Freewill versus Predestination

 by Swami Nishchalananda Saraswati

Ever since they began to think and to question, the problem, or paradox, of freewill versus predestination has always bothered humankind.
Research by neurophysiologists Benjamin Libet and Bertram Feinstein at Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco has thrown interesting light on this subject and has tremendous Spiritual implications.

They have shown that 1½ seconds before we decide to move a part of our body, such as a thumb or a finger, our brain has already initiated the signals necessary to accomplish the movement. That is, the muscle movement is already being put into action on an unconscious level before we consciously decide to move. This research seems to suggest that we are programmed to act and that we are all under the thrall of pre-destination.

However, this applies only if the ‘I’ is taken to be the visible personality. From the point of view of Yoga, it is a question of identification. If ‘I’ also includes the unconscious mind, and even the Transpersonal Consciousness, as has always been asserted by Yoga and all other mystical sciences, then the ‘I’ actually follows the dictates of Free Will. What we see as a predetermined process, appears so, only because we are only seeing the tip of the ice-berg of the human being (that is, the physical body and the superficial levels of the mind).

The purpose of Yoga is to allow us to realise that we are far more than we think we are and, certainly, that we are more than we normally identify with.

What is predestination at one level is nothing but freewill on a deeper level. This paradox of freewill versus pre-destination cannot be understood intellectually, but it can be understood in the depths of our Being. For this we need to practise Yoga, especially Meditation. 