On the idea of free will

Just wondering if anyone has ever came across this quote before;

Free will does not mean that you establish the curriculum, only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time.

If you believe our purpose on this earth is conscious evolution, this makes perfect sense. There are certain lessons we must learn to continue our conscious evolution. We can choose to resist these lessons as many times as we want. This is free will. Each time we resist them (the lessons) they may come back to us in a more "in your face" way, but you are free to stay where you are none the less.

Have you ever made a drastic change to find that in your new situation you are faced with the same basic problems? Even the new people you surround yourself with seem to be the same archetypes?

Example: My friend had a problem with confrontation. He avoided it like the plague. There was nothing that rocked his boat more than telling someone something they did not want to hear. So his challenge or lesson was this kid who embodied confrontation. He loved to get in fights and stir the pot. He would not leave my friend alone. If he didnt pick up Mr. Confrontation's calls, Mr C would show up at his door unannounced. This was highschool.

Now my friend is out of college and in a completely new situations and the old Mr. C is on the other side of the country. With his new job he ends up working with the carbon copy of the old Mr.C. He is in your face and constantly calling him and my friend blows him off to avoid face to face confrontation.

He has chose not to deal with this latent issue of confrontation in his life and no matter how hard he tries to escape it, Mr. Confrontation will continue to show up in his life.

Another good example of this is the show LOST. For anyone who watches, they have split time lines in which each persons life is in a completely different situation. One of each person is stuck on an island and one is back in the real world. Even though their lives are seemingly going in 2 different directions, they are still faced with the same exact problems and lessons to be learned. The show is based on this notion of free will I believe and serves as an excellent example.

So what do I take from all of this?

No matter what situation you are in, stand up and face your deepest fears. You may think running away to some Caribbean island or some far off place will solve all of your problems, but you will be confronted with the same lessons wherever you are. The fact is, you are exactly where you need to be and you are fulfilling your purpose here on earth which is letting your consciousness evolve and expand, if you are open to it.

Thoughts or similar experiences?

[edit on 1-4-2010 by bringthelight]

No matter what situation you are in, stand up and face your deepest fears. You may think running away to some Caribbean island or some far off place will solve all of your problems, but you will be confronted with the same lessons wherever you are. The fact is, you are exactly where you need to be and you are fulfilling your purpose here on earth which is letting your consciousness evolve and expand, if you are open to it.

I do not think that people are here to "fulfill a purpose". I do believe that people create their own problems and there is no unseen force guiding the world behind the scenes to "teach" you anything.

Thats the beauty, you don't need to fulfill a purpose. You dont need to do anything. You can sit around all day and watch tv if you so choose to. But then the big question, are you happy?

If you aren't, you will feel like something is missing. Something that escapes you. Again you can choose to wallow in your misery and change nothing, or begin the journey of expanding/evolving your consciousness in whatever way feels right to you.

When you say we create our own problems, I believe we do too. But those problems exist only in our minds. They act as roadblocks until you expand your awareness and overcome them.

As far as unseen force, I just believe that is our higher selves guiding us and attracting to us what we need to evolve consciously, but that is just my belief based on my experience.

[edit on 1-4-2010 by bringthelight]

reply to post by bringthelight


well to be happy you need a goal and a game but you have to be working towards the goal. Happyness could be said to be overcomming obstacles to reach a goal. For there to be a game of it you need those obstacles but people forget that life can be viewed as a game and thus forget the obstacles were put there by themselves and then they lose sight of their goals. so what is the end result? They become a pawn in a game that they have no idea what is going on, all they see is the obstacles with no goal in sight. A game is no fun when you do not know what the point is, what the rules are and that you are a player.
So if you are losing at the game of life you can pick another goal and game. But remember it is your game so take controll of it.

Originally posted by zaiger
reply to post by bringthelight

 

well to be happy you need a goal and a game but you have to be working towards the goal. Happyness could be said to be overcomming obstacles to reach a goal.

For me, true happiness came when I realized that obstacles were just a construct of my over-thinking mind. The only thing I needed to overcome was my mind. Meditation really helps.

After some practice the ego ceases to have control over you and the only goal you have is to enjoy the present moment.

No one else?

Figured more people would weigh in. So many new topics recently my post was off the new threads list in about 5 mins. Things are heating up!

You have to play by the rules, but it's not really that hard, because we grow up learning these rules are all that matter.

Which is why you should just play the role in your shoes. You can be rich, famous, a drug addict, it really doesn't matter. Because belief is the most powerful word in the world. If you believe, you can reach the top of any set-rule.

You hear that crap all the time, but people never really think much past the meaning on the "words and phrases"

reply to post by bringthelight


What a profound way to express free will. I often say there is no free will, but in this sense, there maybe this instrinsic spiritual level. These are what I call tests, the tests we receive everyday, and clues on how to advance further.

And with this also comes the idea of giving, giving to receive. I think we could all benefit from looking deeply into our fears, not what natural fear of danger would be if violence errupts around us, or an earthquake tumbles homes to their foundations, for andrenalin and survival fear is hard wired, but the deep inner kinds. And take these into meditation and journal writing, think about them in the depth of our hearts, and ask for ways to gently explore things that are hard on us.

I think our guides/Higher Self keep us on task, and keep bringing to light the issues if we seek. And if we can see the patterns, we can break free. But I also think we're all too hard on ourselves on the other side, and need to seek to learn gently. Examining these issues can help us evolve.

By the way I'm alot like your friend, and though I can write, cannot speak up in the right way at the right time, so I usually handle it poorly or avoid handling it altogether. This thread really challenges me.

In turn is this not why we don't trouble ourselves to confront the leaders, feeling that since we can't convince our neighbors there is no point? We need to find ways to free our voices and learn how to express ourselves effectively. This is really hard on many people, not just your friend. Fear of rocking the boat, fear of group disapproval, peer pressure issues, speaking up, these things are instrinsic to the nature of many.

Starred and flagged!

[edit on 2-4-2010 by Unity_99]

reply to post by bringthelight


Well this is a conspiracy site and most conspiracy and political topics require no personal responsibility to work.
"the credit card companies screw me"
"the government threw me in jail, police state"
So the idea of free will scares some people because they realize that they can do something about it they do not have any more room to compain.

reply to post by bringthelight


Hey OP!

What you say is rather interesting, and I do not mean to disparage it. Some of the things, like saying that we need to face our fears, is good advice for anyone, no matter what they think 'free will' is! I also grant that often it seems we run into the same problems no matter where we go.

But evidence for this theory is anecdotal at best. Sure, we are finite creatures, there are only certain things we can do, certain things we can interact with, so in a way, the curriculum is set, as you would put it. But, it's hard to see what could restrict any particular human into having to learn certain lessons, other than the situation they are forced into. Of course I had to learn to eat food, otherwise I would have starved to death, but I don't think that's the kind of lessons you are talking about.

Like I said, thinking of things the way you have explained them may be helpful for some people, but I see little reason to accept that it is true.