John Elessar
04-02-2013, 07:08 PM
[Poll is just a starting point for discussion, not an end point...]
Something which has been bugging me for awhile is the question of fate and free will when it comes to how your life path unfolds. A number of pundits seem to be under the impression that everything that unfolds in a person's life is for a reason, and that meetings with significant people are pre-ordained, in a way.
I'm not sure I can buy that, if we also assume that people have free will. Think of all the crucial decisions that we undergo during a typical lifetime-I'd like to think that, if we are truly free, that even the Absolute can know beforehand what we are going to do.
If I ponder my major decisions and life events, there are quite a few twists and turns:
1. I don't kill myself in the depths of my Dark Period
2. I don't decide to walk out in my backyard at a crucial point, when a certain special species of bird flies through it (http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/redir.php?link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiritualforums.co m%2Fvb%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D31988) (or I don't make the deep connection needed and drift back into ennui)
3. I don't decide to find my birthmother and her family (which has crucial consequences later when I think that my grandmother reincarnates as my niece (http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=622006&postcount=21)*).
4. I forsake the chance of a 2nd awakening 2 years ago, am not almost immediately visited by a very close relative of the first bird above, and resign myself to a life of mediocrity and quiet desperation.
That's the big ones, and within the rest of my life, of course, lies many other decisions big and small. Wouldn't it be true that, by going down one fork rather than the other, that I call into existence other events, other people, other choices than those available on the forsaken choice? Or maybe some of these people and events can "scramble" around and make themselves available to you anyway no matter your choice?
I just have been wondering just how much I've altered the original plan by exercising my free will to the fullest by hopping on the Transcendence Train and undergoing all of the almost insane amounts of growth that I've experienced, and what that means in terms of future encounters (because the ones I have been getting up to this point have been very meager, and when I do meet someone-Songgirl-they aren't on my same wavelength). We shall see I guess.
[*I found an old picture of my grandmother this weekend. Compared to a recent portrait of my niece, they both have exactly identical poses and the smiles are virtually the same too.]
Something which has been bugging me for awhile is the question of fate and free will when it comes to how your life path unfolds. A number of pundits seem to be under the impression that everything that unfolds in a person's life is for a reason, and that meetings with significant people are pre-ordained, in a way.
I'm not sure I can buy that, if we also assume that people have free will. Think of all the crucial decisions that we undergo during a typical lifetime-I'd like to think that, if we are truly free, that even the Absolute can know beforehand what we are going to do.
If I ponder my major decisions and life events, there are quite a few twists and turns:
1. I don't kill myself in the depths of my Dark Period
2. I don't decide to walk out in my backyard at a crucial point, when a certain special species of bird flies through it (http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/redir.php?link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiritualforums.co m%2Fvb%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D31988) (or I don't make the deep connection needed and drift back into ennui)
3. I don't decide to find my birthmother and her family (which has crucial consequences later when I think that my grandmother reincarnates as my niece (http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=622006&postcount=21)*).
4. I forsake the chance of a 2nd awakening 2 years ago, am not almost immediately visited by a very close relative of the first bird above, and resign myself to a life of mediocrity and quiet desperation.
That's the big ones, and within the rest of my life, of course, lies many other decisions big and small. Wouldn't it be true that, by going down one fork rather than the other, that I call into existence other events, other people, other choices than those available on the forsaken choice? Or maybe some of these people and events can "scramble" around and make themselves available to you anyway no matter your choice?
I just have been wondering just how much I've altered the original plan by exercising my free will to the fullest by hopping on the Transcendence Train and undergoing all of the almost insane amounts of growth that I've experienced, and what that means in terms of future encounters (because the ones I have been getting up to this point have been very meager, and when I do meet someone-Songgirl-they aren't on my same wavelength). We shall see I guess.
[*I found an old picture of my grandmother this weekend. Compared to a recent portrait of my niece, they both have exactly identical poses and the smiles are virtually the same too.]