Yin and Yang
One problem with the eternal debate over fatalism versus free-will, is the very premise for it is invalid.
The immature mind seeks to resolve reality by choosing one option or another. The evolved mind understands reality to be more complex than that.
While there is a place for the either-or model, our universe operates at the deepest level, on the principle of yin and yang, not yin or yang.
Yin, in this instance represents the acquiescent state associated with fatalism: the ability to welcome and accept everything life brings your way, whether painful or pleasant, as an expression of absolute universal love and as the inevitable result of the near-infinite chain of cause and effect originally instigated at the inception of existence itself, as something already ‘written’ and therefore not to be struggled with.
Yang represents the active principle in respect of focusing one’s will towards achieving a specific goal or set of goals, thereby instigating a new strand in the chain of cause and effect. (Ascertaining whether the choices involved in the latter are also predetermined or not falls within the realm of mental masturbation).
Both the acquiescent and proactive modes, working in harmony, are required for you to function effectively and gain the most value from being alive. This implies being willing to accommodate the paradox and the necessary wisdom to do so requires desisting from seeking to draw conclusions.
So you let go and stop struggling with what is, or what to perceive the is to be, you stop feeling sorry for yourself, you stop resisting life and all the new information reaching you in each and every second and instead accept everything with good grace and as much cheerfulness as you can in any one moment. You breathe freely and rejoice in being alive. However, simultaneously, you continually work on refining your goals and directing your will towards achieving them.
These two urges: the yin and yang respectively, must be relatively balanced, so they can sit together comfortably. Too much acquiescing and not enough striving and you congeal into a blob. Too much striving and not enough acquiescence and you overheat and evaporate.
And the key to this intricate crucial balance lies in something incredibly simple.
Each time you breathe in, you are nourishing the yin, the accepting.
Each time you breathe out, you are stimulating the yang, the proactive.
Consciously equalise the duration of the inhalation and exhalation and be mindful of continuing to do so all the time, as you work, rest and play and by and by, the yin and yang of your entire life will fall into a state of perpetual and only mildly fluctuating balance.
From balance, comes peace. From peace comes happiness. From happiness comes success.
May you feel supremely balanced, peaceful and happy today and tonight and may it bring you surprising success in all your endeavours.
Love, Doc