(07-21-2009, 04:07 AM)Ali Quadir Wrote: Monica, isn't pre life programming a kind of breaking of free will? If you were planning on something before life, but chicken out before your feet hit the water and not be able to get out of it. Then do you have free will? Or has free will become subject to some other entity, like some evil god of past self?
Not past self, but future self. My understanding from the Law of One is that pre-incarnational programming is from our Higher Selves (future selves) which of course is part of us, so it's still 'us' that is making the choices.
I see pre-incarnational programming like enrolling in a school (I think of 3D as school) and establishing a curriculum. Say, for example, my Higher Self decides I need to learn to be more patient, forgiving, and generous. My HS orchestrates events in my life to teach me those things: catalyst.
I have the choice as to how I respond to that catalyst. If I ignore it and don't learn my lessons, I'll just have to learn those lessons some other time. Like if a student passes algebra but flunks chemistry, they just take algebra again, right? So say I learn patience but not generosity. My HS will just program more catalyst, whether in this life or in a future life.
There has been much discussion of pre-incarnational programming in the Law of One and in the later sessions, because of Carla's own health challenges. This can shed a lot of light on our own challenges. I don't think it means that we have to just accept whatever happens to us! We always have the choice to create a new reality for ourselves, but it would be ridiculous to think that all options are equally available.
For example, I am very short. Say I decide I want to be a fashion model. (I'm a little old for that, ha, but just for the sake of example.) My pre-incarnational programming sort of precluded that career choice, by simple nature of the fact that it's exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, for a short woman to make it as a fashion model! I don't think I'd have much success as a basketball player, either!
Does this mean I have no free will? Does this mean my HS limited me? No and yes. 3D reality has inherent limitations. I don't see them as limitations, though, so much as parameters. We have free will within those parameters.
The key here is that the parameters themselves are very, very broad. Maybe being a fashion model or basketball player are off the table for me, but wow, there are literally thousands of other options open to me!
Another example:
I have a friend who was torn between 2 lovers. (They both had the same first name, too, so that made it interesting!) She was worried about making the 'right' decision. The 2 men were quite opposite in their outlooks on life and lifestyles. I advised her to follow her heart and not worry about which was the 'right' choice, because if she chose John#1 this time, she would learn certain lessons from that relationship, and whatever she didn't learn, she would learn later, like maybe in a future lifetime paired up with John#2, or maybe in some other way.
As in school, we have to choose whether to take biology or chemistry this year. Whichever we don't choose, we can take next year.
I realize, of course, that this lifetime is extra-special, because of the Harvest. So I am NOT suggesting that we put off learning lessons that seem important to us! I'm just over-simplifying to illustrate my point about how we still have free will within pre-programmed parameters.
I think the pre-programming is largely irrelevant, because we don't really know what those parameters are anyway, so why worry about it? I believe in having the mindset that anything is possible! It's just that we have to decide if it's worth it or not. Sure, it's possible there could be a new modeling agency that is specifically looking for middle-aged short women! Hey, it could happen! Is it probable? No, but it's ever possible.
I guess if I wanted to be a model badly enough, I would do what I could to manifest it. (I don't, of course, want to be a model at all, so I guess I'll never know!) I guess if some short people wanted to play pro basketball badly enough, they could devise a tailored court with lower baskets and limits on height, to level the playing field. And if they did that, then those choices must have been within the pre-programmed parameters. It's within the parameters of pioneers in science to break down old barriers and create new possibilities. But that too was a manifestation of their choosing that option out of all the available options.
I'm sure there are many short women who would love to be models, but, because of the height limitation, don't ever feed those aspirations. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Their Higher Selves probably thought they could make better use of the lifetime by choosing a career other than modeling. The height limitation just narrowed the playing field a bit, but it also opened up other options that a tall woman might not have! So it all sort of balances out.
(07-21-2009, 04:07 AM)Ali Quadir Wrote: I've been thinking along the same lines though. I thought if your body is part of who you are. Then when a immunological weakness attracts disease. Basically you'd be the cause of your own mysery..
But in that situation too. It's not as if you have free will in the matter. Your power was given not to the god of "past self" but to the god of "physical self"..
Both philosophies work. But where did free will go?
I see the physical body as a manifestation of our thoughts, emotions, and intentions, using the pre-incarnational programming merely as a starting point. I was just reading a book that posited that our bodies do indeed evolve within a single lifetime. As one who has experienced psychic healing, I don't believe we necessarily have to limit ourselves to the current state of our physical bodies. It really depends on the individual. I'm not even going to attempt growing 3 inches! Is it possible? Not in my reality! But can a person overcome a genetic predisposition to a disease? In many cases, a resounding YES! It really depends on what the curriculum was and which classes the student decides to enroll in. Are they going to learn chemistry (learning to overcome resentment about having a disease, which means the disease is serving them and helping them evolve spiritually), or biology (learning about letting go of obstacles and getting strong, by overcoming the disease). Both are valid choices.