Destiny, Free-Will and Karma

Our destiny is not the product of our past – our past actions do not propel us into the future; our past actions hold us back and impede our development. It is the potential energy of what we have chosen (our intent) that creates our destiny and leads us through life.

Our choices create a “vacuum” in front of us that pulls us along our chosen life path. It is in this “void” of pure potentiality that our life unfolds. We have already chosen our destiny (prior to this present moment), so now we must let go and allow it to manifest in this eternal present moment. I don’t mean that we should just sit back and passively wait for a new life to fall into our lap. We have to engage with life in the present moment to ensure we don’t miss life’s opportunities for growth.

Our past actions and our old limiting beliefs prevent us from achieving our full potential. The parts of us that are stuck in the past (exiles and ego structures) are the resistance that hinders our development. In order to move forwards freely we need to heal the parts that are holding us back.

Free-Will

Our approach to life can influence our destiny, but we cannot directly control what Life sends our way – we simply decide how we are going to respond to it. This is where our free-will comes into play. But just how much free-will do we really have if we live most of our life on autopilot? Will is not free if it is bound by the effects of our conditioned behaviours. Will is only free if we have sufficient conscious awareness to use it in a considered manner. Without conscious awareness we cannot respond, we can only react.

Will is an essential quality of the soul. If that quality of our soul is ego-identified we will not have access to our essential-will; we will only have access to the ego’s mentally constructed version of will (false-will). False-will is rigid and stubborn, and is better suited to resistance than positive action. False-will is based upon  the  ego’s  fears  and  coping  strategies,  which  often  conflict  with  Life  (universal  will).  We  can consciously exert our will to work with the natural flow of Life, or we can consciously exert our will to resist the natural flow of life, or we can unconsciously lie back and do nothing:

 

• A wise fish actively swims with the flow and makes great progress.

 

• A stupid fish actively swims against the flow and gets nowhere (except very tired).

 

• A sleeping fish passively goes with the flow, but learns nothing because he is asleep.

 

The development of consciousness requires awareness and action (will). Getting the balance right requires continuous awareness of the subtle changes in Life’s currents. When we become attuned to Life and actively engage with it, our lives open up with a sense of flow, ease and grace. Grace occurs when we allow Life to naturally unfold within us and flow through us without any resistance.

Will is not a force to be exerted upon the world. There is no outwards expression of true-will, or trying to make things happen. True-will is the firm yet flexible ground on which our true being stands. It is from this unshakable core that our intention flows through us in full alignment with Life.

Intention is consciously committing to how we are going to live our life. Every morning, we can simply state our intention to evolve spiritually, psychologically, creatively, intuitively, peacefully and patiently into an awakened and enlightened being. Once our intention has been set, we must drop any agenda about how or when it will occur. We must drop all investment in the outcome and leave that up to Life.

Karma

Karma is a Sanskrit word meaning action, but it is generally understood to mean the consequences of our actions. The word karma is commonly used to indicate bad karma, and the word merit is often used to indicate good karma. The Law of Karma is often described as “cause and effect”, because every action (or cause) has a corresponding consequence (or effect).

Ego structures are one of the main mechanisms through which karma operates, in two ways:

1. Ego structures  are  the  primary  cause  of  our  bad karma;  i.e.  they  are  responsible  for  the  “bad” behaviour that generates bad karma.

2. Ego structures are the mechanism through which we experience the effects (or consequences) of our bad karma; i.e. our unnecessary suffering is the result of our ego structures getting triggered.

Suffering that results from ego structures is unnecessary because it is not directly related to the Self’s evolution. The Self may choose to experience “suffering” (e.g. a terminal illness) in order to grow and evolve – this is necessary suffering – it is not karma.

 

• The Self’s chosen path through life is the optimum path for the development of our consciousness. It is fast and direct, taking us only to the places that we need to go. And provided we learn from our experiences, we don’t need to go there again. It involves only the pain that is necessary for our growth (no more, no less).
  

  Destiny, Free-Will and Karma

 

• The ego’s path through life is slow, indirect and repetitive. It results in a lot of unnecessary suffering – suffering that we bring upon ourselves as a consequence of choosing the ego’s path. Now there’s a great definition of karma: the suffering that we bring upon ourselves as a consequence of choosing the ego’s path.

Karma is not divine justice or retribution. It is not “an eye for an eye” or “what goes around comes around”. Karma is the universe seeking to restore balance, but not in the way that people commonly think. Karma is stored within us, by us. Karma is the stuff that we choose to hold onto (beliefs, stories, justifications, principles, thoughts, emotions and hurts). This is the mechanism by which karma is stored. Karma manifests as a result of our negative emotions and thoughts (e.g. fear, shame, guilt, anger, regret, hatred, loathing), not towards other people, but towards our self. If we let go of all this stuff, we can be free. If we fully accept and fully forgive ourselves, we can be free.

The thing that makes a murderer feel the subconscious need to be murdered in a future lifetime is his own subconscious guilt, shame and regret. He mistakenly believes that he can only forgive himself once he has suffered the same fate as his victim. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If the murderer can heal his own guilt, shame and regret with loving-acceptance, there is no need for him to suffer the same fate because he has already learnt his lesson – the easy way. The hard way involves all the unnecessary suffering that we sub-consciously impose on ourselves. The continuing cycle of: victim > attacker > victim > attacker, etc. The hard way doesn’t actually restore balance; it just keeps the pendulum of karma swinging from one side to the other. Balance is only truly restored when all the negative beliefs and emotions associated with our actions have been neutralised. Note: I am not in any way implying that all murder victims must have been murderers in past lives; I am merely using a scenario to illustrate one possible mechanism of karma.

The Root of All Evil

The world is the perfect environment for the development of human consciousness. Everything that occurs in the world happens for a reason, and that reason is the development of consciousness. So we should stop resisting life, stop judging everything, and stop wanting things to be different, because it is all perfect and it all serves a higher purpose. Everything, no matter how wrong or evil it may appear to be, happens for a reason and that reason is the development of consciousness. The ego-mind can rarely comprehend the intricate reasons why “bad” things happen, so it resorts to judging, blaming and condemning.

Evil behaviour is the result of highly disturbed ego structures. Ego structures are the result of childhood traumas and confusion. Traumas and confusion are the result of the innocence, immaturity and incapacity of our young consciousness to deal with challenging events. So the origin of evil is innocence! We can’t go back a generation and blame our parents for inflicting our childhood traumas because they were the product of their parents and their childhood. And their parents were the product of their parents and their childhood, and so on… So ultimately there is no one to blame.

We simply have to take responsibility for our own lives, our own behaviour, our own impulses and our own actions.