Do you think that all choices you make in your life are determined solely by your free will?

Do you think that our lives have pre-ordained purposes?

Is it possible to have both free will and a pre-ordained purpose in our lives? If so, how would that work?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2009 05:48PM by Omega.

Do you think that all choices you make in your life are determined solely by your free will?

No, I don't. I think we have a lot of free will within a certain narrow sphere, but I'm sure a lot of the choices I've made have been influenced and colored immensely by circumstances that were completely beyond my control, and I feel that's just the way it is for everybody. Even those who persevere and overcome great obstacles are not able to make choices based solely on free will all the time, because of cultural, environmental, political and many other factors. Scientists have a very hard time finding hardly any free will within the human nervous system, because of the way it so often acts before we think we have made a willful choice. In other words, the choice we think we've made has already been made for us at deeper levels beneath our awareness by our unconscious. It's hard to have free will until one becomes quite conscious; therefore one can develop a certain degree of free will through meditation and contemplation and the development of insight and mindfulness.

Do you think that our lives have pre-ordained purposes?

My sense is that each of us has a unique skill set that we can work with and magnify, if you will; I also feel like everyone's pre-ordained purpose is to learn to develop greater love and compassion. We're part of a universal mind that isn't as interested in individual destinies (careers/ego-driven purpose) as in creating a platform for sentient life and self-consciousness-- for all of life globally to continue to exist.

Is it possible to have both free will and a pre-ordained purpose in our lives? If so, how would that work?

Since I don't believe we have a great deal of free will, that's not a big question for me. However, I don't see a problem with 'pre-ordained' purpose v. free will either, because if we realize that there is no separation between us and That which formed us (in a sense, we're 'IT'), then we are eternal packets of God-energy who pre-ordained our own program and path, and we also have quite a bit of leeway (free will) as to whether we'll fulfill the plan or just go our own way.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

What is purpose? Doesn't purpose suggest some greater goal? An outcome guiding us in our daily actions? But who decides our purpose? Many believe God has a purpose for them; others would say their purpose is driven by their own personal goals.

Each individual’s purpose may fit into a greater purpose, which can be so large and complicated that it can never be known or comprehend. Like an artist in Guatemala, making beautiful tiles for a great big home in Peru, the plans of which he will never see.

But can our purpose be self defined? If we have a preordained purpose, can we have freewill to choose any path? And if our self-chosen path is fundamentally a good direction, but it is not this preordained purpose, how are we affecting a bigger purpose given to us by God?

Movies like Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings encourage the idea that each person has a purpose, and that we may not know what it is, but we are bound to it, and of course it feeds into a greater goal. People eat up the idea, because our current society does not entail epic struggles; it is full of tedious decisions. How do I write this e-mail?; who should I talk to about this problem?; what tool do I use for this project? Some would argue that in our society the only people really driving the purpose in our daily lives are those at the top. But who do they answer to?: shareholders, personal ethics, the board of directors?

Purpose seems to be out there. You can sense that there are movements in our social evolution that seem purposeful. And we may play more or less of a role in that evolution. There is a struggle to define social and cultural norms, and it is up to each of us to define our stand and to take purposeful action. Otherwise, we rely on the slanted power of media, politics, and corporations. We relinquish control of our world’s future to the lowest common denominator, which ends up being driven not by purpose but by spectacle and instant gratification.
Lapaz

Oooowh I like these questions

Firstly, I think the answers to all three are definately not ! and but of course !

First question :
It all depends on how you wish to experience it. Is the freedom to choose your own meaning/feeling from experience not free will ? Are personal choices not a product of ones interaction with the environment based on these experiences ? No two people will experience the same thing the same way.

Second question :
Do you think that there is any time but now ? The concept of preordained envolves the consideration of cause and effect, that in turn demand a set of rules to define what is. Our sciences still cannot harmonise upon this issue, and IMO never will. I believe that existince merges with infinity, and will never conform completely to the limits of definition by structure.

Last question :
If you accept a perspective which envolves rules that provide a template for absolute cause and effect, then you will have a validation for preordanence, and a definition that removes the concept of free will. Unless you choose a funny blend of the two, which would allow exceptions to the rules, and these would fall into the "grey area" of the God factor

This is a great thread! I love reading Bill's and Lightform's answers.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

i do believe that fate and free will can co exist

let's say that one's "fate" is to better the earth and humankind

one can decide HOW to get from point A to point B and still arrive at point C

i also think that although fate can exist ( due to manifestation of karma)
the fate can also be diverted, averted and thus transformed

this i do believe

as well

there is an enormous amount of possibility within the sphere of natural laws

kwan's response is intriguing

she states that we are inherently born with a certain physiology thus certain things are truly beyond our "choice"

same with the universe
gravity, centrifugal force, strong, weak, nuclear, electromagnetic forces

these things are seemingly all related to 'fate'
and the textbooks of physics show us some supposedly immutable laws

but quantum physics reveals that these laws are mutable

through consciousness and intent

to be enlightened to this truth

is to be able to alter and transform "fate"

i do believe this

i have no doubt

Yeah LaV..

I think that both fate and free will exist as aspects of creation too, although neither being absolute. We can and do experience cause and effect as a part of our physical existance, yet I understand that our physical existance does not express everything that is. Metaphorically speaking, IMO it is more like a current frame of a movie which is never ending in length

So to accept the image that is currently showing as the whole movie, is to ignore the context within which it exists.

Omega,

I think most people possess both free will and a pre-ordained purpose and that, rather than being inextricably linked most of the time, they are running in tandem with one another. Or on diverging trajectories. It depends on the individual and on their self-awareness.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2009 10:53PM by Tamukha.