Aatman Training Center for Graphology

Level 3 essay

Topic # 2
If God gave man free will, how can everything be part of God's plan? And if
everything is part of God's plan, how can we have free will?

Lateecka Abhijit Bhosekar

February 23, 2021

Word count: 1882
Humans have largely populated this world. They have made progress in science and
technologies. But most of the population still believes in God and that God has
created this world. Also, God has its all rights reserved to himself. Every person we
meet, every situation we face, our actions-reactions are decided by God. Everything
is happening as per his plan, God’s plan.
This is mentioned in Psalm 75:7 of New king James version of the bible, ‘God is the
Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another (New King James version, 1982).
In Hinduism, a devotee promises an offering to God for granting a particular wish,
this is known as ‘Navas’.
The Philosophical term, divine determinism is the doctrine that everything is
determined by God (Anderson J. N., 2014). It is also known as theological
determinism or divine sovereignty and exists in many religions, including Hinduism,
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Theological determinism, 2020)
However, a problem with determinism is that it is inconsistent with society's ideas of
responsibility and self-control that form the basis of our moral and legal obligations
(McLeod S., 2019). So, if a person commits a crime then how can we call him guilty
and how can we worship saints? It implies that we cannot praise or blame anyone if
it’s a God’s doing. Also, this may lead to people not taking enough efforts to achieve
their goals and when things don’t go as per expectation, instead of taking its
responsibility, they will blame it on others or God.
This implies that when everything is as per God’s plan then we human beings cannot
alter it and have to accept it and its outcome. It is based on the past experiences that
one had in this and past lives.
Also, if everything is predetermined then what could be the purpose of living this life?
And if everything in this world is determined by the god then this world would have
been the perfect world; devoid of any crime. Why would God plan serious crimes
such as murder, rape, forgery or betrayal?
However, atheists, who don’t believe in God do not agree with divine determinism.
They believe in their hard work and strengths. They have their own argument to
challenge the determinism belief.
To support this, Dr Stephen Hawking once said, ‘I have noticed even people who
claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before
they cross the road’.
The belief of having control over self-life is known as free will which is defined as the
idea that we can have a choice in how we act and assumes that we are free to
choose our behaviour, in other words, we are self-determined. According to free will,
a person is responsible for their actions. For humanistic psychologists such
as Maslow (1943) and Rogers (1951) freedom is not only possible but also
necessary if we are to become fully functional human beings. Both see self-
actualisation as a unique human need and form of motivation setting us apart from
all other species (McLeod S., 2019).
Free will makes you accountable and responsible for your life. The desires can be
fulfilled by making the right choices and working hard in the right direction. Examples
of this can be seen around us; like people who have transformed physical self by
following a rigorous diet and exercise schedule. Students acquire good grades by
studying hard in-spite of adverse situation. And Life journey of prominent personality
like Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Dhirubhai Ambani inspires us because of
their hard work, patience, perseverance.
However, one may say that these people are destined by God to achieve it in their
life.
Even in the personal life if every choice made, efforts taken were as per God’s plan,
it never feels like though. I could feel my life for real and not somebody guiding or
dictating me. The emotions I experience, the feelings I have, all the thoughts, they all
seem to be real. And if this feels real then it’s hard to deny it.
As a human, I use my consciousness to think and make a decision. Our brain is a
thinking machine and based on all life experiences and observation the decisions I
take are my own. I have the freedom to make my life decision, it’s called
metaphysical freedom. Since the brain is a complex organ, one cannot predict or
predetermine its output or behaviour (Closer To Truth, 2020). Therefore, each one is
different, unique. Even the life of twins is not the same though they are genetically
same.
But I think there are some limitations to free will as well. There are many examples of
people not achieving their desires despite working hard or being eligible. Like a
person being ‘a perfect marriage material’ could not get married, a bright person
finds it difficult to get a job and a healthy couple fails to conceive naturally. Many
times, we see unfortunate incidents happening to good people. We often question
why it happened? Or why me? We label it good luck or bad luck. As we could not
find logical explanations to it. I had a similar experience, I wanted to have a natural
childbirth and so followed prescribed exercises, yoga asana, hand mudra, diet
regime. But during labour, progress was not as expected. No logical explanation was
given. And I had to go for C-section. This happens with many women. And it leads to
depression, for not knowing what went wrong and why this happened with me. In
such situation, one may continue feeling depressed or come out of it by accepting
the fact. Though it’s not easy, but important to understand that not all things can be
controlled and chosen. We can only try and work hard to get it. It feels satisfied to
think that honest efforts were taken to achieve the desire.
I think that we do have free will but at the same time cannot deny predestining
aspect of our life since Sadguru, Astrologers and clairvoyants can predict future life
experiences.
We humans do have limited free will where we decide how to react and behave in
life situations. The life situations, people we meet are not in our control it is
predestined but then how we think, speak and behave is in our control. It is the
choice that we can make.
Jawaharlal Nehru once said, ‘Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is
determinism, the way you play it is free will’.
This third school of thought which believes there exists free will as well as God’s
plan; they are compatible. In philosophical term, it is known as compatibilism
(Compatibilism, 2020).
Moreover, it is important to consider spiritual angle as well. As per the spiritual law of
karma, what you create is what you will get. The energy created by thoughts, words
and action is your karma made by your own choice and what happens to you is the
return of the previous karma as your destiny. So, in the present scenario, I do not
have control over what is coming my way but I sure have full control over what
Karma I make. So, what I create now by thoughts, words and action is my present
karma and it will decide my future destiny. That means my present karma will come
back in future so it is predestined but it is predestined by me, by my own karma. So, I
write my own destiny for the future. I have a choice to write my destiny what I want
(BKShivani, 2020).
The present karma is completely my choice and my responsibility, it is in my control.
However, I cannot predict when it will be recompensed. This is also elaborated in 2 nd
chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita, as
 karmanyevaadhikaaraste maa phaleshu kadaachana | 
maa karmaphalaheturbhuu maatesangotsvakarmani ||
which says that we have the right towards action alone and not towards its fruits. So,
we should keep performing without expecting the reward in return.
In relation to this, I have one experience to share, my mother had looked after her
mother in her last days. Grandmother was very strict and stubborn. Despite my
mother doing her best, grandmother never praised her. I once asked her, why is she
behaving so nicely to her; she replied, I can control my behaviour and I know I am
honest and sincere. So, in my last days, I will not have regret and will be satisfied
with my behaviour.
Also, when we experience a bad incident in personal life or career in-spite of being
good, we often try to find its reason. But it is the reflection of our past karma from this
or previous lives. We came across many people with whom we have some karmic
account to settle. In this human life, God has given us an opportunity to clear out this
karmic account. Many believe that even Lord Vishnu was not exempted; in Ram-
avatar he killed Bali to help Sugriva and then in Krishna-Avatar he got killed by him.
Also, in this human life, we have to make some decisions and has some lesson to
learn and thus evolve. This is important for spiritual growth. So, when we don’t learn
the lesson, we will face those situations again and again till we assimilate it.
It is important to understand that there is no good luck or bad luck nor God is to be
blamed for wrong things happening in the life, it’s our own Karma that is coming back
to recompensate. Also, one should thank God for giving all good things in life and
giving chance to nullify karmic account.
As we have control over our actions- reactions we can forgive ourself and others for
their mistakes, otherwise, it will come back as another painful incident. There should
be an attitude of gratitude towards ourself and this universe. This will enhance
chances of good coming our way as ‘we get what we sow’. There are many things to
learn and move ahead in the life journey.
There is a famous Latin phrase named ‘Amor fati’, that may be translated as "love
of fate" or "love of one's fate"(Amor fati, 2021). It is used to describe an attitude in
which one sees everything that happens in one's life, including suffering and loss, as
good or, at the very least, necessary. When we accept what happens to us, after
understanding that certain things, particularly bad things are outside our control, we
are left with loving whatever happens to us and facing it with unfailing cheerfulness
and strength (Amor Fati, n.d.).
It can be further elaborated by thinking ourself as a dog on a leash, we have limited
freedom to trot around happily, enjoy the journey, accept the situation and learn from
it or complain, protest, get dragged or strangle in the process. As a human being
reasoning will help us calculate when our wishes conflict with reality and then bids us
to submit willingly rather than angrily or bitterly. We may be powerless to alter certain
events, but we remain free to choose our attitude towards them, and it is in an
unprotesting acceptance of what is truly necessary that we can find a distinctive
serenity and freedom (The School of Life, 2017).

Bibliography
1 New King James Version. (1982). https://ebible.com/nkjv/psalms/75
2 Anderson J. N. (2014, July 11). Calvinism and Determinism
https://www.proginosko.com/2014/07/calvinism-and-determinism/
3 Wikipedia. (2020, August 31). Theological determinism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theological_determinism#Free_will_and_theological_de
terminism
4 McLeod, S. A. (2019, April 11). Freewill vs determinism. Simply Psychology.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/freewill-determinism.html
5 Closer To Truth. (2020, September 24). David Eagleman - How Free Will Probes
Mind and Consciousness [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=M7wXPij03wQ
6 Compatibilism. (2020, December 10). In Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compatibilism
7 BKShivani (2020, July 12). Is Everything Predestined? Do We Have Free Will?:
Part 1: BK Shivani (English) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=RuhRYkPOyrI
8 Amor fati. (2021, January 7). In Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amor_fati#cite_note-ds-1
9 Amor Fati: The Formula for Human Greatness. (n. d.) Daily Stoic.
https://dailystoic.com/amor-fati-love-of-fate/
10 The School of Life (201, October 17). Do We Have Free Will or Are We
Predetermined? [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=HYWiIWpcCIM