Question
What are the key insights from Brian D Smith's exploration of fate vs free will in his latest work?
Answer
A few themes keep emerging in this latest round of content on fate and free will.
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Everything may be “written,” but not rigid. Elissa Hope’s NDE points to a life plan where every second exists, yet we still experience choosing. Think “record already pressed,” but we needle our way through it.
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Past choices shape, but do not sentence, us. Richard Ashworth talks about how prior decisions haunt and constrain us, yet we can still redirect through awareness, self‑discipline, and wise use of time and place.
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Consciousness sits outside space‑time. Building on conversations with Bernardo Kastrup, what we call time (past/future, “before birth,” “after death”) is a cognitive scaffold. From that view, determinism vs free will looks different: the “whole loaf” exists, but we experience slicing it moment by moment.
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Individual agency is real, but not ultimate. At the deepest level there is one mind, expressing through many points of view. From the human vantage point, choice matters for growth, healing, and character. From the larger vantage, nothing is ever truly lost and there is no final “end.”
In short: there is likely a framework or pattern (fate), and within it, meaningful participation (free will) in how we grow, love, and respond.
Which part of this tension between plan and choice feels most alive or confusing for you right now?