FREE WILL

Everyone will ultimately achieve the spiritual perfection for which we are created and this may take many lifetimes because of free will.

The results of cause and effect are often not immediate because they would influence free will.
The Infinite One wants us to do things for the right reasons; not out of fear and shame and because of what may result but out of love and justice.

Free will - the cosmic law - implies choice between: 

The Sacred vs. the Profane. Good vs. Evil. Positive vs. Negative. Light vs. Dark.

Its all about intention.

To make a choice good and evil must both operate freely.
The only way to do away with evil is to continually choose the good.
Evil is not the cause but rather the consequence of not choosing God's revealed will. 

These polarities are part of the divine plan. The Creator does not micro-manage. Choice, though precious, has karmic consequences. Free will, Karma and Impermanence are built as defaults into the soul. 

"A net is spead out for the living. Free will is given and all is perparation for a big celebration." Rev Akiva

We are sentient beings and are subject to samsara, the continual cycle of death and rebirth. We are continually being tempted to handle our senses irresponsibly with poor decisions. We are here to enjoy the senses but consciously and responsibly. We are also bound to the "yoke" of ego and attachment to the objects of our desires. Ego and Shadow require we favor self-cherishing (the small self) and the grooming of the persona over the Higher Self, favor wants over needs and fail to sweeten our judgments due to our inability to realize the divinity in all humans.

You are free always to change course at any time or place; if you were not, there would be no challenge, no discovery, no victory, no fulfillment.

If the burden were taken away the lesson would not be there, coping with it is what is important and is what will count.

We are continually being tested - not about how much we know or how well we perform but that our trust, our love and our faith  are being always tested at unexpected times in often unrecognized guises…

Everything is a test of free will. Its not what happens to us that counts but what we do with it and how we manage our choices. We cannot resign ourselves to fate - the cards we were dealt in life. We are required to rise above our fate into our destiny no matter how onerous the odds. In every calamity there is a challenge and a potential gift. In every crisis there is opportunity. We need the tension within many challenging polarities for spiritual growth. With the skillful use of free will Ego needs to subordinate to the Higher Self, Monkey Mind to Big Mind, our Shadow or Evil Inclination to our Good Inclination. 

"S/He who has no Evil Inclination (Shadow) at all cannot do perfect service..." Talmud

We need tension for perfection.

"...What counts is to restrain the blaze in the hours of desire and let it flow into the hours of prayer and service.” Talmud

Free will is always neutral, motivated and catalyzed by desire.
You cannot say; “the devil made me do it!”

Managing free will depends on our awareness and knowledge of spiritual principles. The Ancestors stress that with all our strength. we should get this knowledge.

We do not see things as they are but we see them as we are"

“A person cannot find redemption until s/he sees the flaws in his soul. Whoever shuts out the realization of his flaws is shutting out redemption. We can only be redeemed to the extent to which we see ourselves.”  Talmud

But determine well the heart’s true desire for in releasing the power of your motivation its energies will actualize the holiness or unholiness of your intent.

The sages teach that everything is foreseen (by the Creator) yet freedom of choice is given.

The Great Spirit knows what is going to eventually happen - we do not. Our guides have a broader perspective and can see further than we can into the near future being non-local in space and time. However, they cannot see far into the future because of the number of constantly changing variables each of which requires free will not only of us but of other variables that can affect our choices. Free will is in the moment, our guides dwell in the present moment. This is why we must persistently ask to receive.

You cannot control results only your actions. You cannot predict outcomes only your choices. 

"Discernment is choiceless." Krishmurti

Once we attain a certain level of higher consciousness we may feel that we have no choice at all because of the implications of  consequences on our spiritual trajectory. Spacious or Big Mind dominates Monkey Mind and shows us the way.

When we die and cross over the veil between worlds we will be accountable to a spiritual tribunal for our choices and actions. Most of us are bound for one or other of the countless realms in the Astral.

On the other side, we no longer have options upon which to decide what fashions our destiny. We have already determined it.
We do, however, still have thought, intent and opinion which we may use to help others though no longer ourselves.

  When we arrive in the Astral our choices and actions will determine which vibration and which of the multiple vibrations in the Astral realm we have earned. As we sow so we reap. In the Astral we loose free will. In the Causal realms, enlightened realms retain free will and can operate freely. In the Astral we are bound for another life time in order to perfect our prior unskillful choices. In the Causal we only come back again if we choose to and for a higher purpose. We never escape the challenge of free will.

Where choices are limited by circumstances, one may still at least determine what one's attitude will be, how we respond not in action but in deciding our thoughts, intent and opinion.

 IMPERMANENCE

Everything around us is in the process of decay, including us. Entropy is relentless. Being in the moment is easy to say - difficult to do.

“One day the people came to the master & asked: 'How can you be so happy in a world of such impermanence where you cannot protect your loved ones from harm, illness & death.' The master held up a glass & said. Someone gave me this glass & I really like this glass. It holds my water admirably & glistens in the sunlight. One day the wind may blow it off the shelf or my elbow may knock it off the table. I know this glass is already broken so I enjoy it incredibly.” Achaan Chah Subato

Tibetan Buddhists fashion these exquisite, intricate sand paintings that take them months, and then destroy them to remind them of the principle of impermanence. We need to bear this in mind during these times of Fast Fashion which the planet cannot sustain and which also hampers our spiritual life.

Keep to the source of living waters.
Do not think to store in cisterns; they will break and crumble and the water will be lost.
Cup your hands and drink deeply and often and you will have health and joy.

 The only things we take with us when we pass over to the other side are our experiences which determine our karma. Karma will be determined by the choices we make. 

“We are all climbing toward the summit of our hearts’ desires. Should the other climber steal your sack and your purse and wax fat on the one and heavy on the other, you should pity him. The climbing will be harder for his flesh and the burden will make his way longer. And should you in your leanness see his flesh puffing upward, help him in a step, it will add to your swiftness.” Unknown

We need to keep it simple - attend to our needs and not out wants.

“Wants, needs & necessities have different characteristics. It is the want that is our enemy, not the need & necessity.” Sri Swami Rama

It helps to look (at the oversimplified;) 

Laws of Three - of Survival

We can live for Three minutes without oxygen

Three days without water

Three weeks without food

Three months without human company

I have spent several periods of time with the San Bushmen of the Kalahari who seemed to be a lot happier that I was even though the time I spent with them were the some of the best moments of my life. They, compared to us in the West, have very litttle and survived on what nature has to give. As hunter-gatherers most of their food came from foraging. Meat and honey were luxuries. Originally before they lost their habitat they were nomadic and would eat themselves out of one particular area and then move to the next allowing the one they left to restore itself. They had no abilities to store anything and lived entirely in the moment. Water in the Kalahari was scarce and they lived off the moisture that certain tubers or melons provided and sometimes sucked water retained in tree hollows and sip wells in the sand. They used to be free and their pantry was the wilderness before civilization came along. They could walk out into the wild with a tiny backpack comprising a skin bag containing a sipping straw, a rudimentary bow and poisoned arrows. a fire stick and its base and most important of  all a digging stick for foraging. With this simple technology and their incredible survival skills they have survived for eons. The San are the original people. We all have Bushman DNA in our chromosomes. 

So in reality all we really need are; shelter, water, food, energy to run our technology (fire for them) and each other. We need to remember that; "Everything is given on loan..."  Rev

At end end of the day we are here for the sake of Self - the big Self not the small self of the Ego and its Desirous Attachment - its attachment to the object of our desire. Its ok to have things but not if they have us.

 "Give up owning things and being somebody. Quit existing." Rumi

We might think of the San as merely existing but they had much more leisure time than we in the West have. This and the purity of their existence, with nature as their teacher, enabled them to have profound spiritual and healing abilties which they needed to survive in such harsh circumstances. Their shamans could attain advanced levels of consciousness; divine with "bones" trance dance, obtain non-local information from the "Field" and even shape shift. We have too much stuff in the way. To me they felt far more Self-realized than I was in spite of my yoga practice and struggles with my spiritual path.

I have learned for myself that the less I have the more free I become. Every time I downsize I feel better. I highly recommend doing a house/life clearing. Go through all your stuff and divide it into three components. 

The things that you really need and that are essential.

Anything you dont need or havent looked at in the last few years. Get rid of those.

The things you are unsure of. Put them in boxes or containers and store them somewhere. If you have not looked at any of that stuff in a few years get rid of it too.

At the end of the day when we pass over to the other side beyond the veil between worlds any attachment to stuff, loved ones or work will hamper our passage and could even lead to us being stuck between the worlds and being earth bound. We need to be able to go into an existential free fall without fear and without attachment to any Thing. We will have to let go and surrender completely.

 

DESTINY CONCLUSION #4

"Kabir says; friend, there are very few who find the way."

The sages teach that all that happens; happens as it must.
What occurs cannot occur contrary to the conditions of its occurring or contrary to its nature.
A cedar tree does not spring from an acorn.

 

Of all the teachings the Ancestors have given us, many focus on our being true to our Self’s preordained mission. Others may want to tell you to be an "oak tree" which bears fruit rather than the "cedar tree" that you were created for.

Anything or anybody who does not make you more of who we are makes you less of who we are.

 

The focus is on becoming more of who you are.

You must free yourself to be yourself.
Do not take on what is not yours to take on.
If you will not be you who then will be? 

Be patient with yourself, kind to yourself and release yourself from what you are not accountable. Do not be captive to the demands of false duty.

God most delights when you, are most you, when you are being most yourself.

 

If you do not be you, then whoever will be?

 

Look carefully to what you aspire, cherish and guard so as not to squander your gifts nor lose your heritage.

Dance to the beat of your very own drum and no one else's.

 

It can be difficult not to run with the crowd. Rather be ...

"At the tail of the lions than at the head of the foxes." The Talmud

Unthinking conformity no matter how piously enacted lacks meaning and as such is soulless.
One must be bold in questioning; that to just accept without inquiry is simply surface learning by rote not the deeper learning of thoughtful consideration.

Our deeds fashion our destiny, so do our understandings fashion our deeds.

If one is unsure what one's destiny is, practice and use one's core strength and see where that leads ... often to the next step along the way.

Remember that the Creator wants a personal relationship with each one of us. The standards are simple but difficult.

It will be given to you according to the measure of your humility, the measure of your love and the measure of your faith.

The menu is only the menu.
It offers, it describes, it suggests.
When the meal arrives do not put it aside.
Absorb the reality of your choice.
If you do not taste the nature of God in your selection, you must choose another dish, if indeed you desire to be for the Infinite One, all that S/He is for you.
For although the Creator’s breath will be present, His presence will not manifest for you.
You need to choose the offering He has prepared especially and selectively for you.

If all else fails, help others or any of the other of the 'Beings' of nature, for its own sake and not for any selfish motive or agenda (Karma yoga.)

 

When you feel compelled and not commanded it will be as you thought it would be ...
You will know that the veil is illusory and you will lack for nothing.

Whatever your mission is, it should be heartfelt and not arise out of dutifullness. It should bring any one of these feelings; 

joy, happiness, serenity, meaning, belonging, equanimity, harmony, balance...

 

When you are compelled rather than commanded you will no longer need teachers and sages for you will know naturally. 
It is written on your heart. 
When you keep the commitment because you love not because you obey you will no longer need teachers and sages urging you to perform and refrain – you will do so naturally.
It is the way of the heart. 
It is the heart’s wisdom and understanding that delights itself in the Creator.

  

By going back to our earlier, especially our teenage years, or some prior warrior journeys we may discover that the dream or that aha we wanted for ourselves was put aside because of external pressures. This dream could well have been connected to our destiny and our heart’s desire.

Look carefully to what you aspire, cherish and guard so as not to squander your gifts nor lose your heritage. 

When you respond from within all will unfold as it should from without.

Eventually, we may find that...

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” Patanjali 

 

 

 

DESTINY #3

 DESTINY vs. FATE 

Destiny is that unique gift we were granted so that we could give back to the planet. 

Karma is about our accountability and how we behave with, what we get from our fate and the universe and give to and take from others. 

We may have found our destiny but are still not doing it within the integrity of the laws of spirit.

 

”Each soul makes Two agreements upon entering the world. The First binds the individual to a distinct destiny that becomes the soul’s great project in life. 

The Second entangles each person in the limitations of fate and responsibilities for family and community. 

While all second agreements can be renegotiated, the first is non-negotiable.” Michael Meade

Fate involves the circumstances surrounding us and our destiny mission. We are required to rise above our fate into our true destiny path. Destiny will be fashioned by our choices – skillful or not. Destiny is that illusive, but unique gift we were granted. Most of us do not find it easily.

“The outward work can never be small if the inward one is great, and the outward work can never be great if the inward is small or of little worth… All works are surely dead if anything from the outside compels you to work. Even if it were God himself compelling you to work from the outside, your works would be dead. If your works are to live, then God must move you from the inside, from the innermost region of the soul – then they will really live. There is your life, and there alone you live and your works live.” Patanjali

We are made in the image of the Divine. 

As above, so below, as without so within – as below so above, as within so without …

We are a tiny spark of the Source’s flame. A microcosmic chip or holographic representation of the Creator.

 

“All the talents of God are within you.
 How could this be otherwise when your soul is derived from His genes!”  Hafiz

 

We are meant to co-create with the Divine – His/Her creation cannot fully manifest without our help. The Creator wants a personal relationship with each one of us. 

There is a direct link in the search for the Self and the Hero’s search for his/her archetype. They are shades of the same thing. Destiny is part of the soul’s journey and we are karmically required to find and follow it with integrity. We cannot separate Soul from our destiny path.

Are you nibbling on the apples of the Tree of Knowledge or are you nurturing whatever proud plant or humble weed which is your present entrustment? It is that which you are to make glorious.

God does not play favorites. We are all given a destiny cup to fill. Some have been given bigger cups than others. Those who have smaller cups, may find it easier than those with large ones where … to those whom much is given, much is expected.

 

 “The souls of people on their way to earth-life pass through a room full of lights. Each takes a taper, often only a spark to guide it in the dim country of this world. But some souls by rare fortune are detained longer and have time to grasp a handful of tapers which they weave into a torch. These are the torchbearers of humanity – its poets, seers and saints who lead and lift the race out of darkness towards the light. They are the law givers and saviors, the light bringers, way showers and truth tellers and without them humanity would lose its way in the dark.” Plato

The taper that Plato refers to can be our mission, purpose, destiny, archetype, core or signature strength or special talent. Those who are gifted with many tapers are fortunate, but it is important to realize that only one of those is our prime “taper”. That does not mean that we set the others aside but rather we use them to support that primary "taper." 

One may have considerable talents and it can be confusing as to which to choose for one’s focus. 

Moreover, we may also want to squander them by enjoying their fruits irresponsibly. It’s not only what we do, but how we do it, why we do it, and how we feel about it that counts karmically. Intention is everything. Many are in line with and following their destiny paths but are not doing so within the laws of karma, of right and wrong.

Assuming  we have found our destiny it will be important karmically to carry it out with integrity and also for its own sake. For this reason we may have to keep our day job if necessary. Our destiny purpose can also be done part time. 

 

Determine well your heart’s desire for in releasing your intention its energy will affect its holiness or unholiness.

 

We will be judged by our intentions and fervor of our efforts and not the results. Failure can be meritorius when we face the spiritual tribunal at the end of our days and have to account for our actions. Both the Great Spirit and Ancestors understand that ...

You cannot control results, only you actions.

You cannot predict outcomes only your choices.

So it is best we practice non-attachment in the face of seemingly negative events.

“Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything.” T. Merton 

“…Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner.”

Tao Te Ching

 

And as for your power what are you doing in the wrong circle?