If you really investigate your own life and everything that has gone on in it – all the variables, you will see that your decisions were inevitable.
No one in the world will do something that they perceive as truly negative. If it does inconvenience or pain them in some way, they do it because they perceive a greater good.
The concept of SELF can be expanded from the individual to the family, tribe, country, the world, etc. Depending on how big a sphere of influence you consider, your decision will always be to the advantage of that scope.
Every action we take is a result of our understanding at that point in time.
What you are aware of and how much you understand at a certain point determines what your choice will be at that time.
The only thing we can do is focus on gaining better understanding; to be more conscious of ourselves and the world.
If this makes sense to you then that isn’t even a decision. To gain understanding makes sense and that is what you will do.
If it doesn’t make sense then there is still no decision. You won’t take the time to try and gain understanding.
And so, choice exists but not in the way it is commonly understood. Your actions ARE willed but happen based on current understanding
As an individual, you look back on your life and identify with your struggle, perceiving yourself as a static consciousness that could have arrived at infinite possibilities through choice.
This is not the case; you are an entirely different consciousness than you were last week, let alone last year. Your have grown, systematically to a single, inevitable point.
That is why an experience that happens early in life as opposed to later in life will prompt a different reaction. The understanding at that point in time is different. Things were learned and a different action will result.
When people ponder and deliberate, it is simply mental activity. All that will ever take place is the choice that appears to be the best (be it long or short term).
Based on the experience of decision-making we mentally create the concept of multiple potential futures. There’s a feeling of choosing as you contemplate but it’s just a mental perception, an illusion.
We create the idea of making this choice but in the long run, no matter how long and hard we deliberate, a certain decision will take place.
It’s like water flowing downhill. The lowest channel is the one that the water is going to go through. When it is blocked, it changes directions. It’s totally natural. It flows on its own. And that’s the way we work.
That being said, this is NOT all out determinism. You are not destined to marry a certain woman. You are not destined to be a good person or a bad person. Your development is based on your understanding throughout your life.
Neither does this deny the existence of evil; it just states that it is a result of ignorance.
- Bhagavad Gita 5:5 – The wise see knowledge and action as one. They see truly.
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