YouTube: Predestination: Fact or Fiction?
The debate between predestination and freewill has gone on for centuries. Since we can find support for either idea, I think it is best to reframe the issue beginning with our understanding of God. Seeing God, not as the powerful, humanlike creator, but as the creative life force animating all of creation, predestination would hinder the natural creative process. Though the exercise of freewill yields both positive and negative results, it factors in the influence of each person’s belief system and explains the diversity in human expression. It allows us to challenge the feeling that we are powerless to rise above our current lot in life.
I think we can resolve this debate by seeing predestination and freewill as natural aspects of the human condition. Our complete soul is a predestined condition. We can exercise our freewill to stray away from this divine ideal and create a body-based self-image so far from what we are in truth that suffering is inevitable. This is illustrated in the parable of the prodigal son. The son asks for his inheritance and the father gives it to him, no questions asked. He just says, “Here you are. Go for it.” This is freewill. However, by virtue of the son’s relationship with his father, the option to return home is predestined. There is nothing negative about it. We are all predestined to our spiritual homecoming.
The exercise of freewill is most productive when it harmonizes with the true nature of the soul. This is illustrated in the son’s decision to return home. However, our excursions into the far country teach us the value of our true home. In this sense, the exercise of freewill with negative results can ultimately lead to our most productive and meaningful spiritual path.
Must we suffer before we find this path? No. But while our negative choices may lead to negatively painful results, all choices ultimately lead to home. In this sense, there are no wrong decisions.
The act of incarnating in a body has created the temptation to believe in two powers of spirit and materialism. It is easy to forget that our true home is spirit. Because this is true, we are all destined to return to this awareness. And if we take the more scenic route home, we’ll still get there all the same.