Intuition and Life's Decisions: Is it Fate or Free Will?

[shantipath]

I have often wondered about certain decisions that I have made in my life, about which my gut instinct was negative or my inner voice had given me advice to not proceed and I ignored them and did the opposite. In retrospect, all these decisions met with an unhappy ending and I was left second-guessing myself and my judgement for some time.

There was also the case of a decision which my gut said I should pursue but I didn't and instead I made one of the wrong decisions (mentioned above).

After several years I realized that I did learn some important lessons about myself from all of the unhappy experiences thrown up by my forewarned mistaken decisions. So, there does seem to have been some method to my madness!    

I sometimes wonder if I may, perhaps, have turned my life towards some other experiences and life lessons, than the ones that I have faced and learnt, if I had pursued the decision which my gut endorsed 22 years ago. After all those years, it is just pure speculation for me.

However, this speculation has led me to ponder as to whether it is Fate or Free Will (or a combination of both) which determines the decisions and paths that we follow in our lives.

According to some people and some philosophies, our lives are pre-determined or driven by Fate and so the life lessons which I learnt must have been pre-ordained and I could not have changed anything. In an effort to understand myself, I once asked myself as to why I made one of the unhappy decisions about which I was warned: my inner voice regretfully answered that it had to happen - seeming to point in this particular case to pre-determination.

Yet others say that there is an element of Free Will that we can exercise in our lives. When I remember the distinct gut instinct or clear inner voice which guided that I should not make those decisions, I wonder if I exercised my Free Will in making the mistaken choices.

I have since then based more faith on my own intuition and inner voice. Yet, I am still left with the question:

Did I change my Fate with my Free Will or was I Fated to experience what I did, in spite of intuitive warnings? Or were some experiences Fated and others chosen by my Free Will?

I'd be interested to see what others may have to say on the subject of the role of Fate, Free Will, and Intuition/Gut/Inner Voice in the decisions and paths we take in our lives.

[Zetascair20086]

If there is no free will and everything is predestined then we don't decide anything and our lives are pointless. I don't believe in any form of predestination, though I do believe it is possible to accurately see the future or predict it. I do not see this as a contradiction. Seeing the future does not mean it is set in stone (consider the many failed predictions for each that is correct). By our foreknowledge we can change what we see. If we know our path and can see where we are going we can change our path. I'm hesitant to take actions based solely on my intuition, I consider it just one factor in decision making, rather than the sole guide.

[spiritalk]

Perhaps there is a subtle combination of both?  Predetermination of all things would certainly eliminate any purpose to living it at all, as all things would already be determined.  And lessons are about our learning and applying those lessons into the next step of our journey, so we are learning (changing) all the time.

We are very creative beings.  We plant the seeds of our thoughts and manifest the results in our lives.  We are large and in charge, no matter how we try to 'blame' others or dismiss our own creative abilities.  They work for us when we understand and perhaps a bit against us when we don't understanding.

The larger picture of being in the right place at the right time for the right things to happen seems to be determined by the universe.  Sometimes we just have to follow along and find our own good out of what is presented.

[CuriousMe]

there's more than one way to learn the same lesson. It could be that you come into life with the purpose to learn an important lesson, the universe will make sure it happens. As for how you live your life and what state you get to the lesson is up to you.

just an opinion

[fisk_82]

i define gut feeling as something u learned from the past and u keep it as record for some specific response "fight or flight'... and that record is saved in our brain as unconscious memory
this record is starting from our birth time till we grown up... and activating in relation with event
so i can tell, basically when we think that we have some negative feeling that related to some events, the best we can do is start to do some self analysis
and then choose the best rational thinking based on the consequence we predicted

[bryanskrantz]

The one thing I've learned throughout my short adult life is ALWAYS trust your gut.  I have used it to help my friends in tough situations and it is right 99.99% of the time.

[spiritalk]

there's more than one way to learn the same lesson. It could be that you come into life with the purpose to learn an important lesson, the universe will make sure it happens. As for how you live your life and what state you get to the lesson is up to you.

just an opinion

As individual, unique beings of course there would be more than one way to learn a lesson.  How my thoughts go into a situation would be according to my experiences, just as yours would be according to your own understanding of your experiences.  

You come into life a blank sheet.  You allow (or not) the universe (God) to prepare a place for you.  He has a plan.  Then you see all the distractions and things available to you.  You pick and choose according to your own experiences and what you have decided to learn from each and every lesson.  


Even when you don't realize it, you are learning and growing according to your own experiences and how you apply previous experiences.

[CuriousMe]

As individual, unique beings of course there would be more than one way to learn a lesson.  How my thoughts go into a situation would be according to my experiences, just as yours would be according to your own understanding of your experiences.  

You come into life a blank sheet.  You allow (or not) the universe (God) to prepare a place for you.  He has a plan.  Then you see all the distractions and things available to you.  You pick and choose according to your own experiences and what you have decided to learn from each and every lesson.  


Even when you don't realize it, you are learning and growing according to your own experiences and how you apply previous experiences.

Though we have different experiences we can still hold the same lessons or values which were gained in unique ways to the individual.

But i don't think that there are necessarily distractions. If you were born with a purpose to better your soul, though with some real effort i suppose you could avoid those lessons (suicide for example), the universe will ensure events line up for you to do so.

If your life lesson for example was to learn the value of love, you could choose to be a drug addict, a musician, a lawyer, or anything and the universe will make sure your lesson to value love is accomplished

You could argue if you became the drug addict (or whatever) you're learning the lessons associated with that lifestyle, however my idea of the destined lesson to be learned only encompasses the lessons we came to Earth to learn. Any others that you experience through conscious action are freewill, and up to the individual. You have one or two main unavoidable goals which are fated, and the rest is freewill.

again just an opinion  :smt002 P.S. in sum i agree with Spirtalk

-CuriousMe

[spiritalk]

But that is soooooooooo limiting!  

We come to life to learn (period).  All our experiences are teaching us something - you sort of addressed that with the drug addict thing.  But there is so much more to learn from every experience.  

The difference comes in when we apply a spiritual or material approach to life.  You will find the lessons learned on that soul/spirit level when you allow yourself that approach.  There is nothing so pre-determined that can not be opened to a whole new can of worms in lessons.

[CuriousMe]

But that is soooooooooo limiting!  

limiting?  :smt017

i thought it was liberating knowing there was only one or two lessons you were going to be "forced" to live and the rest you are able to determine for yourself.

I wouldn't argue we come to life to learn (period), but i would argue there are things despite our choices that the universe will make us learn.

lol oh well, it was just an idea any way

[Rhutobello]

I wouldn't argue we come to life to learn (period), but i would argue there are things despite our choices that the universe will make us learn.

When it comes to why we come to life, then I think our main purpose is to give life, and by that secure the evolution

Although I think something has gone wrong, since we are able to produce offspring, as often as we can (1 month periods.....9 month carry), and that we haven't other enemies then ourselves, and by that we have changed the balance of the Nature.

But maybe that is the plan

It has happen before, with other species.
In the beginning there was no oxygen, but a more  toxic sulfur air.
Then a species, which lived from the sulfur, enjoyed life, and was spread all over the world, its waste was oxygen, and slowly it destroyed itself, but opened up for a more oxygen rich life.....after all..."we are just energies"...living in a chemical world.....which we change everyday with our (mis)use, and waste.

I think it is few thing the Universe want us to learn, if any,
The Universe don't see us as You and me, but as a more homogeneous species.
We, as persons, have a Free Will and a Brain,and can do the best out of our life, but if you want to waste it in bed...no one will bother from the Universe.

It is how we survive that is important from the Universe, it is our way of surviving that become mirrored in our genes, and which is delivered to future generations, that be man or something else that have arisen from our species.

As what is important for mankind, then it is our "collected" information and development.
This is delivered in an ever going education in schools, science environment, and so on.....so if we shall talk about a reason for life, beside making offspring , then contribution to mankind must be a good deed  

But it seems we have got a curse by being "Ego centered", instead of Species centered,  because we always look at everything from our own little place, and even if we can agree that something has to be done, we can never start to do it ourselves, until other have proved they can do it first..........and then we are in deadlock
It is also this that produce the great unfairness in the world, with richness, and poverty....the need to collect riches...the need to protect oneself from loosing power ...the struggle for power and so on.

From Universe this has no great impact...just look back on Earlier Great Nations, which was far ahead for their time....today we have to dig some of them out of the ground of mother Nature...she will always manage to bury our creations

Well well...I might be far out in the desert by now...must be the age...what was the question again  :)

[spiritalk]

Just a thought...........have you ever spoken with a new mom who wishes they came with a manual?  Well, the fact is we don't.  It is what has kept me believing in free will choices from nurture and nature to learn and grow.  

There was a TV show, entertainment to be sure, that suggested that we are male or female because of nurture.  This is utter nonsense.  There are hormones (which we can not replace with chemical ones) and there are inbred neurons in male and female.  You see they have found we all begin as female and the male gains something within to express masculinity.

Where do all these lessons come from?  I do not believe we are pre-programmed.  We are such unique individuals and our free will kicks in to guide our path.

[Rhutobello]

 I do not believe we are pre-programmed.  We are such unique individuals and our free will kicks in to guide our path.

I agree with you

But each and one of us carry our families genes, which gives us the characteristic of our Family.
Not necessarily only from Mother and Father, but from the line.

We as person can do the best out of our life, with our free will and our abilities, but we are given an "head start" ,from birth with, with our genes, that be both for good and bad.

But yes...we are unique...and we have a responsibility toward ourselves, to do the best out of our life, and that can only happen if we use our free will, else you will live on the chance....just like a boat on the sea that haven't a steering wheel, where the wind act as karma

[AyeCantSeeYou]

Well well...I might be far out in the desert by now...must be the age...what was the question again  :)

 I'm sorry, but Rhutobello, you had me laughing after I read this sentence.

But yes...we are unique...and we have a responsibility toward ourselves, to do the best out of our life, and that can only happen if we use our free will, else you will live on the chance....just like a boat on the sea that haven't a steering wheel, where the wind act as karma

I agree that it's ultimately up to each person. People make choices every day; some make good ones, some make bad ones. Most people know right from wrong. I say most because there are people with mental limitations that can't differentiate between right and wrong, hot and cold, etc. We live with the choices we make, and, hopefully, most people learn from them. Fate can bring someone to a particular place/lesson, with free will having a say in the outcome.

[Zetascair20086]

I feel that this situation is either or. Either everything is fated or nothing is. When you consider how much of our free will would need to be subverted to make even small acts of fate to come true the notion of pre-planning does not make sense.

I do believe that we come into life with goals and people we want to meet but that we only have a rough outline, and things may play out wildly different than we suspected. Nothing is predetermined, although the circumstances we will be born into and the likely path that will lead us down I believe we can estimate and predict, sometimes with a very high degree of accuracy. "Fated" meetings could be more about two minds communicating unconsciously than something subverting our free will to make it happen. Although scientists have discovered our unconscious mind is often making decisions before our conscious mind does, so you could say the unconscious is subverting our conscious free will. But  if the conscious mind is just there to be driven by the desires of the unconscious, then our true selves lie in the unconscious, so we wouldn't be subverting anything.

So long as the future is changeable it is not inconsistent with having free will that we could see the future. Seeing a particular future doesn't mean that it is predetermined, just that based on the current path we are on is extremely likely. So I guess I don't believe so much in fate so much as the belief  that things are more predictable than we think. Our mind is like a giant supercomputer, able to understand things and ideas and to forecast based on these in ways we can't currently understand. I feel once we learn more about the way our brain functions, and once computers can link with brains, this ability will be understood far better and become a major tool in guiding our own fates. Quite ironically, it is only by knowing our fates can we really have true free will!