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In my mind, the universe is the word of God. It's His creation, so carefully observing the universe gives direct insight into the mind of God. We are part of the universe.
I think it a widely held belief that spiritual progression is built on the acquisition of spiritual skills and awareness. It's also a widely held belief in spirituality and the more spiritual religions that the ultimate goal of existence is union with God. What does this mean exactly, and how does this correlate with what we can observe in the universe?
One thing I have observed countless times in countless ways is that the universe seems hardwired to reward awareness. That's not to say everything is necessarily knowable or even understandable to us, but I think enough of the rudiment comes through to make it clear. That awareness rewards in nearly any capacity is self evident. The penalties of avoiding awareness are also generally self evident.
So yes, I find it entirely understandable if, on a spiritual level, each life could have preferred goals or intentions, set before birth. As an example, if in a previous life one was consumed by selfish interests, he might come back in another life situation that would be more conducive to building awareness through compassion and empathy.
As to whether this is predestination, no, I don't think so. Something else I have observed is all the evil in the world. It seems there is no end to the horrible things people will do to other people. If there is a God, how can S/He let that happen? For me, this gets back to the union with God question, but let's ask another question: If God is omnipotent, and God wants union with souls, then why doesn't he just instantly whip up a bunch of souls and 'union' away?
Sounds odd, put bluntly like that, I know - but really, why not? Why go through this whole rigmarole of creating an entire universe and all that? Going back to the question of evil, and observing the universe, we see God does allow evil to exist - a lot of it - and pain, and suffering, and all the woe and misfortune people can bear, and more.
In my mind, the answer to all this is simply the choices we make. At the same time, I also observe that it is a shared universe - what I do can affect you, and what you do can affect me. It would seem that cooperation is another encouraged action, something I see we are learning very slowly, though it is encouraged by such spiritual values as compassion, empathy, kindness, etc..
The point being, as I see it, is that we have free will. Yes, situations and behaviors can have a lot of inertia, but we can and do have have some potential influence, small or large, depending. I know we have free will because evil exists, because we are, in our physical consciousness, separate from God. Looked at in this way, the existence of evil becomes a powerful proof of God's love. God seems to love us so much that he grants us true individuality, and wants us to freely expand our selves, our awareness, to the point that our awareness encompasses the universe, to the point of omniscience, to the point of union with God - but this is not predestination. We can grow, but we can also fail to choose to grow. Observing the universe further, we see there is nothing directly coercive about God's plan. We must freely choose to take responsibility and expand and grow - but choice is meaningless if we are compelled to succeed. For choice to actually be meaningful, we must also be free to fail. Evil, both banal and heinous, is perfectly representative of our failures, IMO.
So, set goals in spirit and learn is what people do - one hopes.
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