. I figure that religions were just a convenient way of explaining natural phenomena as well as institutions of social control for the large part. However, if I had to pick an actual religion to endorse, it most likely would be from the Left-Hand Path, or LHP. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's basically a belief that the self is the only god that exists and you don't bow down to and worship any divine entity per se.

^^Interesting. I'm sort of caught between a belief in fate and free will. I'd elaborate more but, as always, I'm being kicked off the computer...

I actually have a *tad* bit more to say, but I'll let what I've currently typed out sit there and let it engage with the minds of Gnetters, and allow for thought digestion before I start up again.

I hope this makes sense, I'm operating on a max 1 and a half hours sleep here, so bear with me if I don't quite answer the question properly.

Religiously, I consider myself an athiest. At times I do question if there is a Higher power, so I could be considered agnostic I guess. The idea of god used to be such an impacting factor in my life (I was a catholic), but now it seems as real to me as a fairy tale.

Politically, I Couldn't place my self in one category. I shift to the right and the left of the spectrum on every individual issue. Gay rights for instance shouldn't even be an issue anymore, I think gays have every right to pursue the same marital rights as a straight couple, but at the same time I find the concept of pride in your naturally instilled sexual desires to be stupid (ie. gay/straight pride, whatever). Immigration I feel conservatively about, I think it is too easy to get into the country, coming from a family of Russian and German immigrants after WWII, who experienced unfathomable Hardships during the war, staring death in the face daily, only to lose their homes, most of their families and to had to go through needless trouble just to be allowed to come to Canada, who rebuilt their entire lives themselves (no government help), it ticks me off to see some people who come over just for the free ride and don't fully appreciate living here. I don't know if I'm right or wrong, but it's just the way I am.

Personally, I have faith in the almighty Chaos.
This universe is endless, infinite, and while not random, it is chaotic.
Full of endless being, full of endless levels and planes of existence, full of endless possibility.
Therefore, Abrahamic concepts such as an almighty omnipotent "god" who "created" it all just seems unfathomable in my way of thinking.

I think there are INFINITE numbers of powerful, and even possibly "godlike" beings roaming this universe, but there always existed something before something, and there will always be something after something, and there will infinitely be something bigger than something else.
I believe in spirituality/afterlife, but I think that when we die, we simply enter another plan of existence(one we may catch glimpses of in dreams), and where we go after that is up to our soul and our dreams to decide.
Mankind, and the earth are just specks among countless worlds and universes and life forms.

However, this being said, we are significant. I still believe in holism, and everything we do having an effect on something else and leaving it's own imprint in the universe. We are significant to ourselves and our surroundings. Things still have value if only because we give value to them.
Therefore, empathy, compassion, love, and respect for life still remain of utmost importance.

We should always strive to learn, grow, and improve ourselves, because what is life but neverending strife with the world around us? Ultimately, we are in control from the moment we are born.... but unfortunately, so is everyone else. Therefore, our existence is a culmination of choices and conflicts with opposing forces and wills. If we have the will, determination, stubborn refusal to give up, and smarts, we can acheive what we want in life. However, we should never just stop there, because great people are those who never stop improving themselves.
Life is desire, and what always keeps me going in life is the desire to know what happens next.

Politically, I'm an anarchist, because it shouldn't matter who's in control, we should never give up our ideals and destiny to something else.

Mine's a short one. Almost anything, no matter how unattainable and unlikely it may seem, is possible with willpower.

I believe a lot of the choices people make in life can be improved/altered with the right amount of willpower. "Can't" is just a lazy substitute for "won't" or "I don't think I can". If you want something badly enough, you'll strive to get it, right?

Religiously, I'm a weird mix of Christianity and Science. Because I definately believe in science, however I believe that the standards that science needed to meet for us to even exist and if one thing went wrong, the conditions would not be right for us to be here...they're just too perfect. And I find it WAAAAAYYY too much of a coincidence for the particles and everything to be balanced inside us and outside, the fact that we have a food source to survive, the fact that we have oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide as plants breathe in carbon dioxide and give us oxygen, the fact that the water cycle exists so that it can rain for our crops to grow. I find it way too...convinient for us to have everything we need because there are like a million things that could have gone wrong to stop us evolving.

Oh goodness, so much stuff I agree with (although I probably agree with centurion the most)! Okay, well here goes (the short version of) my philosophy.

First of all, I believe that we are all a small part of the universe. All living beings are born with equal levels of good and evil. I've heard people say that human beings are born "good" and corrupted in life, or born "evil" and corrupt others, but I don't believe that. You as an individual chose who you are and who you will become. So when we are born with equal levels of "good" and "evil" (the meaning of these words can be debated), we choose which one to embrace at different times and different situations. If there is one generalization I will make about humans in general, though, is that we're selfish. Some are more selfish than others, but the desire to please the self is present in everyone.

I do think that we should all try not to be so self-focused that we hurt others in the process of doing what we like/want. I mean, going to a specific college even though it would hurt your mom is one thing, raping someone because you want to feel good is another thing completely.

I believe that there is a creator who created everyone. Whether or not said creator created the universe is up for debate, but has no bearing on my life so I don't care (but I do thank said creator for life because that's the kind of person I am). We are the masters of our own fate, however, I do believe that the creator has its hand in some things. As was mentioned before, there are infinite possibilities and options in the universe.

I also believe that we go somewhere after death, although rebirth makes the most sense to me. We could be reborn anywhere, as anything (not a piece of paper or anything, but you catch my drift). I do believe that we go to different planes of the universe when we die.

There's more but I've babbled enough...

I don't believe in higher powers because it would explain the universe too easily and I want to know the complicated science and evolution of everything.

But what if a wizard did it?

That's just a different form of Science.

Yes. It's called 'Alchemy'

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. -- Arthur C. Clarke (The Third Law)

Back on topic...

My philosophy of life is that much happiness comes of being one's own god or goddess.

-- Nephele

My Philosophy is derived from the Golden Rule and boils down to 4 words:

Don't be a dick.

~spidey