Guest Post by Rhea - Fate Vs Free Will

This question is always brought up in the spiritual community amongst seekers: Do we really have free will? If we can understand a person’s life through astrology, in which the planetary influences exert a karmic force on the person’s life, if we can determine their obstacles and their dharma from their birth chart, then do they have free will, or is everything predestined?

On one hand, if we accept that the law of attraction works, then does it mean we have free will? One could argue that the things we attract through the law of attraction are already in our birth charts. That the desire itself is already outlined by the planets. That even the actions we take towards manifesting those desires, are predetermined in our birth charts. Even our obstacles in life are shown by our charts. So what role do we have to play?

On the other hand, if one lives by the philosophy that everything is already determined by their charts, that the planets will do the work anyway, then their human nature will use this as an excuse to bypass their duties and responsibilities, because they will make the mistake of believing that their destiny is written no matter what they do. This is a complete contradiction, for if this was true, there would be no need for us to incarnate in the first place, if everything was already predetermined. If things were predetermined, then our existence wouldn’t mean anything, as we would be mere puppets re-enacting a story that is already written.

In my opinion, our soul chose to incarnate to go through the work, the transformations, to overcome these obstacles and to become great. The fact that our life can be seen through our birth charts does not mean we do not have a role to play in it and that the planets will do the work for us. Greatness is never achieved without putting in efforts and overcoming obstacles. So one could argue that it is by our own efforts and free will that we manifest things. And that is also true. 

The Divine is infinitely smart and works in ways our human brains cannot comprehend. For our human mind, fate and free will are separate, but for the Divine, it all works intricately together. Karma means unavoidable outcome. So today’s karma is simply the consequences of yesterday’s actions. The planets only reflect our past live’s actions, and our soul’s desires. If we are one with The All, then fate and free will become the same. You can read more about it here

My name is Rhea Rahme, and I am a student of Swami Premanand Bharti.

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