Summary: Listen to episode 288 of the Inspirational Living podcast: Fate vs. Free Will | Defying Astrology & Circumstance. Adapted from the book Within You is the Power by Henry Thomas Hamblin, published in 1920. Inspirational Podcast Excerpt: Welcome to the Inspirational Living podcast. Get notified of new episodes each week by subscribing to us at the iTunes store, Google Play, or your favorite podcast player. And if you have a spare moment, please do leave us a review. I always enjoy hearing from listeners who have been helped by our podcast. Today’s reading was edited and adapted from Within You is the Power by Henry Thomas Hamblin, published in 1920. Great has been the controversy in the past, over the vexing subject of fate versus free-will. On the one hand, fatalists claim that we are so closely bound to the wheel of fate it is impossible for us to live our lives in any different way than that which is mapped out for us. They can bring a quantity of first-class evidence in support of their claim and believe in their theory with all their heart. On the other hand, the advocates of free-will believe just as whole-heartedly that we are not bound at all, being as free as air. They, too, can bring plenty of evidence in support of their theory, which confirms to them in their belief. Each school of thought thinks that the other is wrong, yet they cannot both be wrong! Let us therefore examine the subject for ourselves, for it is an important one, being intimately connected with the manner in which we live our lives. First of all, let it be said that they are both wrong, in part, and both right, in part. Humanity is bound to the wheel, yet, at the same time, we have free-will. Let us, therefore, explain this seeming paradox. It is an ancient truth of mystical teaching that the human being, when it is unevolved and before it is "unfolded," is bound to the wheel of fate very closely. The unevolved human being follows its base desires, thus creating for itself a future from which it cannot escape. When however, we become more evolved and emancipated, we begins to resist following our base desires and strive, instead, to follow higher things. This creates for us a better future and thus we become free in comparison with our former slave state. We are a slave to fate as long as we are a slave to our base desires. We are, however, free to overcome lower things and thus rise to higher. When we do this, we cease to create a painful future for ourselves and thus become free.
