CHANCE, FATE OR DESTINY?

Something I have been watching and considering for some time now is the meaning...or more closely, the possibility that chance does not really exist at all....its a complex concept, like everything imagined by man, and is not without its contradictions.
Fate or destiny, which if believed, would cancel out chance.
I have had the great fortune to have had a realisation on many occasions and to then be put in a situation to have it confirmed as solidly as I had felt it to be, in my eyes, "correct".
An example of this was on a plane, not only once.....but in this case it fits well.
I had been doing some intense "unlearning" of that which i believed myself to be.....this was by choice for the last 20 years, but the way it came on and out of me was far from the way I expected or by any means wished it to happen.....but thats another story.....
After months of being ripped apart, I realised, as I have said before, that there truly was no right or wrong. They were merely relative ideas.
I took a plane to see the realised master I had been to see often over about the last ten years in Melbourne.(refer to sailor Bob on the links) And had the great fortune while in this state to be sat next to 2 priests for the journey......hahahaha.....I was brought up in a religious family and attended a religious school my whole life....At one point I believed wholly everything that they did. Needless to say I took this opportunity by the horns and put my headphones down as soon as I found out they were men of the cloth...or at least studying to be....Chance? I dont think so!
The conversation turned quickly to morals.....rights and wrongs....who had the ultimate say? who made the ultimate rules? And, of course, what happened if you didnt follow them?!
Their argument was obvious, the ol' ten commandments talk...I'd heard everything they had to say 1000000 times and knew the conspiracies surrounding religions/politictics etc also. But this was not at all what I wanted to talk to them about.
I asked them, by their rules, how many terrible things they had done in their lives and what regret they held or guilt if any.
They told me of countless tales of things they had done wrong and the guilt they felt etc.....I had done all those things and more, yet I felt nothing.
I asked them if they were happy where they were now? both of them, with large smiles, said that they were elated that they had now found god and all those sins would now be washed away and forgiven.....I then asked, if they changed one thing...just one of those apparent "wrong things" that they had done, hell even one of the "right" things!, would their path have continued to their happiness now? or would that resistance have changed their course in their life and lead them somewhere completely different?
After staring blankly for a bit they then answered that there was every possibility that they may not be where they were, all happy n all, had they just not performed one of those "morally"incorrect or correct  actions.
So how could an action that lead you to your current happiness be wrong or right?
Did you ever have the choice of either performing that action or not? Or was it destined...prewritten that that was just always gonna happen because that was your fate?
We are generally so preoccupied with our reaction to a situation that we fail to see any code, any writing on the wall that we are on the only track we are or were ever gonna be on.
We know how we want our path to be...smooth, happy and easy.....consistent with what  we have grown up learning how we like stuff to be...not how stuff is.
I have had so many experiences that reflect back these findings that it has become almost impossible to ignore that things just are what they are...whats happening in your life was quite possibly always going to happen. Now its just the reaction that needs attention....the reaction is the mirror to show you just how much resistance we are putting up against what may just be fate anyway.
If you believe in reincarnation, they say it takes something like 100000 births to create then undo your karma. Each life reflecting karma left over from a previous lifetime for you to transcend. I have never been sure on the whole rebirth thing, I am still not sure, but in this case it is beginning to make sense to me. I would usually ask "what is reborn if it is merely a body and an ego/phantom, which dies anyways?"....Now we are approaching questions about the soul.....another time.
So after all that, I am starting to feel and see a lot more consciously that there is almost a map laid out on how your life will run...And the faster and higher energy is getting, the faster these almost predictable events, or should I say predictable feelings brought on by specific events, are coming in.
Everything and everyone presents itself to you for a reason. Being conscious of your feelings and reactions to these things is the key to realising all the crap that makes you up. Awareness and consciousness are the greatest healing tools we possess!
There is never anything that happens for no reason...someone you meet for no reason....a reaction you have for no reason. Investing in why or what these things are or why they present themselves is your only true way of clearing the junk from your goal of pure understanding and realisation, of being healed and helping others to heal. That is the destiny on the road of fate.
Soooooo I get to the gurus home and sit quietly in satsang for the most part, and the topic of right and wrong rears up without me ever bringing it up. So after listening to much discussion amongst my peers and observing Bobs slight smile and laid back silence, I say to him, "So Bob....ultimately, there is no right or wrong is there?"......He just smiles gently and says.."No".
Fate?

The Path

stop looking for a path to follow....open your eyes...you are on it.

Dharma

This has been on my mind since karma..... It's always been my understanding that dharma is the natural law of how things should flow. Or more intimately, your path to realization or truth. Definitions of dharma, in my opinion, can appear contradictory. But I guess that's always going to be the case when you try and explain the unexplainable with a mind and words which it is beyond. It seems to explain that dharma is living "right"or following a set of rules and morals that are considered correct.... Everyone wants freedom... But they juuuust want a few rules or instructions to get there. To me, this is where it all collapses on itself once again. Who discerns these rules/ morals of correctness? The curve ball that's thrown at me to learn from will always be different to the one thrown at someone else. One set of rules to approach infinite variations of the curve ball will get no one anywhere. Your dharma is your path. We all have possibly simar things to transcend, yet there is no one approach. Mindfulness of the karma that continues to recur in life is your guide, your dharma. Then mindfulness and specific personal action to go about undoing or transcending these recurring "stones on the road" is your "way". Drop your beliefs.... If you believe in something you shut off to other possibilities, which once again are infinite. Right, morally or otherwise, for you, may not be so for me. Your rules, rights and wrongs etc.  become your religion.
Each issue within your dharma will present itself with many faces until it knows for sure you have seen through it and let it go.
You have to be like water and flow with what comes up on "your" path.... Forget about judging someone else's! As an imperfect being, you have no right to even assume you know why they are like they are or act like they do. Maybe it's their way of transcending their issues. So focus on yourself. What are the stones in your river? Can u flow over them or around them? Can you pass all these stones in a mindfull manner and end up lapping peacefully on the river bank? Or like so many, will you let life turn into rapids and end in a cascading water fall because you were to busy not paying attention and liberating yourself from this dream?
Heaven is here and now.... And it doesn't give a shit what you look like, what you eat, smoke etc. as long as it is approached purposefully an truthfully, with understanding and action.... Whatever action that may be for you.
Follow your heart and energy.... Be prepared to change your approach when the energy changes the game... And it will, as that is its nature.

i had "maybe" tattooed on me many years ago to remind me of this taoist story.....i have told the story many times when people have asked me why i have it tattooed on me....it has huge relevance to me so i thought i would share....
and i thought i would throw the other one in just because its another favourite........

Maybe (Taoist story)

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically. 

"Maybe," the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed.

"Maybe," replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. "Maybe," answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "Maybe," said the farmer.

Obsessed: crossing the river

Two traveling monks reached a river where they met a young woman. Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up onto his shoulders, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other bank. She thanked him and departed. As the monks continued on their way, the one was brooding and preoccupied. Unable to hold his silence, he spoke out. 

"Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!"

"Brother," the second monk replied, "I set her down on the other side, while you are still carrying her."