Friday Question #110
If you could travel in to the future, and see how your life unfolds, but NOT be able to change it, would you want to?* Or would you pass up the opportunity and just live day by day?
You know, I think I wouldn’t want to know what my future unfolds, IF I couldn’t change it. I would hate losing the element of surprise of every day life! I would hate living my life knowing that no matter what I do, I am stuck with a certain destiny. I like to believe I am in some sort of control of my outcome.
Some people really believe in destiny, and that there is a path laid out for them. What do you think? I am a believer that everything happens by chance, and if that something is meant to happen, it happens! I also don’t believe in sole mates. I think there are many compatible fits for many people – it just matters where you are when you are ready to meet that person.
*This question inspired by watching The Time Traveler’s Wife last night.
Themocracy
I would not want to know if I could not change it. What if it sucks?! I would not want to look forward to that. haha.
I agree that I believe if something is supposed to happen then it will happen. I actually do believe in soul mates. There may be more than one soul mate but I think that you are supposed to meet and be with one person! So to answer the question – I would not want to go into the future and see, i would just rather live it and enjoy it!
Oooh, good question! If I couldn’t change it, I wouldn’t do it. But if I COULD change it, I think I’d want to!!
I definitely think everything happens for a reason. I don’t think I would want to look forward. Living with knowing what happens could be far worse than anticipating what will happen.
I wouldn’t want to know my future, either. Even if I could change something about it. I think people who want to see their futures like that are focused on the end and not the means. Aren’t we supposed to enjoy the journey and not just the destination? I think so!
I’m with you: if I can’t change it anyway, then what’s the point in knowing? And I do kind of believe that everything is predestined anyway, and we only have a limited amount of control over it.
Cheery, no??
<3 <3
I’m all for letting it unfold. Sometimes I would like some guidance, though, on which direction to go in…
I read that book – it really gets you thinking, doesn’t it? I think I wouldn’t want to know. Sometimes I feel like living my life and watching my kids grow up is like living a very thick novel, I am enjoying reading it and curious what will happen in each chapter. Just like in my reading in real life, sometimes I have to consciously remind myself to slow down and savor each chapter as it comes and not rush to get to the end to find out what the ending is…
Did you see the movie as well? I wonder if I would enjoy the book! I love when something gets me thinking like this.
I have been thinking a lot about not rushing too. I want to enjoy the process and not rush to the goals. You know? I love training, it doesn’t have to be all about the races!
I would not want to see how it ends. I know life will be filled with ups and downs. I just try to live each day in the best way I can; focusing on being positive and happy!
I wouldn’t want to know either. If it will happen either way, I’d rather take it as it comes day by day!
Matt and I have talked about this before, and neither one of us believes in soul mates. We met, fell in love and happen to be really compatible in a million different ways, but I don’t think the universe brought us together in some sort of master plan or anything. I do wonder what would’ve happened if we didn’t meet when we did…would our paths have crossed somewhere else along the way? Secretly, I’d love to create fake profiles on eHarmony or something for both of us to see if we’d get matched! 😉
Nope–I don’t want to know. What if it turns out horribly then I would be stuck knowing life had no hope. I would rather take the days as they come 🙂
Nope. I don’t want to know.
I don’t wanna know either. No way. Now for something really crazy, part of me thinks I already know how it’ll unfold, not exactly but still…how weird is that?
No way would I want to know, which is kind of weird because I hate NOT knowing and therefore worry in advance about things that haven’t and possibly never will happen. So I like to be prepared but …if I couldn’t change the outcome? That would be torture.
I would only want to know if I was going to end up living in the English countryside with my hubby and cats and a personal chef and trainer. That might be nice to look forward to. 🙂
If you are interested in this kind of thing, you should watch Flash Forward. Highly recommended for treadmill TV. It’s about what would happen if everybody in the world experienced two minutes of life six months in the future. Could they change what was going to happen? How do the events unfold leading up to it?
I don’t believe in destiny or soul mates. Like you, I think there are a number of people who might be compatible with you, but you develop true love through your shared sacrifices and experiences together.
Is Flash Forward a tv show? That concept sounds interesting!
I just bought the book The Time Traveler’s Wife, but I haven’t seen the movie yet and I haven’t started the book. Sometimes I think about it and I usually end up thinking I wouldn’t want to know what will happen. Then other times I can see the other side of the fence and say maybe if I knew I was going to die in a month, I would just totally quit work/school and do what I wanted. But then I would be counting down the days until I died, which wouldn’t be fun. So then I usually go back to wanting to not know…
I don’t believe in soul mates either. I also think things happen by chance. I wouldn’t want to look ahead into the future. That would be no fun for me! As much as I can be a control freak, I do like the surprises of life 🙂
oh good question! i would not want to know-too scary if it is a bad outcome.
happy friday!
Even if I could change it I wouldnt want to go to future.. I like the unknow.. I like not knowing what my kids will look like what they will do… all that jazz. I like to take life day by day.. (acutually month by month)
I wouldnt want to know even if I COULD change it. I believe that everything happens for a reason. Ok – maybe not the little things like stubbing your toe. But the big things all have a reason, and I dont think I would want to know, or mess with my future before it gets here.
Its the same thing with going back, I wouldnt want to do that either.
I used to believe in soul mates – but then the person I was convinced was “the one” turned out to not be. Now I agree with your point of view. Its all about when you’re ready.
As soon as I saw this question I thought Time Traveler’s Wife! I LOVED the book and movie but what stopped it from being one of my favorites was that I would get so frustrated, constantly saying to myself WHO WOULD WANT to live like this?? I got so mad because (I don’t know if they emphasized this in the movie or not) literally her relationship with him was ruining her life. I hate feeling like I don’t have control over my decisions and actions and I definitely don’t want to know what the future holds for me. It’s way more fun this way : )
They kind of showed how unhappy she was in certain parts of the movie, I thought, but I bet they didn’t go as deep into it as they did in the book!
Oh, hell to the no. Knowing my future would only drive me crazy. And make me wonder (even more than I already do) what the hell I am doing here.
I don’t know if I believe in destiny or not. All I know is that I will never know how things really work, so trying to figure it out seems like an exercise in futility most days.
Wow, I’m just a ray of sunshine today. 🙂
What a great question! I think I would prefer not to know. If I couldn’t change it then I wouldn’t want to see it because that would be so frusterating!!
No way I’d want to know in advance…I love the idea of not knowing what life has in store for me. As for destiny…I guess some things we have no control over, but sometimes, I believe we have some control over our destiny. I’m not willing to believe that nothing is up to me. Oh and I agree about soulmates…I think there’s more than one possibility for all of us!
If I couldn’t change it, I wouldn’t want to know.
If I could, still not sure because then you would always be seeing something different because you would see your future changing. Might make one obsessed with the future instead of living in the here and now.
Definitely not. It’s like reading the end of a book when you are right in the middle. What’s the point?
And even if you could change one event or another, could really change the outcome? It’s one thing for a ghost to show you what you future MIGHT entail, a la “Christmas Carol”, quite another to actually see your future and be completely trapped and incapable of changing it.
Tough one.
I think I’d rather live day by day; I’ve been trying to embrace there and now. I know myself and if I had the chance to see the future but couldn’t change it would kind of make me crazy. (I can be a control freak at times, I admit it.)
i love the concept of time travel. but i’m happy to have it just stay in the movies – i can’t handle that kind of knowledge!
Such a good question…I kind of want to know what is going to happen, mostly because I hate uncertainty, but then what’s the point of living life? I’m undecided on this one!
And to answer your question, yes, the flight attendents on Singapore Airlines are beautiful!
If I could travel in time, I’d visit the past. I’d never want to see the future. I don’t want to know what is going to happen or know what mistakes I’m doomed to make. That would just depress me. But to go back and see some of the defining events of our history unfold? Hells yeah!
GREAT question! I watched that movie recently, too, and as hot as Eric Bana is, could never put up with that *&#*.
Honestly, if I couldn’t change anything, I wouldn’t want to know! I actually love surprises. It’s tough when it’s something big you have to wait for, but I’d like to think it makes it that much more sweet. I’m telling myself this as I pray I will feel this way one day when/if I find a man. 🙂
Oh, and 100% agree about soul mates, too. I think saying there is only 1 person out there for you, well, that is kind of unrealistic!
LOL @ your Eric Bana comment! Did you see The Other Boleyn Girl/read the book?
I love surprises too. I know a lot of people who don’t though!
My gut reaction is to say that yes I’d want to know, but when I think about it a little more I change my mind. I think knowing would take the surprise out of life, and what fun would that be?Sure, sometimes it would be helpful but overall, I don’t think it would be a good thing.
So, assuming that I couldn’t actually CHANGE it by going into the future (which I believe is impossible – the changing part not the time travel part) I wouldn’t want to. Because, if my life turned out sucky then there would be nothing to live for!