As mentioned previously, I never plan any writing. It just happens. It often is caused by contributions of other authors that demand a response. This Substack was triggered by an article by
called Cause and effect.It has three short stories illustrating how specific actions cause other actions - some with bad outcomes, some with good outcomes, implying we have a choice to act in a good or bad way. It is a great start and conversation starter on determinism, free will, reality, and even God.
Here is my reply to it:
That's a great topic I am very interested in. It seems to be an observable fact that everything has caused everything since the beginning of time. As Nisargadatta Maharaj has said, "The whole universe contributes to the next moment." Others call it determinism. Everything is determined by what happened before.
Some say, therefore, the universe is random. I disagree. Randomnism is the exact opposite of determinism. Random means anything can happen next. Determinism means that only this specific event can happen next, determined by trillions of previous events. In other words, nothing else but this can happen. It is the only possible outcome based on the past.
Some say that we can predict the future if that's the case. And isn't that what humans frantically try to do so often: Predict what is coming based on fears and desire?
Theoretically and mathematically, prediction of the future is possible. But practically, it is not. We don't have all the information on trillions of cause-and-effect relationships. And even if we had, the calculations would be astronomically complex.
You see, it's not only a personal cause-and-effect system at work that directly affects us. It happens on a planetary, cosmic level. It happens on a cellular level in our bodies. It occurs on a social level interacting with other people. It happens on a natural level, where nature constantly interferes and has causal effects on us. It occurs on an emotional level. Other people's emotions affect us immediately. It occurs on a psychological level and even on a spiritual level, on a "what-we-belief-level". It is immensely complex, unimaginably complex. Ungraspable for our little human mind.
Therefore, the most critical aspect is that it happens 99.9999999999% at an unconscious level. Every second, we have thousands of inputs on all levels, totally unknown to us, that will determine our following actions.
So why do we believe in "free will"? Free will means that we consciously and single-handedly change the outcome of the determined next moment. In other words, it means we somehow can change and influence this cosmic determinism at work. Isn't that an exceptionally grotesque thought? Wouldn't that make us omnipotent, a quality reserved for imaginary Gods?
Even if we could change fate, why would we attempt that? Obviously, it is only necessary if fate or determinism is rejected on a personal level as not optimal for us. We believe that we get a better outcome if we act in a perceived free-will manner.
But why do we think we know the best outcome for us on the next "choice node"? Even if we had the omnipotent power to change that outcome from what was determined to what we want, how would this benefit us in the long run? Even if we had true "free will", it would only be one of a million factors at play, independent of our free will.
For example, to use one of the stories, millions of other factors determined that the traffic light was switching to red at that moment. The car of the killed family turning up at precisely that moment was determined by millions of other factors.
In other words, to use "free will," we need to be omnipotent and omniscient - knowing everything. We clearly don't. Therefore, free will would be very dangerous for us and everyone around us because we are too stupid to match determinism and improve on it.
The word determinism can be substituted with creation. I am talking about the process of it. Cause and effect constantly create our world as it is, based on past events. Some call that karma.
Is that a good, neutral or bad force? Good is usually associated with life-giving and life-sustaining, nourishing, growing, creating, loving and caring outcomes. Bad is usually associated with death, destruction, life-taking, destroying, retreating, dissolving, and breaking down.
It is an observable fact that both are needed to balance life on this planet. Life feeds on life. This is a universal law, whether we like it or not.
Neutral would be an attitude of pure awareness of what is happening without any judgment involved.
So what is it? Isn't it all three?
Determinism creates and destroys simultaneously. Whatever happens next in our personal life, determined by fate, could be immensely creative and life-sustaining, but, at the same time, this will cause destruction and death somewhere else. Did I say it is very complex? Everything is connected.
So whatever happens, happens - with or without our consent and approval. It is impossible to say if whatever happens next will be good, bad or neutral for us in the long run. It could flip and does flip, from good to bad to good again repeatedly. So why bother? Why not accept this, know our place, and totally surrender to these colossal forces?
Why question fate? How can fate be wrong? It is the only possible outcome from trillions of previous cause-and-effect interactions. Therefore, it is simply perfect on the universal level considering all things. It doesn't appear perfect if we only look at it from our egoic perspective. This perspective doesn't have the whole in mind. It only has this tiny perceived person with our name attached to it in mind.
It lives in this grandiose illusion that it is somehow separated from the whole, omnipotent and omniscient and has free will. It has all sorts of opinions and beliefs about what is best for this body and this world, all based on very, very limited information. In other words, it is all based on ignorance.
So, is the universe and fate a good or bad force? It is neither. Good or bad doesn't apply. Good or bad are human mental distinctions that don't apply to or affect reality. Reality happens. We turn it into something good or bad based on what we like and don't like. This is based on what we learned and were told to like or not like throughout our lives.
So, if we want to align ourselves with the universe and become part of the universe again, we have to understand all this and see the need to "unlearn" every mental construct we use. They are all fake and useless if we want to find reality. At the same time, learning and unlearning our mental constructs are also part of determinism. We don't have a choice here.
All we can do is be aware of what is happening- and then be mindful of being aware. While my body and mental persona (including all emotional, psychological, and spiritual constructs) are compelled to respond to fate like a marionette, we have the ability to observe that without attaching ourselves to the process in an egoic, responsive way. Everything will still happen as it must, but one part of us, the pure awareness part, is free of it.
In the same way, we are free when watching a movie. We don't know the plot and don't attempt to change it because that's accepted as impossible. We are interested but in a very distant way. We are not in the movie.
Of course, many are when they totally get absorbed by it. In that case, they are, once again, compelled to respond accordingly. They laugh and cry, triggered by the plot and having no choice over it. They take the illusion of the movie to be real and cry real tears, even if they didn't choose to cry. They are at the mercy of the plot.
But the moment they become aware that they are sitting in the living room watching TV, some sense of reality kicks in again, and they are not compelled to cry or laugh. There is nothing wrong with crying or laughing. It is not about that.
It is all about if we are under the spell of fate or free from fate.
So now we come full circle. I previously said there is no free will. And that is true for the attached egoic person - not attached to a movie - but attached to the fascinating, mesmerizing movie of fate constantly playing out in our conscious awareness.
This mesmerized, hypnotized state of how most people live their lives - literally getting "moved" from one fateful event to the next - is often called "the dream state" in spiritual scripts. We live a dreamlike mental-emotional-psychological trance that puts layer upon layer of imaginative perceptions of reality.
However, some people are breaking this spell - once again, determined by determinism. There is no choice in suddenly breaking the illusionary trance and having moments of pure dis-attached awareness of it all. It's a mystery when and how it happens. It is often put down to "grace".
But grace happens all the time - we don't recognize it. Reality is constantly knocking on our doors of awareness. Still, we don't hear the knocking because we are usually distracted by this compelling movie about ourselves, which is entirely fake, spun from illusions about taking ourselves as a separate entity.
Sometimes, we hear reality knocking and get restless in our dreams, but we don't open the door. And sometimes, some people, out of mysterious reasons and still determined by fate, open the doors to reality and laugh their heads off.
They laugh so much because they realize how simple, safe, blissful, loving, and carefree reality is. They realize how everything they worried about, feared, or desired was all made up, unreal- a cosmic joke.
So, where do the Gods come in? It depends on how we frame God. It is a mental construct for almost all religious or spiritual people. God is an idea until it isn't. Some call the unattached pure awareness of reality God. A melting with God.
God can’t be experienced in a dualistic way. God and dualism exclude each other. A separate identity, an egoic me, myself, and I can’t melt with God. God is oneness. It is non-dual. God is everything. It is omnipresent. Therefore, having a real relationship with God is impossible because that would require a subject (me) and an object (God).
No, if I have a relationship with God, it can only be a mental construct, an idea, a dream like any other mental construct we use. There is nothing wrong with it as long as we realize that as a fact. We don’t need to or can change a dream. As soon as we realize something is a dream, it dissolves all by itself.
But as soon we name something, it creates a new mental construct and is a step back into the world of dreams. Everything so-called spiritual is included. Spirituality is just another illusion. The reality is. And it is everything, including God, including ourselves.
That's why so many sages and spiritual scripts insist that reality (or God) is indescribable. We can't talk about it. We can, but it is not the real thing. No images can be made of God, and they shouldn't be made because the images will always be false, limiting and mental. God is not mental. God is real. God is reality if you like to express it like that.
But the best is to use no words at all. God is not sharable, either. Sharing requires communication that is mind-based and dreamlike.
It doesn’t need to be shared because we can become one with all of us. If we are all God, we are all the same. No sharing is required. Only imagined separated identities feel the need to share.
So why write about it then? I have no idea. This is not based on free will or plan at all.
I had no idea or intention to write this when I opened my laptop and read the article. It just happened based on determinism and is the only thing that could happen then. Based on fateful impulse. The same impulse makes me stop typing soon. The same impulse might or might not make me copy and publish it.
I have over 100 written drafts, each thousands of words long, that I never published. Not because I didn't like them but because the impulse to publish didn't happen.
In other words, whatever happens happens, and I try to let it happen and trust its wisdom.
I also noticed that the fate of my body-mind seems to change when I am in a state of pure awareness, observing fate playing with it. It changes towards neutrality and stillness, peace and contentment. It's almost like observing the stormy waters of my consciousness calms them down in an unexplainable manner.
In reality, there is no cause and effect anymore. Determinism isn't a thing. Determinism is a mental construct—an attempt to create order in a perceived chaos of life. But the perceived chaos of life itself is also a mental construct, an illusion.
In reality, there is neither chaos nor order. That's just another dual pair constructed in our mind. The vastness of our minds is unbelievable. It is not a given space with boundaries somewhere that separates it from no-mind. Mind itself is the last duality.
Beyond the mind, there can't be any duality because duality is the very fabric of the mind. It is the same thing. Duality - separation - IS mind. Beyond the mind is only oneness.
Therefore, we can't trust our minds if we want to know reality or God. But whatever we perceive or conceive, the totality of our conscious world, is the mind. It happens within the mind and is unreal and can't be trusted.
That's where the neti-neti practice helps, and that's where unconditional love helps. True, unconditional love somehow transcends the mind. That's why self-enquiry and unconditional love are the two royal paths to reality - both transcend the mind.
This feels right to me. I do my best to catch myself playing Games of Outcome; it requires much awareness.
If anyone is looking for an expansive guided spiritual path, you are soul and you exist because God loves you.. past lives, dreams and soul travel. I invite you to look at www.eckankar.org