How to regain Free Will and Change Destiny

[tulku]

Chinese philosophy explains that human beings stand between the tugging forces of Heaven above, and the earth below. In other words, man is influenced by the astrological timing forces of fate indicated by Heaven, and the environmental forces of fate ruled by earth geomancy (feng shui). As an example, an individual who lives in a certain region might succumb to some mineral deficiency disease because the local soil lacks the mineral and it is therefore absent in all the locally grown food. If you know about this but then choose to take the proper vitamin-mineral supplement which contains this mineral, you can avoid the unfortunate fate of this sort of disease which is prevalent in the area, and can avoid the fate of the geography.

 

Another example might be the fact that some people become overly agitated during the full moon, but if you consciously choose to keep yourself busy during this time you probably will not even notice it. This is an example of how to resist the pulls of Heaven.

 

Since man is a creature who straddles the pulls of Heaven and Earth, he has the capability to or actively resist or oppose them, live in harmony with them, or so detach from them both that they no longer affect him. It is only the ignorant man who lets these things rule him. The truly free individual learns how not to become impelled by such forces.

 

In learning how to detach from their pull, the truly free individual cultivates an independent mind and learns how to gain full control of himself. That is how he becomes able to consciously determine the outcome of his fate. Many people feel that these external forces bind them, but that is because they never cultivate meditation to discover what is ultimately behind these forces. If you can cultivate to reach what is behind these things and become one with it, then in achieving union with the root you become master of all the branches.

 

Men and women, despite the ongoing influences of Heaven and Earth, are without doubt the final arbitrators of their fate. They are the ones ultimately in control if they choose to be. Individuals may always succumb to the pulls of Heaven or Earth, but they are the ones, who in giving in, thereby determine their own fate and fortune. They make a choice in succumbing, and whether it is for good or bad that decision determines their future.

[Mandrake]

The quote is from White Fat Cow, by Bill Bodri.

 

 

Mandrake

[tulku]

The quote is from White Fat Cow, by Bill Bodri.

 

 

Mandrake

 

I now realize why unfairness, poverty, materialism exist.

 

I now realize why women fancy clothes and cosmetics so much and why men are so addicted to sex and conquest.

 

It is like really everything is connected .. it is the perfect simulation to limit infinite beings.

[Marblehead]

Okay, I just agreed with this concept in the other thread and I will voice my agreement with this as well.

 

One question, when you italicize what you are posting is the italics from someone's work? Ot is it all your own and if so why are you italacizing?

 

Okay. So that was two questions.

[tulku]

[stan herman]

 

Men and women, despite the ongoing influences of Heaven and Earth, are without doubt the final arbitrators of their fate. They are the ones ultimately in control if they choose to be. Individuals may always succumb to the pulls of Heaven or Earth, but they are the ones, who in giving in, thereby determine their own fate and fortune. They make a choice in succumbing, and whether it is for good or bad that decision determines their future.

[/i]

 

Well now, I can't rightly agree with the conclusion here. If one accepts the notion of cause and effect, the choice each person makes (to surrender or fight) is determined by all that has influenced him--genetically and experientially--before his tie of decision. For me it's more of a matrix matter.

[tulku]

Well now, I can't rightly agree with the conclusion here. If one accepts the notion of cause and effect, the choice each person makes (to surrender or fight) is determined by all that has influenced him--genetically and experientially--before his tie of decision. For me it's more of a matrix matter.

 

Imagine if every man, woman and child in the world fight to surrender to Pure Consciousness.

 

The world paradigm will change.

 

In an Instant.

Edited August 18, 2011 by tulku

[Marblehead]

How does one "fight to surrender"?

[Jetsun]

I think the first step for most people is to balance yourself between heaven and earth, a lot of people in this day and age are far too centred in their head and mental thinking and need to be brought down to their body and heart, at this point you are still under the influence of heaven and earth but you are no longer conflicted as much between them so then you have the platform for transfofmation. The basic process then is to gradually let go of your attachments and identifications until you become a person in the world not but of the world, you are fully involved in everything which happens with your body, mind and emotions yet you are also outside of it with no attachment. The mistake I see a lot of people do from my pov is that they try to jump directly into letting go of the world before they have balanced themselves properly within it.

[Marblehead]

I think the first step for most people is to balance yourself between heaven and earth, a lot of people in this day and age are far too centred in their head and mental thinking and need to be brought down to their body and heart, at this point you are still under the influence of heaven and earth but you are no longer conflicted as much between them so then you have the platform for transfofmation. The basic process then is to gradually let go of your attachments and identifications until you become a person in the world not but of the world, you are fully involved in everything which happens with your body, mind and emotions yet you are also outside of it with no attachment. The mistake I see a lot of people do from my pov is that they try to jump directly into letting go of the world before they have balanced themselves properly within it.

 

Yeah, there are some times when the word "balance" is the best word to use. This is one of those times.

[Jetsun]

Yeah, there are some times when the word "balance" is the best word to use. This is one of those times.

 

Yes unfortunately many of the spiritual teachings we have to go by were meant for a more agrarian psyche which is far more naturally balanced with the earth and balanced within the body through the day to day physical work with the land. So it's not easy to apply those teachings from the past which were meant for that specific population to the disconnected people of the modern industrialised era. Maybe we need a new messiah and dharma for our troubled times.

[Wynn]

There is no free will. No destiny. The All is complete, perfect, unchangeable.

 

Your ego, on the other hand ... not so much.

[Marblehead]

Maybe we need a new messiah and dharma for our troubled times.

 

I don't know. I think we might need fear anyone who claims to be one.

 

But then ...

[Marblehead]

There is no free will. No destiny. The All is complete, perfect, unchangeable.

 

Your ego, on the other hand ... not so much.

 

You know that I don't agree with this, in red, don't you?

 

But yes, everything is exactly the way it is supposed to be at this very moment in time. And true, our ego might not accept or understand this.

Edited August 18, 2011 by Marblehead

[宁]

i like the idea, but the examples of the minerals and the moon forces are ridiculous, astrology and fengshui are most surely NOT about that.

 

@Marbles, most of the old people i know of started believing in free will as teenagers, and gradually became more fatalistic as the years piled up. You my friend are quite an interesting exception! templetao wrote somewhere about 'potential', the stuff that keeps us flexible and 'rebel', daring and able to start new things. I wonder how you kept yours.

[宁]

Re OP, that 'Potential' is the answer to the question that was raised. IMO

[tulku]

There is no free will. No destiny. The All is complete, perfect, unchangeable.

 

Your ego, on the other hand ... not so much.

 

The All is always changing and evolving. Why do you think we were sent to live to earth?

 

My human ego is of course a pathetic thingy compared to my Godly Ego.

Edited August 18, 2011 by tulku

[Wynn]

@ Marblehead

 

What exactly can your free will change? Can anything you do improve upon the Real?

 

Form doesn't exist. You don't exist. I know you think you do; good luck realizing you don't.

 

 

@ tulku

 

The All is not changing or evolving. It is the formless, timeless, Reality. Form is illusion. I know its difficult to see that, hence the struggle in seeking Understanding. Thinking will not get you there, thoughts are form too.

 

Never give up. Intuition and reason will guide you.

Edited August 18, 2011 by Wynn

[tulku]

@ Marblehead

 

What exactly can your free will change? Can anything you do improve upon the Real?

 

Form doesn't exist. You don't exist. I know you think you do; good luck realizing you don't.

 

 

@ tulku

 

The All is not changing or evolving. It is the formless, timeless, Reality. Form is illusion. I know its difficult to see that, hence the struggle in seeking Understanding. Thinking will not get you there, thoughts are form too.

 

Never give up. Intuition and reason will guide you.

 

Our Free Will changes our fate every single second.

 

I don't think you have interacted with the All yet. But neither has I.. yet.

 

Good luck realizing you have the power to change this illusionary world if you try hard enough.

 

I just changed my illusionary world by turning down a date with the most gorgeous lady an hour ago.

Edited August 18, 2011 by tulku

[Marblehead]

 

@Marbles, most of the old people i know of started believing in free will as teenagers, and gradually became more fatalistic as the years piled up. You my friend are quite an interesting exception! templetao wrote somewhere about 'potential', the stuff that keeps us flexible and 'rebel', daring and able to start new things. I wonder how you kept yours.

 

I willingly accept that compliment.

 

How did I do it? Tao found me. Yeah, it found me, I didn't find it.

 

I do agree that most aged people give up on life during their latter years. They say "To hell with it, sit down, watch TV and die."

 

When I was getting ready to retire I made sur I had so many hobbies that I would never get any of them finished exactly how I want them. Of course, I keep changing my mind as to how I want them. The only time I get bored is when I want to be bored and then I get bored of being bored and get up and do something.

 

Yes, I too speak to the concept of potential but I normally speak to testing our capacities and capabilities. Same thing, really. Testing to wee what we are capable of. As we age we lose some stuff but if we look hard enough we will find that we gain in other areas.

[tulku]

I do agree that most aged people give up on life during their latter years. They say "To hell with it, sit down, watch TV and die."

 

 

No wonder they lose their free will. No wonder they fail to change their destiny.

 

you can completely transcend the forces of fate and destiny if you learn to cultivate an inward wordless wisdom that does not attach to your own mental functions. In other words, if you practice the role of the silent witnessing self within, and dis-identify from your body-mind complex as well as the karmic environment about you, then you will be able to change what you have fated.

[Wynn]

You are residing in the false realm of self. It is fleeting, and has no substance.

 

But you are correct, I have not yet Realized my true nature. It is nice to tell each other stories, but the Path, we all must walk alone.

 

Be well

[Marblehead]

@ Marblehead

 

What exactly can your free will change? Can anything you do improve upon the Real?

 

Form doesn't exist. You don't exist. I know you think you do; good luck realizing you don't.

 

 

Ha! I knew it!!! I am only a figment of your dream. You are the center of reality. NO, no, my friend. I am the center of my own reality.

 

My free will. Okay, my latest. I could have left my garder as it was but I decided to make some improvements in order to attract more birds and butterflies.

 

I now have ten times as many birds coming to my garden than I had before. No increase in the butterfly population but I have heard other people say that there just aren't as many butterflies around this summer as is notmal.

 

Anything I have thought through and taken action on is a result of my free will. Not granted, I am limited as to how far I can extend my free will. I can't decide to stop paying my taxes and get away with it.

 

I am what is called a "self starter". I have an idea (and most of them are a product of myself, not someone else) and I work up a plan, then I take action without considering anyone's approval or disapproval. That, my friend, is free will.

 

Form exists. It is what we Taoists call the Manifest. I know that all Buddhists don't exist. Too bad for them. Real life is such a wonderful things. Sad they are missing it all.

 

I exist. You may not as I have never seen you in person. You may be a computer program. But even that computer program exists.

 

Well, I consider myself to be the most fortunate person on this planet. Now watch - an unfortunate occurrance will enter my life for bragging about being so fortunate. Hehehe. But that's okay, I've seen good times, I've seen bad times. I am just glad that I existed in order to have seen all those times.

 

Ah! Time! When we are young we want it to speed up but when we are middle-age we want it to slow down and when we are old we wonder where it all went.

[Marblehead]

Our Free Will changes our fate every single second.

 

Well, another few words from Tulku that I must agree with.

 

I just changed my illusionary world by turning down a date with the most gorgeous lady an hour ago.

 

Would you consider giving her my phone number and saying a few nice words about me? Hehehe.

[Marblehead]

No wonder they lose their free will. No wonder they fail to change their destiny.

 

you can completely transcend the forces of fate and destiny if you learn to cultivate an inward wordless wisdom that does not attach to your own mental functions. In other words, if you practice the role of the silent witnessing self within, and dis-identify from your body-mind complex as well as the karmic environment about you, then you will be able to change what you have fated.

 

Yeah, I have already been there. Now I'm back just living my life.