Fate or free will? How much control do we have?

The Law of Attraction is based on the process that we are creators and masters of our futures. 

So, where does fate fit into that?

Fate is the notion that everything in life is pre-determined. I have my path, and you have yours. A fixed course of events awaits us, and there is nothing we can do to change it: ‘What will be, will be.’ 

Everything that happens to us is driving us in a certain direction. It’s all part of a higher plan that is out of our control. We just follow our path and, no matter what we do (or think we are making a conscious decision to do), we’re going to inevitably end up with the same fate. 

The fate vs. free will discussion has strong reasoning for the existence of both. 

Due to studying the Law of Attraction for many years, I’m definitely a believer in free will, but I don’t discount the notion of fate. 

I have done a lot of reading about this, and the studies and articles that stood out to me were the ones that show that, in fact, they do both exist simultaneously.

How is this possible, and what are the consequences of it being true? 

Does it mean that we can’t attract anything we want? What are the restrictions? Are we in control, or is something else pulling our strings? 

I will explain my understanding of the studies conducted by hypnotist Robert Schwartz, hypnotherapists Michael Newton (author of ‘Journey of Souls’), and Dolores Cannon Manifestation (author of ‘Between Life and Death’). They have done extensive research on Between Lives Soul Regression (BLSR) and past life regressions.

A lot of their investigation is supported by individual accounts from psychics, people who have had out-of-body experiences or near-death experiences, and communication that comes from outside of our universe. 

Let’s take a closer look! 

Soul agreements

Before your soul was united with the body you have now, it made an agreement.

At the end of your previous life and after a period of rest and evaluation, you decided to be reborn.

Your soul wanted to develop. It wanted to study, learn, have adventures, and enjoy itself, so the best available option was to choose a life on earth.

A gathering was arranged with your soul plus a group of higher spirit guides (the Council of the Elders) and soul mates. These kindred spirits were members of your family and close friends whose souls had previously been connected with yours for many lifetimes.

Over the many incarnations, you have all supported each other, playing different functions in each other’s lives to offer more experiences and development opportunities to each other. 

During this gathering, where you were considering what you wanted from your next incarnation, you identified a number of objectives that you wanted to achieve. There were particular life lessons you wanted to discover and specific skills that you wanted to develop.

You also aspired to evolve the qualities that your soul had. The most important of these virtues for you to develop were tolerance, belief, and unconditional love.

Certified hypnotist Robert Schwartz collaborated with mediums when writing his books entitled, ‘Your Soul’s Plan,’ ‘Your Soul’s Gift,’ and ‘Your Soul’s Love.’ He describes the soul’s plan like an intricate and detailed flow chart. This means that your predestined life plan isn’t a simple, straight line, but rather is a seemingly endless series of options, changes of direction, shifts, and twists! 

There are many different ways that you can develop your desired virtues. For example, you can learn tolerance through positive events that happen in your lifetime or negative ones. Your soul can develop as a result of victory or failure, abundance or lack, passion or solitude. 

The possibilities and permutations were limitless. 

Your kindred spirits were happy to be involved in your new life, playing the characters and parts that were necessary for you to develop. To return the favor, you volunteered to fulfill various character in their lives, including:

• Loyal friend
• Thoughtful and devoted child
• Competitive and ambitious sibling

This moves us nicely onto the next thing that I want to talk to you about. 

Your people

There are many sayings about family and friends, including: 

You cannot alter your family members, where you were born, and the type of environment you were born into within your current lifetime. But what does this mean? Were these things predestined?

In theory, yes, but your soul decided them, so they actually originate from the free will that your soul had before being born into your earthly body.

The people who play key roles in your life, such as your family and friends, have been a part of your previous lives for many incarnations, which is why you have such a comforting, strong connection. They may not have always played the same characters, but they have always been by your side.

Whenever you feel an instant connection with someone – whether that’s someone who turns into a new best friend or becomes your arch-rival, they’re part of your group. 

Sometimes you will meet new people and instantly feel like you have known them for years. Or perhaps they feel really familiar to you, but you don’t know where or how you know them.

On the contrary, there may be others you meet, and you have really strong negative feelings towards them, but on the face of it, they haven’t done anything that makes you feel that way. It’s just a very natural reaction that comes from deep inside you. 

The people in your life might be there to teach you a lesson that’s not an easy one to learn. For example, instead of being supportive, you might have a complicated relationship with your parents leading you to question their nature and wonder how it can be part of your life plan. 

Perhaps your whole journey isn’t an easy one, and you often question why you were given this life when others have it much simpler. 

You might also feel that you are so fundamentally different from some members of your family that you separate yourself from them because you feel like you were born into the wrong one! 

All of this is okay. 

All of these experiences are being given to you for a reason. They are all part of the life plan that your higher self designed, and each challenge is specifically constructed, so you develop the virtues you wished for. 

If you feel like you are stuck in an environment with people that don’t boost you, maintain focus on your intuition and pick up on any messages that come to you from the Universe. Concentrate on attracting more positive people and circumstances to your life so that you improve your experience. 

When you have been born on this earth, you are completely free to choose whichever direction you want to go in your life. 

As I mentioned earlier, the flow chart of your life plan has many different options, and there are several ways that you can learn the lessons and obtain the virtues that your soul wants to gain during this lifetime. If you find that you’re making choices that seem to be taking you down the difficult, painful path, remember that you can change direction and pick another route to the destination. 

Self-development through suffering

A lot of people who have had extensive or severe past trauma find the Law of Attraction difficult to comprehend. When a child is really ill, how is it possible or right to say that they have manifested and attracted this to themselves? 

How can it be true that when people are starving, neglected or impoverished, this is due to them having a negative mindset?

It’s natural and common for us to feel that we are victims of the events and conditions we face in our lives. 

Robert Schwartz includes a true account about a lady called Christina in his book, ‘Your Soul’s Plan.’

Christina was 20-years-old and worked in a busy office building. One of her daily duties was to pick up her manager’s post from the post room on the ground floor. 

One day that seemed just like any other, she went to the post room, but this day things were different, and her life was about to change, a pivotal year some might say.

As she reached into the box to collect the mail, there was a massive explosion that propelled her across the room. Someone had delivered a pipe bomb to her manager. 

Christina had been thrown 10 feet across the room and slammed into a wall. The flames temporarily blinded her from the explosion, two fingers were severed, and her eardrums burst. It was incredible she survived. 

Over the next two years, Christina had ten operations to fix her physical injuries.

When she was recuperating in the hospital, something very unexpected occurred. She heard a voice when there was no one there. 

The trauma of the horrendous event had triggered her clairaudient abilities.

The voice said to her, “You decided this.” This really shocked Christina because she could not understand why anyone would decide to experience such an awful ordeal. 

The voice explained to Christina that in her life plan before this incarnation on earth, she had chosen to become a skilled healer. She knew that she would be able to heal herself after the explosion and that such an event that explains life would be what she needed to experience to decide to develop her gift of healing.  

So that’s what Christina chose to do.

She qualified with a Doctorate in Speech-Language Pathology and established a practice through which she has worked with thousands of people. 

In addition to being able to forgive the person who sent the bomb that could have destroyed her life and her entire world, she feels grateful for what happened because of the radical change it caused and the impetus it gave her to achieve her soul’s purpose.

This is such a powerful message. 

Imagine that you too could feel that every event in your life, even the worst, most traumatic ones, have occurred in order for you to develop and rise up a stronger person, rather than they’ve happened to beat you down. How different would you feel about your life and yourself? 

There would be no more feelings of blame, guilt, sorrow, or suffering. 

Your past would not have any control over you – you could feel empowered that you have taken from it what you need, and now you’re moving on stronger and wiser. 

In summary

After researching and analyzing the publications of Robert Schwartz and Dolores Cannon, among other people who have extensive experience working with people in their between-lives state, I think there is no clear division that separates fate and free will. 

Their research shows that the soul pre-decides our fate and ultimate destination before it is born into our human body on earth, but while we are alive in that body, we have the free will to create and direct our experiences. 

The biggest thing that I would like you to focus on is that you always have options. While you are alive on this earth, you can choose which route you want to take to your destination. 

Remember the complicated flow chart that makes up your life plan? 

You do not need to travel in a straight line – even if other people want you to. You can choose to take as many twists and turns in the road as you like. The end destination is what’s important, not the path you take to arrive there. 

There are many ways to realize your ambitions and manifest everything your soul wants during your lifetime. 

Ignore where you were born, who your family is, and your environment – those things do not define you.

You can flee the nest and carve out your own life in your own world. 

If you have experienced trauma in the past, choose not to be a victim: choose to use it as a source of inspiration that will not beat you down but will build you up to be stronger, tougher, and wiser than ever.
Become the phoenix who rises from the ash and lives again. 

The last page of your book might be written, but you have many blank pages to fill to write the rest of the story. It’s up to you which adventures you want to fill it with. 

Which path are you going to take today?