
Many believe that our paths are laid out long before we are born and continue to another after we perish.
Is it true that our lives are predetermined? Is it right to say that we are puppets of a higher order?
In the world of Artificial Intelligence and robotics, the brain is coded to perform certain predetermined tasks. This system never deters from it’s command when it is left to perform since it doesn’t have conscience.
But with humans this may or May not be true. Let’s try to understand this.
There are 2 things predetermined for us- Life itself and death, the beginning and the end. There is no free will to control that. But everything in between is quite bewildering. We come across so many people throughout our lives, live in different surroundings and are influenced by these elements in some or the other way. These influences affect us to take different paths as per our motivations.
In a way we constantly deter from our usual course and work or behave under the influence of something throughout our lives. This cannot be coded by someone before our lives. Here we can say that free will exists in the form of collective consciousness.
But does free will means we can bounce back and fourth in time as per our freedom?
Some scientists will say we can, we just need to grow with our knowledge. But for now we think that time is linear, it proceeds uniformly, Eternally into infinity.
There is no beginning and end in the never ending circle of time. Past, present and future are just illusions in that circle where you can’t differentiate which is which.
If we know our fate in the future would it force us to take decisions to change that?
Well in absolute or broader terms we at least know that we are going to die one day. So all our decisions may take different paths but all those paths would lead to the same point, death. The Circle of time will continue, life to death, death to life, past to future and future to past. But there are some hard questions to answer.
If life and death are inevitable and the end result is death then what we do in between may not be significant .
What’s our purpose then? Our existential crisis?
Here’s my opinion-
When you look at the celestial bodies like Sun and Earth, when you look at nature, trees and plants, you will see that irrespective of their fate they carry on to do their job that is to create light and sustain life .They live in the present and fulfil their purpose that is to Give.
A life has no meaning if it doesn’t touches another life positively. Love, Compassion, empathy, humility, kindness and respect give meaning to a life, give purpose to our lives. The happiness which we feel when we do something for others.
If we live in the hearts of the generation to come then we live forever, this is our free will. The contentment which it brings is too great to express in terms of science.
Our existence depends on both science and philosophy, both are significant. Science shows us the path, Philosophy teaches us how to live that path. This is our absolute purpose even if there is nothing absolute in the universe.
So free will exists in between life and death, it is our present which gives us the ultimate boon of free will.
We may not be present in the form of matter in the future but our existence may survive in time through our Karma in the hearts of others. And maybe that Karma is the God we question so often!
Live in the present, stay blessed!