My husband and I were talking about free will…
“A person can do whatever they want,” he said. “They control their own life. But God decides what the consequences of their actions will be. They no control over that at all.”
Pretty simple, huh?
Do you agree with this statement?
Do you have ideas of your own?
Not sure. What defines what a person wants? Why does a person decide to want one thing or another? Why does a person value what the person values? All that must be based on something. I don’t quite understand the free will concept except that it is one of those religion sayings.
That is so funny because just last night I was thinking about this! Your husband’s view is the correct one, imo. I think the we have freewill and the Universe/God delivers the consequences by natural law…AKA Cause/Effect. Its very impersonal how this works. We create our own fates.
Or is it our way of being taught to be personal? In the movie “you’ve got mail” Meg Ryan’s character says that line about things should start out by being personal. Maybe God is showing us through the consequences of our earlier actions to be more personal in our future actions. That way maybe we can create an outcome that is more personally suited to our wants and needs.
I guess it depends on your beliefs. As I understand it, we are here to serve God, not the other way around.
I just mean cause/effect is impersonal in that we don’t have anyone except ourselves to blame for any consequences we might face. Meaning we can’t blame a higher power for anything. The soul is personal. Our choices are personal because they stem from our desires, which stem from the soul. I believe the met in choosing right action, and creating good karma, lies in being true to one’s soul and that is personal.
My spell correct messed up my last sentence. But this is sort of how I believe- I believe Divinity is dual, or we perceive it as dual in the physical world. We have a soul and we have a spirit, which represents consciousness as a whole. The spirit represents the action part of free choice-masculine in nature. The soul is receptive and represents essential desires which are personal to us and impel us to action. They work hand-in-hand. So the Universe is both personal and impersonal. It is all things at once. We are all essentially One being. Everything in existence is One being, so it’s impersonal in the sense that we are incapable of perceiving, in the physical, how Oneness works. Everything I think or do or feel effects every other thing in existence simultaneously and instantaneously. The conflict in human nature- and the reason we make “wrong decisions” which lead to undesired results is due to the illusion of separation, aka duality. Separation of soul/spirit. When these are in harmony, we naturally make right decisions out of Love- the highest vibration in the Universe. This is why God is Love.
Yes they have free will but they don´t really..I think people are ruled by their subconsious and make choices based on feelings that are hidden from them. And yes I also think karma exists but it is not fair because people are so unaware. I also think you inherit your ancestors “karma”..7 generation. So best way is to become aware of yourself and this world, train the mind and the heart.
Some people have more free will than others due to environment, politics, economics and personal circumstances. And I do not think that ‘God’ or the idea of god would be responsible for punishing those humans for the consequences of their actions. This reminds me so much of a comedy bit by the late George Carlin. Time and time again we see atrocities being committed and despicable behavior having gotten away with and no war crimes being punished or served. Not everybody has the same ‘karma’ either. I am a human who feels that accountability and responsibility for reporting and whistleblowing is a community effort and I for one am a person who does my part, not leaving it up to some ‘God’ or superpower to handle. If that were the case, then what would be the point of there existing human rights activism/organizations, etc? If everyone were to believe in merely relying on prayer and some god to rectify all the ills in the world, it would NEVER happen. And people need to wake up and step up and do their part for humanity instead of getting caught up in their religious and personal trappings. The time is now! The banksters got bailed and we stupidly allowed it to happen and they basically stole taxpayer’s money and got away with it. Since this recession began, I have moved a million times, most of my personal belongings remain in a small storage unit, I have no home, yet I have two degrees and two certificates, no boyfriend/husband, no kids, no decent job, I am constantly being judged/criticized for my personal sufferings and now I, too, am having health problems. You’d be surprised how quikcly your life deteriorates once you lose an income, your home and the love of your life.
I will not allow this austerity and the mainstream media lies continue without expressing my part and experience. I have a voice and I will use it. Enough is ENOUGH! And no church, God, nor religion is going to fix these problems on planet Earth. And now with the current trans-pacific partnership on the table? This needs to stop! As Noam Chomsky says, “The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a neoliberal assault to maximize profit and domination, and set the working people in the world in competition with one another so as to lower wages and increase security.” Do you research, do your part, snap out of the brainwashed religious rhetoric. As inhabitants of this planet, we do have a responsibility to it and to each other. I personally am sick and tired of being broke and not having an opportunity to rise up in this capitalistic and corrupt system.
I’m sorry for your troubles, Eva. I hope things start looking up for you soon. You’re right, we all need to play a part in helping the each other. This world is very cruel in its current state… No amount of religion can fix it. Ironically, this very fact is what keeps me paralysed from making hardly any decision and living in fear for the worst to come. It’s really sad.
I agree with “notch” and “ullis” — each and every experience of our lives from childhood to present, and how we process them, consciously and subconsciously, influences what we want and what we choose to do. How we process our experiences emotionally and intellectually, and the resulting choices we make, are influenced by everything, internal and external. Emotional choices vs. intellectual choices, or a blend of both? Pursue a dream or play it safe? Analysis-paralysis here! All choices and actions have consequences, even inaction.
what about all the beaten, raped, burnt,
and battered babies and children in the morgues thru out the world? What about those poor souls caught in the holocaust?
Free will? Karma? “God never gives you more than you can handle”? Don’t think so.
This is exactly where I’m coming from; everything always makes sense until you start talking about terrible acts done to innocents like babies and children.
What kinds of decisions does a 3 month old do to ‘entice’ a grown man from sexually abusing her?
The 3 month old is an innocent. The grown man is exercising his free will.
The way I see this is like this- (forgive me if it seems like I’m being in any way forceful with my beliefs. I just like having an outlet for them, discussing belief is one of my favorite things to do.) But as far as innocent people being hurt by “monsters”. What I have to say is: We really are all innocent and perfect, in our original state, which came from the Creator. Even the evil and bad people were innocent and pure at one point. The only cure for evil in the world is for true love and compassion to be extended to these “evil” individuals as well. As long as we point the finger at them calling them evil and wishing evil back to them in return, we only perpetuate hate and evil. Its a cycle. We’re all connected.
For instance, my mother was raped repeatedly by her father as a child and teen. She, in turn, hated him for many years. She planned and plotted to kill him. This hate affected every other thing in her life. Including my own childhood, see. But one day…she decided to forgive…to let go. Because she realized she was only hurting herself. She planeted a “good seed” in the world, rather than perpetuating the same evil.
Bravo DianeZee! You have precisely become a byproduct of the media desensitization and apathy that this socio-political paradigm was designed to do. I agree with Char, this whole psycho-spiritual babble ‘law of attraction’ is compete and utter bs; discounting & disregarding human suffering by misinforming and brainwashing people that it is how they ‘think’ or they attract misfortune to themselves. All this ideology does is alienate humans from feeling anything other than happiness. This culture is in compete and total denial. It’s a load of crap! Barbara Ehrenreich wrote a brilliant book pointing out this fallacy of an ideology in her book, ‘Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America! She is an amazing author! http://youtu.be/u5um8QWWRvo
You know what, Elsa? Please delete my answer. I am done being part of these message boards. People are just nasty.
I did as you asked. I’m sorry.
Thanks.
Well, looks like those Cancer Moon, Uranus, and Pluto aspects today manifested.
Free will. We all have it, and we should all respect other peoples as well. Are there consequences? Depending on the situation, of course. Is it God? Karma? Law of energetic balance? Possibly. But, as Newton’s 3rd law of physics states, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Whether it is a positive one or a negative one, it merely depends on what side of the action you were on, and the intent. In my opinion.
Basically I agree with the statement, as far as choices & actions lead to specific chains of events & consequences.
I’m not sure that a person can entirely “do whatever they want” (sometimes just as well, depending on their intents), but even in a situation where a person has very little freedom, the tiny little bit left is still a personal choice.
And I agree they have little or no control over the outcome.
But, for me, as I do not have a religion, I would prefer to say the consequences are due to “laws of the universe”, which may also be called the working of God, by those who believe in Him.
Same idea, just different words, I guess.
So like say hypothetically, of course, 😀 there is a person in my life who caused me alotta alotta hardship and pain for alotta alotta years. And the course of events brought us in proximity to each other again. The relationship has continued with its ups and downs past the events that drew us closer again. I’ve been through my transiting neptune square natal saturn transit so I know what that is like. And now she is heading towards hers and it’s a waxing square. I could do payback and mess her up good. But that would be a misuse of the knowlege I have gained. It’s a decision not to do that because I know how it felt when she was such a conniving vicious person to me. I knew she enjoyed inflicting the pain which was the most horrendous and hurtful of all. I don’t need to consider what Sky Boss would say because I know that kind of torture is wrong from my experience. So my decision is based on my experience. Is decision making free will? No matter what the familial, cultural, ethnic, religious, or authorities tell me is right I give myself permission to do what I find to be the correct thing to do? It may not be popular, It may not be in accordance with the prescribed rules, but it is the right thing to do. I am going to have to read how some philosophy heads define free will. I still don’t really get it because there is only one choice, the right one for the right reason.
Good morning. Up from my post boneyard shift sleep. I am so tired and bored with thinking. Free Will. The will to live is free. It is what drives survival. Suffering can be a consequence of that or not. Amen. I have not been so sick of thinking since saturn conjuncted sun jupiter in virgo. It must be the approaching saturn squaring.
I am thinking this is about judgement i.e. bad people can get away with evil deeds and others get caught and punished for less than nothing. This happens a lot in soccer actually. Also ‘bad things happen to good people’.
But the inner voice does judge and is inescapable. I feel real evil is ignorance. So many animal rescue supporters talk about certain countries cruelty, their lack of feeling, their barbarism.
And so it’s like feeling we are observing the old world through a funnel of our 1st world status. So is this just a cultural gap or about education, poverty or a Neptunian fantasy which enables evil to happen under the fog of glamour, or in the name of a higher calling, in the old sense of the word. So there was the Nazis, couples who murder, stalkers. Like religious zealots. They don’t all get their just desserts.
What is evil anyway, some people know they are doing wrong but are addicted to doing the wrong thing because they are messed up inside and want to win at all costs. How do they free themselves and find their moral path?
There is also karma to consider, but not sure about that. I once met a full-on Buddhist who maintained nothing is good or bad in life, it just is. Every bit of my Aries self refutes that belief, yet the Neptunian side agrees. I like to believe bad is punished, but often it isn’t in this life so maybe it has to be beyond this one, or into the next one. The wheel turns.
Also what was once seen as normal behaviour and inoffensive language is now seen as racism, homophobia and sexism. We’re we evil then, or just ignorant? Some families in the Deep South pass on their ingrained beliefs to their young children, who continue that heritage. How do those innocent children transcend that teaching as they grow up and learn to exercise free will?