Free Will

The question has often been asked: do we have free will? Or are our choices circumscribed? Is there a divine plan that we are all following? Are the events of our lives preordained? Or, perhaps, is our 'higher self' or God self' actually making all of the decisions? If we have free will, then why do we often experience so much of what we don't want?

If there is free will, then the universe is arranged so that it supports all of our decisions. This means that we are completely, at all times, in charge of the content of our lives. It means there is no chance or coincidence. It also means there are no victims. Because we often observe exactly the opposite, these conclusions are unacceptable to many. This is unfortunate, for by limiting our choices about who we can be, we limit the scope of our lives as well.

The difficulty with believing in free will is that you have to practice what you preach! Free will is an all or nothing concept. If you have free will, you have it ALL the time. There is no such thing as 99% free will. It means that everything that happens to you, without exception, is caused by you. This is, understandably, very difficult for most people to accept!

In order to make sense of the idea of free will, we have to first discuss consciousness.

Consciousness is the ability to be self aware. Self awareness is reflexive; meaning, that consciousness has the ability to affect, or influence, or change, itself. Some wonderful work on this subject has been done by Arthur Young. His book 'The Reflexive Universe' outlines a model for consciousness. Mr. Young bases his model for consciousness on the ring torus, the energy of which comes back upon itself, and I have followed his lead in these essays.

We say here that consciousness is the nonphysical, creative and animating principle of the universe. We say that the universe itself, at the quantum level, is a field of subtle energy that composes everything in it. We say that thought is ultimately the basic quanta of existence. In the vibrational universe model, thought is vibrational. It is conscious and alive, and therefore all things are, on some level, conscious and alive. We will not get into metaphysical questions about the nature of reality, except to say that if you are perceiving something, it is real for you. We avoid, then, debates about whether matter has an independent existence, or whether it's true nature is subjective, merely in the mind. If you are perceiving something, it is real! If you wake up from a vivid dream, shuddering and sweating with fear, that experience was just as 'real' as if it happened in the 'real' world.

Physical structure cannot be created out of nothing. Matter and energy cannot create other matter and energy, so the physical universe cannot have originated in a singularity (The Big Bang and its variations), or some kind of quantum excitement that necessitates the prior existence of something that has not yet been created.

The Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. Therefore, all of the matter and energy in the universe must have existed, without reduction or increase, since the beginning of the universe at time t = 0. This idea is, of course, absurd. Therefore, the idea that consciousness originates in matter is also absurd. A creative principle is necessary, at the very least, in order to get the universe started! (See my essay, The Creation of a Universe.)

We say the universe must inherently be one of well being, because, firstly, it is so well ordered, and secondly, we admit that the Creator (the creative, animating principle of the universe, by any name that you wish to refer to it) is sane and reasonable, and would not create a universe in which the inherent nature of experiencing within it was uncomfortable. That would be like building a soap box derby racer for your son or daughter and designing it so that it fell apart in the middle of the race. Any rational being, when creating something for it to experience, would naturally create it in the most joyous and positive way. Therefore we state unequivocally that the universe is, quintessentially, a wonderful place to be and experience, and that the nature of consciousness itself is the same way. Consciousness, in its inherent positive experience of itself, created the universe as a mirror image to its own awareness of Itself.

All right, we have described consciousness as, first of all, rational and reasonable. It does us no good to assume that the inherent nature of an awareness which could create an infinite, well-ordered universe, is psychotic! That is clearly unreasonable, so we have postulated that consciousness is fundamentally sane, not insane.

We also say that because consciousness does not proceed from matter, it is inherently unlimited and unrestricted. Therefore the intrinsic nature of consciousness is one of no limitation upon thought or belief (belief is just a thought or thoughts you keep on thinking).

Because action always follows thought, and thought is unrestricted, action must also be unrestricted. (I dare anyone to take ANY action that does not first involve a decision. Even the decision to raise your arm in the air involves a choice). So we say that free will MUST be one of the fundamental principles of experiencing in the universe.

If this is true, then it seems that we have painted ourselves into a corner! Because it is obvious that people receive all sorts of things that they don't want, in violation of their free will choices.

Although this is seemingly true on the surface, a little probing shows the fallacy of it.

Because the universe is organized, meaning, that everything we see is composed of smaller and smaller elements in combination with each other, we must assume the universe is based upon the principle of attraction. If we do not assume an attraction based universe, but instead one based upon repulsion, then nothing can ever come together, there can be no agreement, no combination, and therefore no objects, no matter or energy. A repulsion based universe is one of random and incoherent chaos, and is fundamentally insane. We have already observed that the universe is wellordered and therefore created in a reasonable fashion (consult your biology and physics textbooks). A repulsion based, fundamentally chaotic universe is impossible.

We live in a universe where things are attracted to each other. Now we can't say that attraction is the only principle of the universe, otherwise everything would be in one great big lump! We observe that some things come together and some do not. What are the laws of attraction? Who or what decides what will come together?

If you look inside material objects, you find that each one has a different geometry. All of the elements of the Periodic Table have slightly different internal geometries, but they are made out of the same energy (quarks, protons, neutrons and electrons are the same stuff. There is not a separate silver energy and gold energy). Some geometries have an affinity for each other, and some do not. Sodium and Chlorine, for example, if taken separately will kill you. But in combination they form NaCl, or salt. Helium and argon never combine. Well let science tell us how and why this is so, but it is clear that in order to have a material universe at all, there must be attraction and combination.

The law that describes what attracts what, can be referred to broadly as 'like attracts like'. This law, referred to as the Law of Attraction, basically says that things that have an affinity for each other will come together. So 'like attracts like' is a basic property of the universe, and is the basis for the formation of all naturally occurring structure and form.

This property of 'like attracts like' explains the dilemma stated above, with regard to free will.

Although something may be wanted very badly, there may be a belief that its impossible. Our attention is often more on the things not wanted, than on the wanted thing. This explains the apparent contradiction of free will.

The experiences and events in your life have nothing to do with what you want, but have everything to do with what you pay attention to. Of course, if what is wanted and what is focused upon are identical, then evidence of what is wanted appears in your life.

This is reasonable, for if we were to focus 99% of the time about A, and 1% of the time about B, it would seem logical that we would invite A into our experience, and not B.

And that is precisely what happens.

If what you want is where the predominant amount of your attention is, you get it. For example, Joe desperately needs to push sales up in the month of February. His small business hasnt made payroll in three months and things are really starting to get tight. So Joe gets on the phone and contacts every one of his customers. If Joes actions proceed from an orientation of abundance, hell be relaxed and easy and his customers will be receptive to his pitch. If, however, Joe is feeling worried and anxious hell probably push too hard and nothing will come of his efforts. Thought precedes action. Regardless of the undertaking, your vibrational signal is paramount. You can perform all the actions in the world without getting any result. What you focus on, you get.

Rigorously, we say that you get something wanted if and only if your attention is predominately and precisely upon that which is wanted!

Now we can see how so many get sidetracked, and how free will gets such a bad name.

Because there is a time lag between the desire and the manifestation (we do not live, thank goodness, in a world where one can think a thought and have it magically and immediately manifest), it is often discouraging to work hard and see no results. All that is necessary, however, is to change your vibrational signal and watch how your attitude changes, and how doors open for you.

It is always your free will choice to decide where you are going to focus your attention. It is literally true that every event in your life is determined by the mix of your thoughts and beliefs about them. In order to turn things around and prove to yourself that free will exists, you have to become more mindful and conscious about your focus. Although thoughts are invisible, they are very powerful, for they affect your attitude, the actions you take, and how others respond to you.

The universe has been designed for free will choice.

There is not such a thing, anywhere in the universe, as a conscious being that does not have free will, for free will is the quintessential nature of consciousness itself.

All incarnated beings, whether a bug or a dog or a human, have choices, based upon their level of consciousness, to think and do anything they please.

It is only your vibrational offering that determines the content of your experiences, and you are in charge of that.

There are no victims, anywhere in this universe of attraction.

All things come to you as a result of your thoughts and feelings about them.

So if you do not like what you are experiencing, choose again. It's your free will choice.

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