We are the masters of our own destiny… How you lead your life affects what happens in your life, in every single aspect of your life… However, at the same time, everything exists within the framework of Divine Will.

[Darren] How do we reconcile fate and free will when we’re talking about God and we’re talking about karma as well? And, what attitude should that give us to our life? Is it all written already? Is it all going to happen, or do we have some sort of agency, like you’ve just talked about, to change and manipulate karmic pattern?

[Mark] I think there are various ways to answer that question that may seem contradictory but aren’t. First of all, let’s look at what’s helpful to us, really. And I think what is most helpful to us is to contemplate on, and be aware of, the fact that we are the masters of our own destiny.

In fact, I had a thought the other day where I was looking at my life and I sort of thought, “What next?” And I felt like the answer was life saying to me “Well, you tell me. It’s up to you to decide what’s next.” And it’s common sense. You can see how you lead your life affects what happens in your life, in every single aspect of your life. If you exercise, you’ll get fitter. If you study, you’ll become more knowledgeable. If you’re nicer to people, generally speaking people will be nicer to you… just to pick simple examples.

People who are very successful are very driven people. Michelangelo, for example, said “If you knew how much effort I put in you wouldn’t think there was anything amazing or miraculous about my art.” It’s simply a matter of putting the effort in, and you see this – you see people who have had the worst of starts in life sometimes who attain greatness, and other people who have everything on a plate and completely screw everything up.

“God is all” – literally. Our essence is Divine, yes, but also every single part of us is Divine, because if there’s a part of us that isn’t Divine you’re saying there’s something outside of God.

If you want to take it to a more philosophical level, which is often misunderstood, I think the first thing you need to appreciate is that “God is all” – literally. Our essence is Divine, yes, but also every single part of us is Divine, because if there’s a part of us that isn’t Divine you’re saying there’s something outside of God. So it’s not just like, here we are not Divine, and there’s some kind of magic bean inside the core of our being that is our Divinity. It’s not really like that. We are completely Divine all the time because God is all.

However, we as we are now are the lower aspects of God. We are God having involved itself deeply into ignorance etc. Our essence is pure. But what we’ve become is not, and we can see this quite easily. So when I say “all is Divine”, it does not mean that I think that everything is good or everything is okay. It simply means that there’s nothing outside of God. That being the case, we have to remember that however bad we are, we are never separated from God. That doesn’t mean to say that doing bad is okay, because the whole point of suffering and evil through experience is so that we can see that that is not the way to go. That is its purpose.

According to the Cosmic Masters the whole of creation exists within at least seven dimensions, of which the first and the most mysterious – and perhaps the most powerful – I’d say almost certainly the most powerful, actually, is Divine Will. So everything happens within the framework of Divine Will.

So, yes we have free will – completely we have free will, and we have to use that free will in the right way to advance and that’s our responsibility. It’s not God’s. It’s not anyone else’s. It’s ours. However, at the same time, everything exists within the framework of Divine Will. And I just don’t think I have the ability to explain it more clearly than that. I think it’s the kind of thing that you have to really think about deeply. The unity that we have with God is a very real thing and it’s almost terrifying because it seems so unbelievable. And yet, it is true. If the statement “God is all” is true, then that means “God is all”.

The unity that we have with God is a very real thing and it’s almost terrifying because it seems so unbelievable. And yet, it is true. If the statement “God is all” is true, then that means “God is all”.

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