Destiny and Free Will

It seems a large portion of our lives is pre-destined. For example, our last names, parents, early environments, relatives, siblings, level of family income in our early years, initial social status, general physical appearance, and more. However, it's likely, based on life between life and past life regression research, that those predestined situations and circumstances we experience were chosen by our souls (not our personalities) before incarnating. Therefore, perhaps ultimately, as a soul, we do have complete free will.

As humans, we have free will to put one foot in front of the other to manifest our destinies. For example, you probably won't meet any new friends and potential romantic partners by hiding in a cave. At times, however, destined circumstances, whether they're what we want or not, come about by themselves. No matter how hard we try to avoid them, they happen anyway. But it is important to realize that we often must take action, whatever feels most right at the time, to bring forth what is to be. Also, we have free will to react to situations in a detached and accepting way, which can change how we perceive the outcome.

Based on our research and that of others we respect, we believe that at least 75% of circumstances in our lives are predestined, meaning that we (our souls, not our personalities) set up the earthly experiences before we incarnate. Our souls pre-determine the overall direction, general inclinations, types of personality challenges, type of love life or lack thereof, rewards, and recognition; key events and the types of people we interact with appear to be set up before incarnating.

The end result may very well depend on how we react/which path we choose to take based on the application of free will. Aside from the invaluable lessons we learn through karmic experiences, the most important part may be how we react to the experiences. We can embrace the circumstances of our lives with compassion and gratitude, or reject them with misery.

Ultimately, we either live in a universe that is completely chaotic and meaningless, or there is a divine order to things. We choose to believe that there is a cosmic plan, and that everyone is connected to it. We feel it's reasonable to believe, based on eons of observation and empirical research, that everyone has a life blueprint, full of necessary and ordained experiences to further soul development and that life isn't just a series of arbitrary, chance events.