If time isn’t linear, then maybe choice isn’t either.
So… how much of your free will is really free?
One of my latest Substack Notes says:
Do not mistake challenges as finite experiences, but rather as invitations to refine your personality in honor of who you came here to be, in reflection of what you came here to do, and in service of how you desire to contribute to a world in need of love.
These 3:
Who you came here to be.
What you came here to do.
How you desire to contribute.
…all shine light upon free will.
But let’s begin with the real kicker in this conversation around free will:
It can be confusing when we insert the understanding of time as non-linear and time as a mental construct. Time gets blended as we realize that the past and future intersect the present.
We know this because if we revisit the past, we can see how it is playing out within our present choices, affecting our future. And if we dip into our future, we can see how much of our present choices are affected by the past.
Now insert the idea of free will in relation to the perspective that our lives have already been shaped for us, potentially by us.
As in: Our soul came here with a “plan” or “will.”
When I say, “Who you came here to be”:
Why does that resonate with so many of us?
Is this really Earth school—where we are (as souls) here to learn, embrace challenges as opportunities, create freely, and experience the beauty of physical reality?
If we came here with a plan, a will, and we came here to be some-one, then how much choice do we really have?
It reminds me of that scene from The Matrix.
When Neo meets with the Oracle in the park, she offers him a piece of candy, and Neo hesitates for a moment and says:
Neo: “But if you already know, how can I make a choice?”
Oracle: “Because you didn’t come here to make the choice. You’ve already made it. You’re here to try to understand why you made it.”
This brings me to the energy of apathy—a manifestation of fear that, in many ways, has become a leading contributor to global suffering.
(Don’t worry, I will come back to free will.)
If we are operating from survival, we are limiting our perceptual capacities to fully receive the expansive possibilities that live within the ethers of our very minds (unconscious and conscious).
We are limiting our perceptual capacity simply because, coming into this world, our minds are easily/effortlessly/boundlessly influenced:
Societal expectations
Cultural norms
Economic disparity
Political propaganda
These 4 mental constructs, upheld by systems such as capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, and white supremacy, are, when examined, fundamentally designed to place value over some more than others, perpetuating the illusion of separation and influencing us to fall under the spell of powerlessness.
These systems seem larger than us.
But the truth is, these systems live inside of us, within our very psyche. The psyche, as in the source of energy here to either feed these systems or uproot them.
Another reference you may appreciate:
Have you read The Four Agreements? (Assuming you have, because it’s one of the most popular books in the realm of awakening.)
Don Miguel Ruiz uses a metaphor about pesticides in the mind when he talks about how we’re conditioned and domesticated by societal agreements. He compares fear-based programming to a kind of pesticide that spreads in our mind and clouds our perception.
And I am here calling a spade a spade—and in this case: capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy, and white supremacy. 🙂
Ok, so now getting back to free will.
If we are honest, are we making daily choices based on who we came here to be, what we came here to do, and how we desire to contribute to the world—or is the programming, or the “matrix,” fueling our choices?
Are we running the program of apathy or consciously making choices rooted in our freedom to live?
In a previous workshop, “You’re Not Chasing a Dream. You’re Becoming the One Who Can Hold It”, I spoke to how we are conduits for divine intelligence here to co-create through us as we uproot what no longer serves us and rewrite a new story (or perhaps remember one we once knew) rooted in the oneness of all that is.
Could it be that these systems were created unconsciously?
We as human beings, multi-dimensional beings, have access to energetic creative consciousness, so could we be the ones to perpetuate forms of fear-based oppressive perceptions through what we say, how we feel, what we think, and do?
See, my fellow human who desires a more just world… things are getting pretty intense here on planet Earth. What we are witnessing is the collapse of an old identity rooted in materialism, manifesting as the perception of separation (infused by invisible borders). And that collapse is not only “out there,” but it is working within our very psyche.
This body—the container of our psyche—is a portal of and for creation.
Our work in this time and within this space is to peel back the layers, untangle the perceptual threads, and lean into our creative pursuits as the natural indicators of returning home to who we are.
Reflective Prompts:
Where am I acting out of habit, fear, or inherited belief?
What would it mean to make a choice in service to union rather than separation?
Free will now becomes less about how much choice we actually have and more of an invitation to be amongst the density we call life on Earth.
To rewire the programs of oppressive systems that have held us down.
To reclaim our agency as active co-participants in shaping this reality.
To create a world that reflects the beauty of our diversity—universal consciousness made manifest.
So, are you choosing life in alignment with your authentic truth, or are you running a program based on an image of who the world told you to be?
I think the most honest answer to that question is: Both.
Our mind and body, as a separate self, are running a program. And our soul—our connection with divine intelligence—seeks to remind us of our free will and meet that will through us.
And so the question becomes: Whose program are we here to run?
The one that perpetuates separation or the one that remembers the union of all that is.
The choice is yours. And the choice is ours.
And so I will leave you with the 4th agreement: Always do your best.
Live unapologetically YOU. Be amongst the manifestations your life is creating within each moment—and please, take this all in. <3
Be kind, stay weird, and remember who you are.
-Christine
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