Fatalism and Spirituality

 

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Fatalism and Spirituality

The fatalist is one who has not understood life, but who has felt failure. A fatalist is one who feels helpless, frustrated. In fatalism such a person seeks consolation, trying to avoid facing failure. “It was going to be so, so what can I do?” He is throwing the responsibility on fate, on God, on others. “I’m not responsible, what can I do? It was written in my fate. It was predetermined, predestined.” In deep frustration a fatalist is trying to find some refuge, some shelter. Fatalism is a consolation.

On the other hand, just floating, feeling everything is beautiful, is not a consolation - it is an understanding. It is not fatalism; it is not failure; it is not helplessness. It is simply a deep insight into reality, as things are. It is to understand that we are a very small part of the cosmic whole. And we are not separate. We are one with the continent - we are not an island.

The understanding that the ego is false, the understanding that the separation is false, the understanding that we don’t have a separate destiny than the whole, that a drop in the ocean need not worry about its own destiny - the ocean has to worry about it - is not helplessness. In fact, it releases tremendous power. Once we are unburdened by ourselves, once we are no more worried about ourselves, we become a tremendous energy. Then the energy is no more struggling; now it floats. Now we are not fighting with the whole, now we are with the whole, marching with the whole. Then we are not trying to prove anything against the whole, because that is simply foolish.

The feeling of helplessness arises because of the struggle. When we understand that we are part of the whole, that we are not separate at all, that in fact the whole has been trying to attain some heights through us; we are only a passage, a vehicle — suddenly all frustration disappears. When we don’t have a goal of our own, how can we be frustrated? When we don’t have to prove anything against anything; when we don’t have to struggle, there is no need for fatalism; we need not have any consolation. We simply dance with the whole; we flow with the whole. We know we are the whole.

Then it happens; then we just float; there is nothing else to do. The same energy that was trying to fight surrenders. Then we are not pushing the river - we simply float on the river, and the river takes us with it. 

The river is already going to the ocean. We are unnecessarily worried. We can simply leave that responsibility to the river. Whether we leave it or not, it is already going. Destination – ‘Aham Brahmasmi – I am God’.