Are we marionettes or do we have free will?

Ghenrietta Gordon — “Do we have the freedom of choice?” The answer will be, “Yes. Think of a deck of cards- a number of limited options, numerous possibilities.”

I suppose the unsolved dilemma whether one has the freedom of choice or not, has been debated for the longest time by different religions, independent thinkers and various cultures. The answer yet remained unclear for me as well until I encountered the amazing hint from my grandmother who passed away a few years ago. One may announce that we all have the freedom of choice that is unlimited in all the possibilities and outcome to be created by depending which choice we actually make. Not true. This particular system contradicts the concept of karma.

Everyone indeed has their own destiny based on his prior life experiences and whether he put in more of negative or positive energy to solve any particular life satiation. Considering this popular theory, one cannot have the same unlimited options with another simply because of the fact that everyone may deserve a specific punishment or reward in the existing situation, based on one’s personal karmic debt. The number of options presented to an individual resume limited, however by choosing one of the options we can create unlimited possibilities that may open up to us as a result of the choice we are making.

Another debate on whether we have an absolute freedom of choice or not, is being contradicted by astrology, and its ability to map out everyone life’s events until the day they pass away. How is it possible? Do they know in advance which choices we are about to make in our lives? Of course not. It all comes back to the limited choices that are already pre-determined for everyone judging by one’s karmic experiences and the lessons left for one to learn in this current existence. Depending on one’s karmic debt, he will make his choice in favor of his further transformation onto making progress in learning his karmic lessons and re-paying his karmic debt. The choice can open the doors to one’s numerous outcome and amazing options to go along with his present life experiences, yet staying within an appropriate boundary until all his lessons are learnt and all his karmic debt has been re-paid.

The dynamics of things happening in our lives equals the frequency of one’s energy vibrations, leading to a certain outcome in any matter depending on one’s emotional reaction. The more positive someone is, the more efficient and linear the events occur in his life, the better result comes in place. Remember, the way you react on things or anyone’s interference around you has much more meaning for you in your spiritual development and accomplishments than your physical action you proceed with. Two alike actions can be justified completely on the opposite levels depending on what one may think during any specific movement. A mother defending her child against an intruder whom she may hurt, can be looked at from an entirely different perspective of karma’s law than an individual hurting another person following his personal pleasure or merely action of vengeance. The same scenario turns out and compared with on two completely different levels. The same outcome leads to an absolutely different range of punishment and justification.

In the untraditional world of remedies and spiritual treatments, they say: “What is done, can be undone.” If one has committed a crime against another, or hurt an animal or even himself in some way, all it takes is your simple acknowledgement that you have done wrong, a sincere repentance whether you direct it toward someone you have hurt or if you are communicating with God through a prayer, you can be forgiven and can start with a clean slate. People are human; they make mistakes; and sometimes those mistakes put a great deal of transparent weight on their shoulders without allowing them to move forward. You have the answer; it is within you. All you have to do is admit you are wrong, without blaming yourself or anyone else in your life. You have to forgive yourself first, then the other people who may be involved in the situation which may have caused you all this emotional pain. You will not achieve anything by resentment or vengeance, except adding more negative karmic debt for yourself to re-pay later on. You must understand by not forgiving someone and letting them go, you can only hurt yourself, and not anyone else. If you keep anger and any type of negative emotion inside you for a long time, it becomes a living and independent entity and sooner or later, it starts to control you and not the other way around.

On the astral level, the emotion of anger appears to look like bright red arrows directed onto someone or something you express that emotion toward. The problem it creates is when the arrows reach their unsuspected destination, and if that very destination has more of a positive energy potential in comparison with the source where the arrows are coming from, they come back to the original source with a triple greater power than when they were released. To consider the fact that a lot of humans’ energy potential is at negative, taking into account their emotional instability connected to their mental imbalance, one may say that unfortunately this circumstance doesn’t sound in many people’s advantage when they are trying to protect themselves from any astral attacks such as anger, hate, and other negative emotions coming from others.

This brings out a very important detail on how to survive living within negative energy communication field. You have to clear your thought from any negative and debilitating destruction by staying positive and most of all thinking positively at all times. This way, on the astral level, you form the greatest protection for yourself you may not be aware of. Keep your thoughts on a positive grade but without letting it overpower your subconscious mind. As soon as you give your thought authority over you, meaning you begin to depend on it, it encounters a great deal of power and is headed either for your advancement or destruction. It has been scientifically proven that any thought can materialize. The trick is to wish for something, visualize it as clear as it can be seen in your mind and let it go. Do not think about it constantly and every day; do not depend on its coming true thinking that would be the only way out.

Trying to win a lottery would be an appropriate example in such matter simply because there are too many people who begin to depend on their desire to get a hold of the winning numbers, thinking their lives would be different and much better after they walk away with a pile of cash. The theory behind it would be quite the opposite. The more you concentrate on winning the above-mentioned lottery or any other gaming source, the more your desire of doing so entangles your subconscious mind corrupting the very nature of clear thought and vision. All it can create is confusion and incapability of achieving the very object you would like to possess. Imagination is an amazing tool we can use to our advantage without abusing it. Visualize something you would like to accomplish, bring out the clear vision of it in your mind and let it go. Believe me, the invisible to you power of all creation will do the rest.



About the Author

Ghenrietta B. Gordon has previously had a few publishing credits such as documentaries on travelling, short stories, and articles for newspapers and magazines. She is a University of Foreign Languages graduate with a Bachelor’s degree. She also has completed four scripts for film production in various genres, such as historical drama, romance, and comedy. In her free time, she enjoys life coaching and writing her new nonfiction projects.

Limiting expression: Is this equality or forced placation?

Craig Kyzar — The collective human intellect can be every bit as dangerous as any other weapon when mismanaged. Indeed, it is perhaps the most formidable weapon this planet will ever see. And yet, it is a select handful of flawed men and women who, often under the guise of law, will invariably assert its power.

[caption id="attachment_16529" align="alignright" width="300"] The mass murder of 2,749 Jews on the beach near the city of Liepāja, in Latvia, on December 15 through 17, 1941.[/caption]

This is not to imply a malicious misuse by the minority but rather an obligation incumbent on the rest of us to ensure that the paths chosen by the few will inure to the benefit of mankind, and not merely patch the wound of the day.

One of our great defenses against oppression or marginalization has always been the right, to varying degrees, to freely express our views and beliefs. While the sanctity of such rights protect against the silencing of minority views, what happens when those liberties are restricted in a noble, if misguided, effort to actively shield the most sensitive among us from things they would rather not hear? What happens when lawmakers are so eager to defuse a hot button topic that they undermine the rights of all to pacify the few?

To be clear, speech and expression have never been entirely unregulated markets. Such freedoms have always come with boundaries wrapped in pragmatism. And yet, these days, it seems as though the pragmatic are at an inherent disadvantage.

Consider the Holocaust denial laws in place across Europe. Mind you, the civil law systems of European nations have never revered freedom of expression to the vast extent that Britain and North America do but even European proscriptions on speech are generally born of sensibility.  At a glance, very few would take legitimate issue with a law granting deference to the solemn dignity of victims and survivors. But to mandate such deference on a personal level seems an overzealous and arcane attempt to atone for the lingering guilt. Yet, the slippery slope created by this cleansing of conscience exposes entire populations to a culture of intellectual policing.

Of course the Holocaust happened, and will likely forever stand as the blackest mark on world history. Its existence is such an unyielding reality that its vocal denial immediately tells a rational audience all they need to know about the mental state of the denier. However, repressing the speech does not repress the belief. Instead, it forces ignorance into the dark recesses, where it can take an even deeper and more vitriolic stronghold beneath the surface.

Such sharply delineated restrictions on expression represent a desperate attempt to mask the symptoms of an underlying problem. As such, they are empty commitments by the government: commitments to pass all responsibility to the citizens – to hide the real problem in plain sight and pat each other on the back for a job well done rather than endure an ongoing campaign of education and reconciliation. Criminalization of ignorant speech is nothing more than an illusory flexing of muscle by shortsighted leaders… for fear of the daunting task of tackling the problem at its root.

Or perhaps, on a more general scale, we have overblown the problem itself, shaping our own catalysts for reform out of whole cloth. In an age of non-stop sensory blasting from every angle, we have become an impossibly sensitive species. In our quest for equal opportunity for all, we have somehow ventured off course and into an absurd new realm where all other rights take a backseat to the new universal right: the perceived right to never be offended by anybody else, ever.

“Thou Shalt Not Offend” is not the purview of government, and let us hope it never becomes so. By muzzling evil, we often empower and enrage it, but seldom do we eradicate it. In an increasingly fractured world, where flag burning leads to street fights and nations riot over a comic strip published in a foreign land, it seems it is no longer the minority but the most easily aggrieved to whom the whims of free speech are bent.

As a people, we have become far too dependent on quick-fix placation, to the exclusion of longstanding resolution. Defending the rights of those we detest will never be easy. However, we cannot render free speech a mere tool of pacifism and convenience.

Government cannot regulate our humanity by force of law, nor do we want it to. Forbidding people from speaking their minds will never cure misguided beliefs. However, it will cost us a precious opportunity to seek out middle ground. Are we really willing to make that sacrifice in the name of appeasement? And what might seem a plausible justification for further oppression tomorrow?