Free Will And Destiny

The mind has free will, the soul has destiny. When the mind uses its free will to serve the ego, there is greater separation from the light of the soul. When it uses its free will to surrender to the will of the soul, the shell of the ego softens and we move closer to fulfilling our soul’s destiny. In so doing, our true nature of stillness and light shines forth. This 25-minute talk and 17-minute guided meditation and is a follow-up to the class Bringing Forth the Light.

Transcript

To move towards bringing forth greater light entails softening the ego,

Stilling the mind.

One of the dynamics that can be useful to move in this direction is to understand free will and destiny.

But before I go into free will and destiny,

I'd like to talk a little bit about the relationship of the mind,

The ego,

And the soul.

As I've said,

The soul is this light or the space of unity within us that is our true nature,

That we are all always connected to,

Never separate from.

The mind is the tool,

The filter,

Or the pivot between that unity of the soul and our individuated experience of being human,

Immersed in a realm of seeming duality.

So the mind is that filter or go-between between the duality we are immersed in on a daily basis in mundane life and that unity of the soul.

The ego is what occurs when that filter of the mind gets obscured with the desires and aversions,

Attachments,

The defense mechanisms,

The conditioned,

And habituated patterns that obscure the purity of the mind,

The clarity of it,

Which then covers over the soul so that we feel separate from that light of unity.

And this is natural for it to occur,

Being human,

Experiencing difficulties and traumas.

But the key to moving towards our natural state,

Towards that light,

Is to clear those aggressions and patterns,

To move towards purity of intention,

To let go of fear,

Move beyond fear,

And to find that stillness of the mind that allows it to become clear,

Just like water when it is still allows the silt to settle so that we can see clearly through it.

When our mind is clear,

We are immersed in the present moment of experiential reality.

We experience ourselves as we are and the outer world as it is.

We move closer to perceiving reality as it is in each moment.

In this paradigm of the mind,

The ego,

And the soul,

The mind,

Its proper place is to be the servant of the soul.

It is there to serve the soul,

To be this filter that allows the soul to experience all of the beauty of manifest reality.

When the ego is more in control and we're being buffeted about by fear and attachment and aversion,

The mind is not serving the soul,

It's serving the ego.

And this creates a lot of problems for us.

I'll share a quote from Hazrat Anak Khan that speaks to this dynamic.

One must picture oneself as two beings,

One the king and the other the servant.

When one of them expresses a wish,

It is the king who wishes,

And the part that says,

I cannot,

Is the servant.

If the servant has his way,

Then the king is in the place of the servant,

And the more the servant has his way,

The more the servant rules and the king obeys.

In this way,

Naturally,

Conflict arises and that reflects upon the outer life.

One's whole life becomes unlucky.

One may be pious or good or religious,

It makes no difference.

If man does not realize the kingdom of God within himself,

Nor realize his spirit to be a king,

He does not accomplish the purpose of life.

And so our soul is the king or queen within us.

It is royal,

It is divine,

And the mind is meant to be the servant of that royalty,

Of that divinity.

But often,

Being human,

We allow the mind and the ego to become the leader,

The one in charge who determines our actions and our words,

And that creates more and more unnecessary suffering for us,

Because we are not resting in our true nature.

We are not acting from that place of purity of intention that leads to compassion and wisdom and love and freedom.

And so we must learn to restore the proper balance,

To soften the ego and allow the mind to be the servant of the soul rather than the other way around.

This is where free will and destiny come in.

There's often been a debate about whether there is free will or destiny,

And often when people debate it,

It's made to sound like there's either one or the other.

I would suggest that being multi-dimensional beings that have all these different facets to ourselves,

We actually have both free will and destiny.

It's just that they simply belong to different faculties or aspects of our being.

In this perspective,

Free will belongs to the mind.

The mind has free will to do what it wants,

To make choices,

And to face the consequences of those choices.

Whereas the soul has destiny.

The soul is always being drawn to its sole purpose.

It's always being drawn towards manifesting our destiny,

Who we are,

Who we are meant to be,

And it's continually drawing us towards that true nature of love,

Compassion,

And wisdom.

When the mind uses its free will to satisfy or reinforce the desires and aversions of the ego,

To seek money or power or fame or love from others or the outer world,

It further distances us from the soul,

And it creates more obstacles,

More obscurations,

That prevent the soul from reaching its destiny.

This is that covering over that creates this sense of distance from our soul.

It covers the light,

And when the mind uses its free will to act on behalf of the ego rather than the soul,

It lacks purity of intention,

And is ultimately based in fear.

As I said,

This creates more accressions and obscurations.

One could say that this is even what is often called karma in certain traditions.

When we act from a place of impure intention,

This has karmic repercussions that impede the path of the soul,

Prevent it from reaching its destiny as quickly.

Ultimately,

The soul will reach its destiny,

But the more karmic repercussions and obscurations we create from using the free will of the mind to act from impure intentions,

It causes us to have more obstacles,

And it takes longer to reach the goal.

It changes the path.

It causes us to have more lessons to learn,

Because it means that we still have much more to learn when we're not acting from that place of pure intention.

But I truly believe that the soul is continually being drawn towards its destiny like a magnet.

We are always being drawn towards our purpose.

We're being drawn towards our natural state of love,

Compassion,

And wisdom,

And as we are drawn towards it and move towards it,

We develop and grow.

We mature.

We unfold like a flower,

And our beauty naturally manifests and pours forth.

Our atmosphere changes.

And so when we talk about free will and destiny and moving towards this light within us,

I would suggest that what is most useful and most skillful is to use the free will of the mind to choose to surrender,

To surrender to the Tao,

To the flow,

To the river of life,

To let go of trying to control the outer world to make it be some certain way.

When we surrender,

We stop resisting the pull of gravity that is drawing us towards our destiny.

Now to be clear,

This does not mean that when we surrender,

Suddenly everything is easy and we don't experience any difficulty or challenge.

Sometimes there are still necessary sufferings that are required to clear some of the aggressions of the ego and draw us towards our destiny.

There are lessons that still need to be learned.

However,

I would suggest that the more we move towards softening and surrendering,

It allows us to let go of experiences of unnecessary suffering,

And it prevents us from creating more obscurations and oppressions that then have to be worked through and released.

In other words,

When we begin to surrender,

We step out of our own way because while we may not realize it most of the time,

We are often our own worst enemy.

We are the ones who create unnecessary suffering for ourselves by resisting the natural flow of life,

By resisting the pull of our soul,

By having the mistaken belief that happiness comes from changing others or the world around us or our circumstances rather than from surrendering and resting in that pure place within us,

In that stillness and light.

Our destiny is to return to our divine nature,

Our natural state,

But ultimately it is the mind that has the free will to decide whether or not to surrender to the soul.

As we surrender,

That shell that covers over the light of the heart and soul begins to crack,

Begins to soften,

And that light begins to expand naturally within us.

As it expands within us,

We perceive ourselves as we are,

As impermanent,

Continually changing,

Complex beings that have the appearance of separateness,

But that we are all always connected to each other and to the world as a whole.

In this,

We find our fulfillment.

We find what we have always been seeking in the outer world.

We find greater happiness in freedom and bliss.

As we use the free will of the mind to surrender to the destiny of the soul,

We are liberated.

We no longer have unnecessary suffering,

And any difficulty or challenges that we might have no longer feel as much like suffering,

Because we begin to understand their purpose,

How they're breaking down those walls that we no longer need,

How they're liberating us.

And as we shift our perspective and change how we stand in relationship to those difficulties,

We begin to feel that flow that is always there,

And we come to a greater place of acceptance.

And as we stop resisting,

We naturally begin to perceive the beauty that is always already right here in this moment.

As I said,

This is why it is so important to cultivate purity of intention,

And why I feel that this is one of the most important things on the path,

Is to continually check in with ourselves and understand where the motivation to speak or act is arising from,

Whether we are following the ego,

Whether we're acting from fear or attachment or aversion,

Or whether we are truly surrendering to the flow of the moment,

Surrendering to being and resting in that pure place within us,

Rather than being engaged in doing in activity of trying to change the experience,

Trying to control.

This concept of surrendering is present in many different traditions.

You know,

I may have shared this before,

But the word Muslim literally means one who submits or surrenders to the will of God.

And in yogic practice,

There's the eight limbs of yoga,

The second of which is the Niyamas,

Or the inner practices.

One of the Niyamas is Ishvara Pranidhamma.

This is a surrendering of the ego or the mind to the soul.

It's a surrendering of the limited to the unlimited,

Of the finite to the infinite.

And whether we call this infinite God or the divine or the Lord,

This is the meaning of life.

It is the light within us.

And so we need to surrender to that light,

And then it will naturally pour forth from us.

We begin to transcend our limited sense of self,

Of self-identity,

Of the ego and of the mind,

And we begin to ground more and more in that unlimited,

Which is our true nature.

And as we use our mind and our purity of intention and free will to surrender to that,

The mind naturally resumes its proper place of being a servant to the soul and brings us into the moment of experiential awareness of presence without any agenda,

Without needing to be right,

Without needing to control.

And as we surrender,

We begin to hear that voice that is always there within us,

The voice of our soul.

We begin to know what is skillful or appropriate in each moment,

And we begin to bring forth that beauty and begin to affect the world around us without trying to change anything at all.

I'll share another quote from Hazrat Anakhan.

Success comes when reason,

The store of experience,

Surrenders to will.

So here when he talks about reason,

It's the mind and the ego.

He says the store of experience,

That's that accumulation of patterns,

Of habituated thoughts,

Of defense mechanisms.

And when he talks about will,

He's talking about the will of the soul,

That destiny that we are always being drawn towards.

So when reason,

Or the mind,

Surrenders to the will of the soul,

That is when success comes.

And when he uses the word success,

He's not referring to success in the outer world,

Although that may come as well without us trying.

He's referring to that success that is the true success of the art of being human,

Of being a fully embodied and awake and aware being of pure consciousness,

Without any filter of the ego covering over,

Where we are no longer separate,

Where we are immersed in that unity.

That is true success.

And yet,

Ironically,

When we have that kind of success,

There's often success in the outer world as well.

You know,

As Jesus said,

Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all these things will be added unto you.

When we seek that kingdom of heaven within us,

When we surrender to the soul,

All of those other things naturally take care of themselves.

This surrendering is the result of progressive softening,

Of laying down our defenses,

Of letting go of trying to control and allowing the moment-to-moment experiences of life to be as they are.

When we do this,

We no longer experience from the mind,

We experience it purely in the heart.

The heart becomes living and it expresses that soul power that we all have within us.

For me,

This is one of the core practices of the art of being human,

To cultivate purity of intention and to continually come back to surrendering because it is like a muscle.

If we are not used to it,

At first it may be very difficult and we have to practice and consciously guide our intention towards that.

But the more we practice,

The easier it becomes and it may take days or years or lifetimes.

The more we can trust that everything is as it needs to be in each moment,

The easier it becomes to surrender and to shift how we experience everything and allow space for the soul to fulfill its destiny.

So if you will,

Let us practice.

Please find a comfortable and stable posture for meditation.

You can be seated or lying down.

The most important thing is that you have stability beneath you.

It allows you to release any unnecessary tension or holding or guarding.

If you are seated,

Check to make sure that the knees are below the hips and that your spine and torso rise with the natural curves up towards heaven.

Allow the shoulders to relax back and down and check to make sure that the head is situated directly above the spine and shoulders.

Once you have reached your posture,

Bring awareness to the natural movement of the breath.

It may be long or short,

Choppy or smooth,

Shallow or deep.

Simply observe the natural movement of the breath and allow it to be as it is.

You Begin abdominal breathing with each inhalation,

Allowing the abdomen to gently expand.

With each exhalation,

Allowing the abdomen to gently contract,

Allowing the chest and shoulders to remain relaxed and still.

It doesn't need to be a very deep breath.

Simply whatever is comfortable and accessible to you in this moment.

If you notice thoughts coming in,

Distracting the mind,

Use your intention and willpower to guide the focus of the mind back to the movement of the breath and the abdomen.

Now maintain awareness from the breath and the abdomen as you become aware of the outline of your physical body.

Feel the superficial surface of your body as a whole,

Like a shell.

And as you rest your awareness in that shell,

Use each exhalation to allow that outline,

That shell to soften.

As the shell of your outer body softens,

Allow the awareness to move inward,

Softening each layer as you move from the outer body to the inner body.

Use each exhalation to soften and surrender,

Allowing the awareness to move in and in.

As you continue softening towards the center,

Eventually you'll reach the boundary of the physical heart.

Feel the outline of the heart.

Feel its outer shell and use each exhalation to soften into the heart.

Surrender into your heart space.

Notice how as you move in and in,

The mind becomes quiet.

Notice the stillness within and rest in that stillness.

Notice that within the stillness of the heart center,

There is a point of light.

Focus on that light.

Surrender to it.

Allow it to expand.

Allowing it to fill your heart space,

And then expanding beyond,

Filling your torso,

And your entire physical body.

Consciously surrender to the light of your soul as it fills your entire physical body.

As you rest in the stillness and light that is your true nature,

Allow it to continue to expand beyond your physical body.

Allow yourself to rest in an atmosphere of light.

Surrender to the state of being.

Disbelieve in your mind,

And transfer to others.

Become aware of the outline of your physical body,

Resting in the sphere of light.

Feel the stillness within.

Feel the stillness within.

Feel the stillness within.

Become aware of the stability beneath you,

Supporting you and holding you up.

Become aware of the air around you,

In which you are immersed like a fish in water.

When you are ready,

Maintain a connection to the stillness and light within,

As you gently and slowly begin to open your eyes,

Taking in the world around you,

Letting it flow through you.

The stillness and light is the nature of the soul,

Our true nature,

As we use the free will of the mind to consciously guide our intention to surrender to this light of the soul.

The ego naturally softens,

The accressions covering over our light disintegrate,

And as the light shines forth,

It dispels all darkness.

Ultimately,

This is a choice that we have in each moment,

To allow ourselves to be buffeted about by the attachments and aversions of the ego,

Or to restore the proper place of the mind as the servant of the soul,

And to surrender.

As you go throughout your day,

Try to intend to come back to the stillness and light within.

When you notice yourself getting caught by thoughts,

By the mind wanting things to be different,

Consciously surrender to the moment,

To your soul.

Thank you all for joining me today.

Reviews

I have received increased clarity of Mind through your teaching on mind, ego and soul. Thank you so much.

I love how you use quotes from many different philosophies and religions. There are so many truths available, and that they always come back to one truth. Happiness lies within us all, if we just surrender to our true nature which is love, which can always be found in stillness. I also find this same peace when I am in nature and in the unconditional love I see in the eyes of my dog.
I was curious. How do you take one of your courses? You mention courses but there is nothing here on Insight.

Thank you

Thank you so much for helping me guide back to my soul to hear the voice of my soul to be touched by the light stillness and a place of no conflict of peace.

After waking at 4am and not being able to return to sleep, I found this. Thank you. This was a wonderful, grounding and insightful way to begin my day (albeit a little early!) 🙏🏼

great talk, and a very deep talk. i will listen a couple more times. around the topic of karma, a medium told me of a past life with my late husband (i’ve been told by a few people we’ve had many past lives together). it was 1910 & we were in or 20s when he died suddenly in an accident. she said i died a couple years later. not suicide. i just gave up. and that i had some karma issues to work out around that. i’m really not sure what that means. your thoughts are welcome

Wow. Another incredibly beautiful class from Thomas with so much excellent teaching and guidance. Practicing to surrender with purity of intention while understanding more fully the mind and ego as servant is so powerful for me. Thank you 🙏🏼

Tack as we say in Sweden, your teachings are so valuable for so many - thank you 🙏✨

Excellent wisdom in this meditation as usual.Thank you with love and gratitude.
Namaste 🙏

I am so grateful for you…your gentle manner and the way you share your wisdom makes so much sense to me, totally resonates with something deep and nurturing in me…🙏🏻♥️

Brilliant! The clarity you bring to understanding what I/we experience as embodied souls is humbly appreciated. Bless you 🙏 I shall listen again and again to breathe in this into my bones. 🙇🏻‍♀️

Thank you Thomas.
Very helpful teaching.

The king and servant analogy was useful to create imagery for self inquiry to parse out my motives and intentions. Grateful for the skillful wisdom. This often can get tricky as my ego loves to masquerade.

I am grateful for your classes 🙏🏻🤍✨

Thank you for sharing your wisdom and light! May we act with pure loving intentions towards the destiny and purpose of our souls 🙏 🕊

A beautiful reminder to listen to the voice of the Soul 🙏 Thank you Thomas 🌟

Loved the explanation at the beginning. Very clear and consice. Thank you. 🙏🏼

Challenging…🙌😊To leave oneself alone, soften, find the pivot, truly go within, with the purity of intention…Not easy…especially when so much is going on around us…But the beauty that can be found in the brief moments when you do!
Always lessons Thomas. Thankyou..🙏😊🌹
I stayed with this one, this time, long after it was over..Namaste🙏My friend.💙

lovely

So wonderful. A perfectly balanced talk that segways so gracefully into the meditation. Thank you🙏🏽

Dear Thomas, it’s hard to find words. This is so amazingly beautiful, powerful and inspiring. I need to listen again (and again). Blessings always and Namaste.🙏🦋

Thank you so much Thomas! Enlightening and helpful! I listen to all of these again and again.

Wonderful simplification of soul ego & mind, I’m so grateful for your talks Thomas 🌸