And do I really have free will?
It is always a pleasure to have the opportunity for deeper conversations. A few days ago, I was talking with a clear-thinking friend about, among other things, the question of whether we have free will.
He states: We have no free will, and "we are lived." Therefore, there is no "right" or "wrong". The optimal solution is complete acceptance. Accept everything that is and thereby be in inner peace. No fight in the duality is necessary or meaningful.
Mainly, I want to question here his first thesis: "Are we lived?" And connected with that: "How much co-responsibility do I have?"
I can easily subscribe to his other theses - right/wrong, acceptance, not fighting.
In some blog posts I have confirmed them in essence.
Am I being lived?
This morning I made myself buckwheat pasta with pesto for breakfast. Did I have to do that?
Who can force me to do anything? Actually no one, unless I'm occupied from external entities .
So: Is every one of my actions, even such small decisions, based on my free will? Or does a dominant instance - an inner guidance - determine what happens?
Honestly, I don't really know yet. But I can understand the friend's thesis and imagine what it's like to be lived.
It remains an open question for the time being. And isn't it precisely the open questions that inspire us and help us in our spiritual development? Questions like these:
Am I a puppet?
Several years ago, exactly on my birthday, I received a super craft job as a gift from the universe. It was the most exciting and beautiful job I had ever experienced.
This was preceded by the fact that none of my "own" plans wanted to bear fruit. Was it not obvious to give up planning for the time being? I found this logical. So this super job contributed substantially to me saying goodbye completely to planning life.
The willingness grew in me to surrender myself completely to the "divine will". Without any "self-will". Somehow then the image of a puppet appeared in my mind. "Voluntarily" I began to see myself as a puppet of God without "own will". Without any plan, I went into waiting mode. Ready to act immediately as soon as I felt the divine will.
Waiting for better times...?
Open to divine inspiration, I was curious to see what Primal Creator had in mind for me. At first, I guess I just needed to practice patience.
I was content for a while. Maybe practicing patience was exactly what I should do now, right?
But nothing happened. Not the slightest inspiration. So I began to have doubts and asked myself: What could be my part in the manifestation of divine will?
Is this will crystal clear from the beginning within consciousness, or does it gradually arise within me? Is it identical with my will? At least now and then?
How do I find out what is good for me?
Then a tiny inspiring thought emerged: In order for the "universe" to provide me with exactly what I want, it needs pictures! Pictures of living spaces, for example. In which rooms do I feel comfortable? What kind of houses do I not like at all? In which environment should my home be located?
Corresponding images arise automatically as soon as I consciously look and feel while I am in any houses or apartments. When I clearly communicate: I like that! Or: I would not like to live in such an environment under any circumstances.
Both positive and negative images are gradually forming my vision of dream house, dream landscape, dream profession and dream community. Once the inner images are ready and fit together, they could manifest. If everything goes smoothly.
Apparently, the universe is rather in waiting position, isn't it? It is waiting for clear, unambiguous images. I think: Waiting yourself, without working on your own vision, rather prevents something new from manifesting.
So not a puppet after all?
To wait completely passively for an expression of will of the Primal Creator means the "voluntary" renunciation of an "own will". On the other hand "own" activities in the form of enlivening "own" wish images testify to be just no puppet of God but an "independent" creature.
You would think so, wouldn't you?
With this, however, it is still not clarified for me which instance moves us to "own" activities, be it by intuition, inspiration or thoughts. Intuition and inspiration we could understand as divine impulses in us. Mostly we let ourselves be moved by thoughts, often knowing that we do not produce them ourselves in our physical brain.
Where do our thoughts come from?
Our brain functions as a receiver and transmitter of thoughts. We receive various thoughts from all possible directions.
By reading this text, you receive "my" thoughts. But basically I give them only this text form, after I have received and processed them myself. Their origin remains in the unknown.
And the next questions are about to arise:
Which instance in us determines which thoughts we receive and send? Does everything happen only according to the law of resonance? Or do we experience whispers from various external beings?
How free are we really?
It may well be, as already mentioned above, that we will be affected by External beings be externally controlled. Temporarily or as a permanent occupation.
We can also fall for untruths that the "quality media" offer us. Our freedom is then very limited, since we have no access - at first - to alternative information.
A significant role is certainly played by self-generated "Elementals", which contribute to solidifying and constricting our structure of thought and action.
But nothing happens purely by chance. Invisible "guardian angels" not infrequently prevent unwanted events. Perhaps angels are independent beings, perhaps simply spiritual extensions of our soul.
For example, the soul incarnates here on earth to have certain experiences. As its actor on the stage we are not familiar with her intentions at first. And our feeling of freedom is therefore not necessarily identical with hers.
Does "following the heart" mean being free?
"Follow your heart" - this recommendation is a centrally important statement of this blog. It is the easiest way to your real Self, while the mind often produces resistance and creates hurdles.
In my understanding we are connected in the heart with our Inner (High) Self. This is for me at the same time a being connected with the divine soul, the Christ-consciousness and with the All-One, the Primal Creator.
Following my heart means following the will of the soul. Since I identify with my soul, its will is automatically my will. At least, if I like to do and experience something from my heart.
But here, too, questions remain unanswered: How free is the soul? Is it completely free to do all this dream? What commitments did she make with her incarnation? Has she been free to make commitments? Has the margin of decision been given? If yes, by whom?
Is there a mandatory program for all souls?
In the introduction of "A Course in Miracles" it says:
1. This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you may elect what you want to take at a given time.
The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite.2. This course can therefore be summarized quite simply as follows:
Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of GOD.
Remembering means becoming awake.
Let us assume that the course statements are essentially true: In order for us as souls to become aware of the presence of love, we need to take certain obligatory steps to remove blockages.
Through these steps of duty we remember the truth of our divinity, which we had forgotten - for whatever reason. Other steps, however, which we may take as free beings, often do not lead us to the goal, but into error or detours.
Sounds very comprehensible. But there are also souls who consciously play the counterpart. Who - in this earth theater - take over the role of the satanic adversary, in order to accelerate our development to an empathic, loving and self-confident divine being in the end. Goethe wrote about this:
[I am] a part of that power,
Who always wants the evil and always creates the good. ...
I am the spirit that always denies!
So mandatory or freestyle?
This still does not provide a clear answer to the initial question. "Mandatory program" perhaps refers to the fact that we cannot spare ourselves a single learning step in order to be able to achieve a chosen goal. But do all souls have the same goal?
We could assume that the highest goal of all souls across all earthly incarnations is the awareness of Primal Creator's Love and becoming one with Her Love. Does this happen through a "mandatory program" or as a freestyle?
Here and there - for example in the RA material - there is talk about different forms of serving the soul:
- Service to the (own) self
- Service to others
These are two fundamentally different orientations between which a soul can choose. Does it have to live through both orientations - one after the other or alternately? Or is it always free to choose?
I leave these questions open and pass them on to you. In the course of our - also collective - development we find the answers. Closely related to the question of free will is the following question:
What co-responsibility do we have in this game?
Louise Hay says:
"Each of us is 100% responsible for each of our own experiences. We ourselves cause every so-called 'disease' in our body."
Or in the words of the Hawaiian healer Dr. Len:
"The whole world is literally my creation... Basically nothing exists except as a projection from within. Problems are not outside, they are your problem."
Both quotes say indirectly that we have free will and directly that we are co-responsible. But can we be that fully?
Haven't I experienced over and over again in the course of many years that I - as a small ego - don't really know which way is the right way? That even hard discipline sometimes prevents a real solution and healing instead of finding it? How can I be responsible if I don't know the way? When I forget the key?
The forgotten house key
Can forgetting, for example, the key to the front door or the pot on the stove be ruled out by a certain way of life? Maybe.
Often enough, however, I have not been able to identify any concrete causes for such forgetfulness. So neither alcohol influence nor emotional disorders or whatever.
In other words: In many situations, I can be happy to have remembered in time. Then I thank Primal Creator for remembering. Sometimes I have the intention to think of everything calmly so as not to forget anything.
But then I forget something.
What does it mean? By mind I cannot exclude that something undesirable happens. The healer Martin Kojc writes in his Textbook of life, that it is precisely our (ego) wanting that leads to the undesirable and trusting that leads to the desirable.
Trust and being grateful are essential keys to experiencing only what is desired. Knowing this, it is our responsibility to trust and be grateful instead of judging, wanting or being afraid.
Can we heal the past retrospectively?
Taking co-responsibility means first of all acknowledging the effects of our own and also collective actions without judgment. And, of course, also acknowledging mistakes. Since we usually do not know the "right" way, we make mistakes and learn from them.
We can decide anew at any time, turn around and go a different way. Central to this is the complete abandonment of the concept of guilt, judgment and self-judgment. Closely related to this is also to forgive very important.
To illustrate, here's a little story of mine:
I was able to recognize and resolve the psychological cause of a skin eczema in a very exciting way with a "systemic constellation". An ancient self-blame in a previous incarnation for "evil deeds" as well as the victim's unfree being bound to the "guilt" became visible.
In the constellation, the representative for the victims said, "I can't be free as long as you are stuck in guilt. Let go of the guilt, forgive yourself and just take responsibility."
Expand missing consciousness of old soul parts
Forgiveness is obviously the key. However, in the role of the ancient soul-part, I could do nothing with the term "forgiveness". So we interrupted the constellation. I stepped out of the role of the ancient soul part. Then I - as the present me - consciously took this old part into my heart. In this way I made it possible for our consciousnesses to connect.
The continuation of the constellation showed in an impressive way that I - again in the old role - now had the consciousness of "forgiveness". I was able to comply with the victims' demand to forgive me from within. This was clearly and liberatingly felt by all participants.
This experience clearly shows me that we can also heal the long past in the now, quasi retrospectively.
How do I act co-responsibly, free from judgment?
A very effective instrument for co-responsible action is Ho'oponopono. With this Hawaiian method we give the healing of our split mind compassionately, releasing and self-forgiving into the hands of the Primal Creator.
As soon as we are in the heart, that is, as soon as we allow ourselves to be guided by the heart, we know whether there is a need for Ho'oponopono action or not.
Unfortunately, I am not always heart-driven. But I am working on it, or rather I wish for it.
What is essential in this context?
Be free of judgments and identifications. Observe without fear. Act courageously. Trust.
Can't being co-responsible also simply mean seeing oneself as a living participant in a divine plan that serves our liberation and development? As a messenger of the light?
Conclusion
I find pleasure in simply putting several questions into the room without immediately presenting an answer. The question: "Do we have a free will?" I cannot really answer yet. But by having it on my mind, I'm looking around to see what latitude I have. In any case, I am interested in your truth. Even if it is perhaps only provisional like mine. Feel free to write it as a comment below. Thanks!
Inwardly I feel again and again as a divine creature, which experiences its awakening in a co-creative way. With all the ups and downs.
For you are a beautiful flower
in this garden life!
Without you and your unique scent
the world would be different.
You bring something special,
something that no one else can bring.
Discover your own beauty,
Your own powers, all of which are already there.
Jeru Kabbal
These articles fit the topic well: