Freewill
Ani: don’t you want to elaborate on what the master just said?
Guardian: I better not, I might be wrong.
Ani: you just want be exempted of any further explanations; just share your perception about these insights, this would give these words a new life and attract the reader’s attention.
Guardian: alright, you pick a sentence and I’ll share my interpretation of it.
Ani: the master said ‘Your world’s affairs go on forever and responsibilities and commands are changeable and doable’ what is your view on this?
Guardian: here the issue of freewill is focused upon; it means that man can change his own destiny if he so desires.
If you ask any miserable human being about the source of his misery he would tell you ‘it was written in my destiny or that I was meant to be like this and there is no way out’.
However, if you ask any successful individual the same question, he would answer ‘hard work and determination is the key in succeeding’.
Thus, man can change his conditions under any sets of circumstances. If he’s not doing anything about his problems, it’s due to his laziness or lack of wisdom. When he says’ it is destiny’s fault, he is justifying or bringing excuses.
God will not change the destiny of any nation unless they change their selfish, ignorant ways. This shows the issue of freewill clearly.
Sometimes we make a wrong move or commit a false action and consequently receive the reflection or reaction of that wrongdoing and then we call this determinism.
For example, I deceive someone into lending me as a form of investment and then takeoff with his money. Obviously, when I’m arrested it’s the consequence of my own action and then in prison I learn more about criminal ways of life and keep repeating my actions and along the way become involved in drugs and so on. Somewhere down the road when misery has completely invaded my life, I would say ‘I was destined for misfortunes and I never had any luck in life and how come I can never be happy’ and beliefs of this nature.
Even our birth is by our own freewill, but for now is out of our discussion. There is no determinism in our physical world and thinking like that is due to lack of awareness of laws and order of creation.
Ani: what are you saying? My birth is my own choice! How come I don’t remember that?
Guardian: I heard this from the masters; coming into this world requires two conditions, first is desire and second is command.
Maybe it’s better to leave this topic aside for now and wait for the masters to explain more about this; not remembering many things about our past, before coming into this world is for our own good.
Ani: alright, but you said that human can change his conditions under any sets of circumstances. Can you give an example?
Guardian: for instance, I’m an alcoholic and by quitting the bottle, I can turn my life around for the better. You see, how quickly you can turn a negative issue around and make a positive change.
Of course, in action it needs a strong will and hard work, but it’s doable. Do you have any more questions?
Ani: what does the master mean by plenty of time?
Guardian: well, it’s very simple. Time is the foundation of life here on earth and as simple as it might seem, understanding it at all times does appear very complicated.
Many things are achieved with patience, but without it there could be much complication.
Ani: like what?
Guardian: well, we can see this important law in our physical universe all the time. We see it in the growing up of children, farming and plantation, giving birth, building and construction and many other things.
However, in certain cases we forget the factor of time. Take recovering from drug addiction as an example. Someone has used drugs for 20 years but thinks he can quit it over night and others expect him to do so as well.
Or someone who is poor and wants to become wealthy overnight, thus he goes into the wrong path and commits a crime; or a student who has not done any studying and school work the whole year and expects to get good grades by studying till morning the night before the exam.
No one can become an athlete or a warrior overnight. Bodybuilders, who don’t have patience and determination, use steroids to attain a great body quickly while forgetting the harmful effects of steroids on their body.
Therefore, changes and transformations in the physical realm can only take place gradually and need time.