Fate vs Free will
That is such an interesting idea, that we are both the scriptwriter, director and actor in our own play. We are in fact also the cameraman, the camera, the lighting, the props, the stage and the audience. We are it all.
Written by Andrea Revell
“Jyotish [Vedic astrology] is the part of you that sees—and chooses what to see. This is why Jyotish is better translated as ‘the eye of wisdom’ than ‘Vedic astrology’. It’s based on the belief that while you may be confined to a fate, you’re given the freedom to choose how you will see your fate.” - Dr. Katie Jane, Jyotishi
Hmmm, those words ‘confined to a fate’. They don’t sit well with me. I don’t like the idea that we are confined, or that anything is set in stone. Our lives may have a certain blueprint to them, and we may decide the big events that define our story before we incarnate, such as who our family are, and which partners and friends we meet along the way. But is our entire story written beforehand, from start to finish? This is a disconcerting idea, as it means we don’t have free will, that we are simply actors playing a part, with a script already written. Maybe there are a few opportunities to ad lib a new word here or there, but nothing more. Could this be true?
Perhaps the best way to see it is that our higher self wrote our story before we incarnated, (or is writing it as we speak as past, present and future are one). We are the ones writing our own story, so that is free will. But it is our Big Self, not our little selves writing our lives. So from the perspective of the ego we are ‘fated’. And as time is an illusion, somewhere deep inside we already know our entire story. We’ve written it, and now we get the privilege of expressing, experiencing and integrating all the lessons we’ve given ourselves before we move on to the next chapter.
That is such an interesting idea, that we are both the scriptwriter, director and actor in our own play. We are in fact also the cameraman, the camera, the lighting, the props, the stage and the audience. We are it all. We are the whole shebang, the entire ‘lila’ of life. As Alan Watts says ‘tat tvam asi!’ - you’re it!
What Dr. Jayne is saying is that our ego does have free will in one respect; we get to decide how we respond to the lila, how much we learn from and enjoy it. It’s up to us whether we see the gold in our story, the treasure hidden within every moment. Whether things are good or bad, happy or sad it doesn’t matter - there are always lessons to be learned, wisdom to be gained. There is a playfulness to life, which means that there is fun to be had even in the most mundane of moments. Sweetness can be found even in the worst privations - as Victor Frankl so heart wrenchingly described in his book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’, when he chronicled his experiences as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp.
Our higher selves have ensured that there are always gems hidden in plain sight - it is up to us whether we notice them or not. Gold can be seen as just another metal, a diamond can be seen as a piece of rock. As Einstein said, “there are only two ways to live our life. One as though nothing is a miracle, the other as though everything is.” That is the choice we have, that is where our free will comes in. We have the freedom to see the heaven that exists right under our noses, as well as over our heads.
Yet isn’t there is more to it than that? I believe that there is no such thing as impossible, only improbable - so surely that means it’s possible to change our ‘fate’. We may have timelines that will play out if we continue to act in a particular way, repeating the same old patterns. But we have the chance to change timelines, to write new endings to our stories if we change our hearts and minds, if we vibrate higher to join a more enlightened timeline. It is our consciousness that writes our story, and so it is our consciousness that can change the script. That is why a skilled jyotishi will recommend mantras and yagyas (fire ceremonies) to prevent a negative event from occurring, not just leave you with terrible news.
This means that we can truly embrace the idea that we are multidimensional beings living in a multiverse of infinite possibilities. It means that there are a multitude of timelines available to us, and we can change timelines at any moment by changing our consciousness, thus becoming a resonant match with the timeline that best serves our evolution. Our higher selves create infinite options for our 3-D self to experience, so we are never constricted. We are eternal beings of infinite possibility, with the power to create magic and miracles - but only if we learn the art of holding unconditional love and acceptance for every option that our higher selves create for us.
This is so much more empowering than the idea that our fate is rigid and immovable. The stars themselves create magic and miracles, and as children of those stars, so can we. We can reinspire the past (with very real results) and create new futures - time is relative and fate is fluid, as our storylines are constantly being edited and dynamically rearranged. How can we be confined to playing out a particular story - we are so much more powerful than that!
Matias de Stefano helped me to understand this very mindboggling concept of free will versus fate. He said that we made all our choices at the very beginning of creation, when the universal Mind (aka the unified field/Brahman/God/Allah/Source) brought the universe into manifestation. At the moment of the Big Bang, everything was already decided. All timelines, all possible choices were made in that moment, (because past, present and future are one, so from this perspective the Big Bang is happening right now). These timelines are all held in the Akashic records. As we are part of the universal mind, the purpose of our 3D lives is to experience our creation in order to understand why we made the choices we did at the very beginning of time (which is also right now). So in one sense we don’t have free will, because we already chose everything the moment the universe was created. But we are also the creators, we are part of the divine mind, so in that sense everything about our lives is free will.
Matias uses the scene in the movie The Matrix to underline the dichotomy of fate vs free will. When Neo has to choose between the blue pill and the red pill, he asks if the oracle already knows what he’s going to choose. The oracle answers that she wouldn’t be an oracle if she didn’t already know. This causes Neo to ponder whether he has any free will in that case. She answers, “you’ve already made the choice. You’re here to understand why you’ve made it”.
About Andrea Revell
Andrea is a visionary thought leader, philosopher and author on all things mind body spirit. Previously an academic at universities in the UK and Asia, she has lived and travelled all over the world researching and teaching on sustainability and spirituality, encouraging systemic solutions to our planetary health problems. Using integrative medicine to successfully resolve an autoimmune condition she had for many years, Andrea trained in various alternative healing modalities and is now an internationally certified spiritual life coach, unlocking people’s potential with the power of meditation, breathwork and ancient Egyptian numerology. She has a PhD in environmental ethics and is a lover of philosophy, particularly Eastern philosophy, inspired by her years of living in India and Japan. Andrea has a regular yoga and meditation practice and loves to explore all things metaphysical. Having grown up in New Zealand and South Africa, she now lives in the UK with her husband and two children.
You can connect with her on World of Enlighten, Tiktok, Instagram or her Website.