Having a scarcity of time to produce new blogs during the day, I found myself composing this blog in my dreamtime. So here goes.

Fate or Destiny? A perpetual conundrum, “What are they? How do I know which is which? Does it matter? Is human life predetermined and set? Does man possess free will or does he possess wise choice? Are the life experience of humans chaotic or not? Why is it so difficult to decide?”

The optimal starting point for resolving such questions begin with a very brief introduction to chaos theory. Chaotic systems follow deterministic laws of motion, but, are highly unpredictable over time (the uncertainty increasing exponentially with elapsed time). The behavior of the system after two or three system time constants appears stochastic to an observer (but, are not random systems as such  demonstrate a randomly distributed error function). Moreover, some chaotic systems are under the influence of particular basins of attraction such that observables trace similar paths in phase space.

Persons adept in self-observation of moment-to-moment changes in the states of the body, emotions, desires, and cognitions report that the proximal causes for every psychological and physiological action are preprogrammed and respond to innate or learned triggering events. Each moment-to-moment experience is no more than a highly complex and layered ‘stimulus-evaluation-response-patterned activity’ (SERPA).

Such changes progressing smoothly over time and without the intercession of conscious direction. If we were not so perfectly programmed by physical evolution none of us would be alive today.

It is not an overstatement to claim that, over most of the day, each of us are psychobiological robots! So we can be said to be psychologically determinate creatures.

I know some of you will disagree with me and claim that you are conscious right now. This may be true, but such does not change the truth of what I have said. If you do not believe learn self-observation and tell me I am wrong after daily practice for three months.

Like any programmed machine, given repetitive sets of closely related stimuli, we automatically active the same SERPA and act the same. We make the same mistakes, interact with the wrong people, feel abused and violated, and so on. So our life histories repeat themselves (not exactly) year after year as we remain bound by our own conditioned, psychological basins of attraction formulated over childhood.

This is the true meaning of karma–living as a lower creature fully dependent upon your personalized set of ‘controlling basin(s) of attraction.’ Karma operates automatically and casually in this life now. Only a stream enterer needs concern himself or herself with a future life experience.  Remember the Devil’s Tale in Heidelberg.

So, on first blush, we can liken ourselves to chaotic systems moving about our individual psychological basins of attraction. And you continue, day after day and year after year, to robotically follow the paths set by your unrecognized basin of attraction (in your mental and emotional phase space) and suffer so much unnecessary and detrimental suffering and pain.

This, dear Reader, is the true esoteric meaning of the term Fate; but, Fate need not be permanent or is it preassigned to you by three witches weaving a thread or boiling a cauldron. Changing your Fate, or more accurately placing yourself under a more appropriate set of laws, is a teachable skill and concerns the Path of Work with the Institute. At the Institute you will learn how to become more than a robot and how to exercise wise choice.

Destiny is not a kind of Fate. As Fate is not preassigned at birth, neither is Destiny. Everyone suffers Fate, but, not everyone has a Destiny. Destiny is a state of being which must be earned via super efforts in Study and Work. Destiny is born following immersion into the stream of enlightenment so to locate and swallow the seed of immortality so to become a cosmically significant being. A man or woman of Destiny has made an immortal soul.

A person having a Destiny can begin to work for the salvation of our species.