Are Lives Predestined?

 

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Are Lives Predestined?

Our lives are both predestined and they are not. Both yes and no. And both answers are true for all questions about life. In a way, everything is predetermined. Whatever is physical in us, material, whatever is mental, is predetermined. But something in us constantly remains undetermined, unpredictable. That something is our consciousness.

If we are identified with our body and our material existence, in the same proportion we are determined by cause and effect. Then we are like a machine. But if we are not identified with our material existence, with either body or mind – if we can feel ourselves as something separate, different, above and transcendent to body-mind – then that transcending consciousness is not predetermined. It is spontaneous, free. Consciousness means freedom; matter means slavery. So, it depends on how we define ourselves. If we say, “I am only the body,” then everything about us is completely determined.

A person who says that man is only the body cannot say that man is not predetermined. Ordinarily, persons who do not believe in such a thing as consciousness also do not believe in predetermination. Persons who are religious and believe in consciousness ordinarily believe in predetermination. This may appear contradictory, but such is the case.

A person who has known consciousness has known freedom. So, only a spiritual person can say there is no determination at all. That realisation comes only when we are completely unidentified with the body. If we feel that we are just a material existence, then no freedom is possible. With matter, no freedom is possible. Matter means that which cannot be free. It must flow in the chain of cause and effect.

Once someone has achieved consciousness, enlightenment, he is completely out of the realm of cause and effect. He becomes absolutely unpredictable. We cannot say anything about him. He begins to live each moment; his existence becomes atomic. Our existence is a river-like chain in which every step is determined by the past. Our future is not really the future; it is just a by-product of the past. It is only the past determining, shaping, formulating and conditioning our future. That is why our future is predictable.

The whole possibility of freedom depends on whether we emphasize our body consciousness or our soul consciousness. If we are just an outward flow of life, then everything is determined. Or are we something inner also? Do not give any preformulated answer. Do not say, “I am the soul.” If we feel there is nothing inside us, then be honest about it. This honesty will be the first step toward the inner freedom of consciousness.

If we go deeply inside, we will feel that everything is just part of the outside. Become aware of everything that comes from the outside and become non-identified with it. Then a moment will come when the outside falls completely. We will be in a vacuum. This vacuum is the passage between the outside and the inside, the door. We are so afraid of the vacuum, so afraid of being empty that we cling to the outside accumulation. One has to be courageous enough to disidentify with the accumulation and to remain in the vacuum.

But this moment of being in the vacuum is meditation. If we are courageous enough, if we can remain in this moment, soon our whole being will automatically turn inward. When there is nothing to be attached to from the outside, our being turns inward. This being is free; nothing can determine it. It is absolute freedom.