DO YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW IT WILL TURN OUT?

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I was watching a rather boring clip of Dustin Hoffman and Will Farrell interviewing each other this morning (featured on AOL), and among a lot of drivel, Will asked Dustin:

"If you were given a book of your complete life all the way to the end, would you open it?"

I thought this to be a fascinating question. So would you?

Do you want to know what lies ahead? Or would you rather just live your life and let it unfold without knowing how it will all turn out?

I know for certain I don't want anybody to hand me that book. But I'm still pondering whether I would read it if I had it.

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No way.How could i act normally if I knew what was gona happen, wether good or bad.
What if it was a very thin book!!!

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material girl wrote:

No way.How could i act normally if I knew what was gona happen, wether good or bad.
What if it was a very thin book!!!

That would be my fear I think. If I knew there would be a bad ending but a lot of good stuff before it came up, I wouldn't want that bad ending to overshadow my enjoyment of the good stuff.

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Lets face it, we all know we are going to die, I have no desire to know when.AS it scares the hell out of me NOT knowing when Im going to go, let alone knowing when Im going to go.

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I think that it might be interesting. Knowing me, I would probably attempt to debunk the book, by attempting to do things in a different way than the book projects!

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I'd just want to know which page has the part where I open the book.

That would tell me if I should read anything more than just that page.

The problem with such a book is it would mean my life is preordained. I don't think anything is.

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parados wrote:

I'd just want to know which page has the part where I open the book.

That would tell me if I should read anything more than just that page.

The problem with such a book is it would mean my life is preordained. I don't think anything is.

Gosh Parados, the world must be near the end because we finally agree on something. Laughing

I don't believe anything is preordained either and that we always have choices that can change whatever course we are on in just about anything. We may not always be aware of what all the choices are.

I'm just going on the premise that if there should be someway to know the end, would I want to know? I'm with Materialgirl in that, unless the end was imminent in which case I would want an opportunity to tie up a few loose ends, I wouldn't want to know.

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I would open it, of course. I can enjoy a book or movie even if I've already seen it and know the ending.

Like Phoenix, I would try to alter events just to prove I could and that I am not an automaton (If I were, I would have no real choice over whether to open it or not). If I were slated to die in a plane crash, I would simply never fly.

If I knew where and how I will die, I could plan my life accordingly. There is no point in scrimping to save a lot of money for retirement if I am going to die before I reach 67. There is no point in eating healthy food to prolong my life if I am going to be hit by a truck. If I am slated to die very soon, I would travel and visit friends and relatives before I go. I would eat everything I like and spend all my money.

And if I knew everything that was NOT going to happen to me, I would save myself a whole lot of needless worry and fretting.

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No way, no how.

I like mystery and adventure and challenge and change. I'd lose all of that and I'd be mighty p!ssed about it.

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True or false, I would tend to disavow such a book and possibly not bother reading the whole thing.

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Probably at least some of us have received one of those widely circulated inspirational e-mails citing the family going through the belongings of the recently deceased. They find the beautiful lace tablecloth that was never used; the fine crystal never unboxed, and lots of other this and that saved for some future event that never came. And then they determine to not wait for some future event but enjoy what they have now and treat their present loved ones with beauty and grace and finer things.

There is a real lesson in that I think. There is nothing wrong with planning and taking sensible measures in order to be able to enjoy an extended life, but maybe the smart thing is to also live each day pretty much as if it was our last.

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Foxfyre wrote:

material girl wrote:
No way.How could i act normally if I knew what was gona happen, wether good or bad.
What if it was a very thin book!!!

That would be my fear I think.
If I knew there would be a bad ending but a lot of good stuff before it came up,
I wouldn't want that bad ending to overshadow my enjoyment of the good stuff.

If u knew,
then u cud change the premises,
to avoid an untoward conclusion.

For instance, if u found out that u got killed while
u were robbing a bank,
then forget about that line of work.
David

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material girl wrote:

Lets face it, we all know we are going to die, I have no desire to know when.
AS it scares the hell out of me NOT knowing when Im going to go, let alone knowing when Im going to go.

Check out www.iands.org
regarding people who 've been thru that,
came back, told of it
and who never feared it again, thereafter.

Don t go thru life in a state of fear.

David

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I've long been for using the crystal, not least since - but never mind. Let's say, I've long been for using the crystal.

In advanced aging, one can be spunky, and one can also be overwhelmed with good reason and not be able to get out. Neither person is more valid. The spunky one might not be dealing with how his or her life is apt to go, and the overwhelmed one may be freaking out and some time later doing an overview and gaining peace.

I'd wish both of those people a seat in a nice cafe and some iced tea and talk.

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Foxfyre wrote:

Probably at least some of us have received one of those widely circulated inspirational e-mails citing the family going through the belongings of the recently deceased. They find the beautiful lace tablecloth that was never used; the fine crystal never unboxed, and lots of other this and that saved for some future event that never came. And then they determine to
not wait for some future event but enjoy what they have now
and treat their present loved ones with beauty and grace and finer things.

There is a real lesson in that I think.
There is nothing wrong with planning and taking sensible measures in order
to be able to enjoy an extended life, but maybe the smart thing is to also
live each day pretty much as if it was our last.

The philosophy of the Opulent Mensan SIG is:
Eat, drink and be Merry,
for tomorrow we eat,
drink and be Merry AGAIN !!!!!
David

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OmSigDAVID wrote:

Foxfyre wrote:
material girl wrote:
No way.How could i act normally if I knew what was gona happen, wether good or bad.
What if it was a very thin book!!!

That would be my fear I think.
If I knew there would be a bad ending but a lot of good stuff before it came up,
I wouldn't want that bad ending to overshadow my enjoyment of the good stuff.

If u knew,
then u cud change the premises,
to avoid an untoward conclusion.

For instance, if u found out that u got killed while
u were robbing a bank,
then forget about that line of work.
David

But of course the other argument is that if you could see ahead, then everything is already predestined to happen and it cannot be changed.

I, however, haven't figured out how to accept that particular theory without making us all mindless robots acting out some kind of programming over which we have no control.

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Foxfyre wrote:

OmSigDAVID wrote:
Foxfyre wrote:
material girl wrote:
No way.How could i act normally if I knew what was gona happen, wether good or bad.
What if it was a very thin book!!!

That would be my fear I think.
If I knew there would be a bad ending but a lot of good stuff before it came up,
I wouldn't want that bad ending to overshadow my enjoyment of the good stuff.

If u knew,
then u cud change the premises,
to avoid an untoward conclusion.

For instance, if u found out that u got killed while
u were robbing a bank,
then forget about that line of work.
David

But of course the other argument is that if you could see ahead,
then everything is already predestined to happen and it cannot be changed.

I, however, haven't figured out how to accept that particular theory without making us all mindless robots acting out some kind of programming over which we have no control.

Does that mean
that if u saw ahead,
then something wud force u, inexorably, to proceed to rob the bank anyway ??

Even if u didn 't wanna ??

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I'm having trouble answering this question because I can't imagine really knowing what all my tomorrows will be.

If you know all about tomorrow, then you've already lived it. Or, why bother living it?

Don't you just love to get up every morning and greet a brand new day that has never before been lived.

If I read a book about my life to the end, probably, I would't believe it. I' say, Oh, this is bull.

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I wouldn't want to read it. But I would be too curious not to, and then I would hate myself afterward.

As the book's author would have predicted.....I imagine he wouldn't waste his time writing books for those who who won't read them.

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OmSigDAVID wrote:

Foxfyre wrote:
OmSigDAVID wrote:
Foxfyre wrote:
material girl wrote:
No way.How could i act normally if I knew what was gona happen, wether good or bad.
What if it was a very thin book!!!

That would be my fear I think.
If I knew there would be a bad ending but a lot of good stuff before it came up,
I wouldn't want that bad ending to overshadow my enjoyment of the good stuff.

If u knew,
then u cud change the premises,
to avoid an untoward conclusion.

For instance, if u found out that u got killed while
u were robbing a bank,
then forget about that line of work.
David

But of course the other argument is that if you could see ahead,
then everything is already predestined to happen and it cannot be changed.

I, however, haven't figured out how to accept that particular theory without making us all mindless robots acting out some kind of programming over which we have no control.

Does that mean
that if u saw ahead,
then something wud force u, inexorably, to proceed to rob the bank anyway ??

Even if u didn 't wanna ??

I think if any choice I made today would change what would happen later today or tomorrow or some other time, then the idea of being able to see the future is moot. I think if we were able to see the future, we would not be able to make any choice that would alter it. That's about as simply as I can put it. If a bank robbery was in my future, I would be compelled to do it.

So the idea of an accurate book is hypothetical if you do not believe in fate or predestination or any other theories that lock us into some unalterable destiny. But it is still fun to think about not wanting to know how it turns out.

Sun said it very well. We each start out with a day that has never been lived. I like that a lot.

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