Free will or destiny?

The inspiration to write this article comes from a recent discussion the author had with someone. The author was asked whether he believes in 'destiny' or not.

We often refer to some significant events as just being destined to happen. That something was just meant to be. Why do we feel that certain events were destined to happen, but others not? Is it just our own discriminating mind, making us believe that some events are more important than others, and then labeling them destiny? In fact, the mere illusion that life is a bunch of random, separate events could already be a misunderstanding about how we view and experience life. What if life itself was just one, big event, and everything that happens in life is simply destined to happen? Let's go into this a bit deeper.


Are we in control?

When we are honest with ourselves and ask ourselves if we are really in control of our lives and of the outcomes of everything, what shall we answer? Consider this for a moment...

Some of us may feel that we do have free will and that the outcome of everything lies in our own hands. Others may feel that we do not have control and that everything just happens randomly, something like organized chaos. Additionally, there may be those of us who are in the middle, feeling that sometimes we do have free will, but sometimes things are just destiny.

Think about this, even when we sometimes do planning for weeks in advance, and make all arrangements to the finest details, even praying hard and doing everything we can, events still turn out different from what we hoped for or planned for. Yet sometimes we hardly put in any effort, and miraculously our plans still fall into place, or our prayers get answered, even with very little effort or energy invested into it.

So, which one is it? One? The other? Both? Or none? How can it be that we feel that we are in control sometimes, but other times not? Who or what is this deciding factor? 


How we understand free will

Let us consider the following for a moment. When we speak of having free will, what does this mean? How do we see or understand it? Do we feel that free will means that we can completely manipulate any situation into our favor? If this is what we understand, then it means that we do not have free will, because let's be honest, how many times have we faced situations that we didn't want to be in?

So, we may feel that maybe we do not have control over what happens 'externally' so to speak, but what we do have full control over, is how we decide to react towards life, how we respond. We can decide whether we want to see a situation as good or as bad. We can decide whether we want to respond to a situation with anger, or with compassion. We have the power to create our own perceptions, our own way of looking at life. Therefore, we can say that we do have free will, don't we? We can freely decide how we perceive reality. When we realize this, we realize that we have the power to create our own realities too!

This may sound a bit unbelievable, but please do not simply read this and feel that it is true or false, but put it to the test! Try to observe what happens when we cultivate a positive mindset, and then experience reality. Our realities become filled with peace, joy, love, and compassion, regardless of what happens.

Let's use a very simple example to illustrate this. If someone is in an unhappy state of mind and trying to argue with us, how do we respond? Do we feel offended and react with anger, defending our egos and giving them a piece of our minds, or do we feel compassionate towards them and try to understand why they are unhappy, and see what we can do to offer them peace? See, we do have the power to decide how we react, and this directly determines what kind of experience we have!

Unity between external and internal

When we consider this approach to life, we realize that we have the free will to create our own realities. This does not mean that we can immediately manifest all the ego's desires into existence. No, this is would be a misunderstanding. What we want to point out, is that what we see as 'outside' of us, and 'inside' of us, that these two realities are actually the same, they are one. How we feel, think, and perceive, is the kind of reality we shall experience when we open our eyes.

Now, think of what kind of reality we would like to experience? Do we want to have a peaceful, happy reality, or a reality filled with envy, anger, and unhappiness? When we decide to have peace and happiness, we can start to cultivate such a mindset through meditation, and we can slowly start to live in peace and harmony, wherever we are, wherever we go. It becomes our reality and nothing separate from us!

Lastly, another thing we want to consider when we think about free will and destiny, is that life is always happening in the here and now, the present moment. Nothing happens outside of the present moment, and therefore, when we rest in the present, everything is just perfect. Whatever happens, it becomes our destiny! From drinking a cup of tea, walking, even reading this article. It happens now, in the present, and it is just as significant as anything else we experience. It is just as much destiny as it is to meet a guru, to find our husband or wife, or to find the dream job! It is only the ego that discriminates between something good, bad, significant, or insignificant.

To conclude, we want to consider how we understand destiny and free will. When we realize that we have the free will of how we perceive reality, we realize that our perceptions create our realities and that we are in control. Yet, we are never experiencing anything else but the present moment, so whatever happens in the present moment, this is our destiny!

This topic goes into many depths, and for those interested, the author wrote a book on this topic, which can be found under the Books section of this blog. Please feel free to have a look, and please remember to share any thoughts and opinions.

Free will or destiny. Discover the Universe that is you. Shanti Universe blog by Anrich Bester.
Is the sun destined to shine, or is it shining at free will? 


Comments

  1. Another great article,thanks for posting ..

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  2. Truly inspiring and motivating article !!

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  3. Hey anrich !!
    Your blog has become my one of favorite spiritual blogs ...great thoughts :) keep up the good work

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  4. I don't why, but I feel so refreshed reading your article bro

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  5. Such deep wisdom ,explained so lucidly and simply ....Whoa!!!🎊

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