Help
Sign In
spirituality
March 2009 
Destiny or free will?
Posted on Jul 16th, 2007
by 
Grey
Grey
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for July 16, 2007:
This is a question that comes up a lot in all sorts of ways, but personally I think it's essentially a "non-issue" from an "integral" point of view. It's also a question that really has nothing to do with our true Self and can, at best, only be talked about in terms of the egoic self.
First of all, "destiny" is a problematic concept because it is inherently connected with the past, the future, and the passing of time, and has little or nothing to do with the "infinite" present. In the same way, "free will" only makes sense in terms of the passing of time, but the question of free will is also complicated by the complex web of cause and effect that makes us who we are and so influences and, to a certain extent, predetermines the decisions that we may think we are making of our own "free will".
I suppose you could call this "complex web of cause and effect" a sort of "destiny", but what would be the point? You could also, I suppose, say that both "destiny" and "free will" exist, but again, what would be the point? Does either concept have any impact on the Original Face? Does understanding either help us live our lives in the here and now?
The idea of "karma" seems a bit more useful to me as a concept, sort of a Kosmic cause and effect. The idea that what we do has consequences. But taking either side of the "destiny" vs. "free will" debate seems frought with problems, and trying to blend the two into some sort of compromise belief system seems unnecessarily complicated (and based on two overly simplistic concepts) and ambiguous.
What we should really "believe" in is the infinite, non-dual Oneness, Isness, Suchness (or whatever) and let our awareness of this true Self inform what we do in our daily lives.
Namaste,
~Grey
First of all, "destiny" is a problematic concept because it is inherently connected with the past, the future, and the passing of time, and has little or nothing to do with the "infinite" present. In the same way, "free will" only makes sense in terms of the passing of time, but the question of free will is also complicated by the complex web of cause and effect that makes us who we are and so influences and, to a certain extent, predetermines the decisions that we may think we are making of our own "free will".
I suppose you could call this "complex web of cause and effect" a sort of "destiny", but what would be the point? You could also, I suppose, say that both "destiny" and "free will" exist, but again, what would be the point? Does either concept have any impact on the Original Face? Does understanding either help us live our lives in the here and now?
The idea of "karma" seems a bit more useful to me as a concept, sort of a Kosmic cause and effect. The idea that what we do has consequences. But taking either side of the "destiny" vs. "free will" debate seems frought with problems, and trying to blend the two into some sort of compromise belief system seems unnecessarily complicated (and based on two overly simplistic concepts) and ambiguous.
What we should really "believe" in is the infinite, non-dual Oneness, Isness, Suchness (or whatever) and let our awareness of this true Self inform what we do in our daily lives.
Namaste,
~Grey
Access: Public
