Torrey Braman

3/1/10

Phil. 1012 Intro to Philosophy

Dr. Mehring

Reflection Paper #5 "Does everything in life happen for a Reason?"

It is sort of my attitude to go with the flow of life. Therefore, it is easy for me to take
position alongside the belief that things in life do NOT happen for a reason. There is not, in my
opinion, any sort of cosmic plan or fate that decides what will happen during my life.

To start out, I do not believe in our creation from a god or higher power. I find evolution
to be far more logical in terms of our existence and thus, I have tended to base my outlook on
such matters in terms of science. While this may not be able to answer whether the chicken or
the egg came first, it does in fact tell me that mammals were put on this earth, and left to survive
and evolve; survival of the fittest if you will.

This plays in to humans’ existence as well. If we were put on the earth to survive, it is up
to us to survive, and make our own life decisions as to how our life will be lived. Therefore there
is no cosmic plan besides the plan of each individual to decide what they wish to do during their
lifetime.

To me the thought of one huge cosmic plan (or the life god has laid out before us) does
nothing in my eyes but remove all of our freedoms and leave us to play puppet at the hands of
god or whatever higher power you wish to believe determined our life in the first place.

This seems completely pointless, and makes me feel 100 percent powerless; almost as if I
am just a pawn in a game played by a higher power. With my belief in our own ability to choose
our own paths, we have meaning, power, importance, and something to strive for. If we were at
the peril of a cosmic plan than we might as well say “screw life, we have no say in our future
anyhow!” So in my eyes, we as humans have the choice to determine our future. Whether we
decide to live a good life or not, we still have a say in the matter.