Destiny

Destiny is such a fascinating topic, so important as a part of our consciousness from the beginning of life, running through it like a constant thread for its entire length.

Destiny is not a static concept, not a far-off goal, not a plaque on a wall that states the result of a performance, an office attained, nor a goal reached. Rather, destiny is what is contained in the seed of being as a potential prior to the onset of life. And the destiny starts to unfold at the moment of birth. Each of you here now is participating in your own destiny. You have a destiny that was, the destiny that is, and a destiny that shall be. From the time of attainment of your Thought Adjuster, you have a unique way of molding your personal destiny, as if each of you had before you a detailed blueprint of your entire existence and the capacity to make changes within the blueprint limitations at will. Erase a line here, add a line there, this is where your free-will decision-making capacity serves you most mightily.

You may ask “But how can I possibly know the correct way to mold my destiny?” “What is the way?” You have the Spirit of Truth. You have the living fragment of God within you. You have a certain knowledge of truth and goodness and beauty and love to guide you. You have the spiritual muscles of your soul - as strong as your use of them has made them. And it is those muscles - if you will - that have a firm grip on your destiny through your freewill.

Imagine the Father has given you a large diamond at the beginning of your life, and it is your job to cut that diamond so that it may reflect light in brilliant and in interesting ways. You have the gift of personality given with the gift of life, and your freewill is the tool that you use to shape this personality. How will you shape it? That is your decision. Will you make changes? Almost certainly. Will you regret them? Yes, of course, but not all of them.

When you pass from the life in the flesh and are given the choice of continuing on or not, at that point
the richness of destiny will almost certainly be such an irresistible inducement that no one but the most
deeply impaired ever decline to continue. This concept is difficult to grasp at this point for you, nonetheless it is useful to ponder.

Much has been written in your literature about destiny, the concept of fate. And some of what has been speculated is actually quite close to the truth. Yes, a single decision can change the course very much. Yes, the decision you make at any time can have an impact on the destiny of another, not unlike stars on a collision course, or - less dramatic - marbles rebounding from one another as they roll down an incline, each impact causing a ricocheting of other marbles, and yet others. It is this interaction of destinies through personalities and free-will decision that makes fellowship so vitally important in the Universe.

As Earth progresses toward the era of Light and Life, the spiritual growth of individuals will accelerate and improve. Fellowship will grow, and there will be far more positive impacts of personalities upon personalities in the sense of non-adverse contributions to growth. Of course, adversity helps the individual to grow spiritually. However, there are many many ways of abetting growth that do not necessarily involve adversity - as you all are aware. And of course there is ample adversity through the eternal ages. A diminution in the adversity experienced in this embryonic stage of growth in the material form will not detract in the long run.

Yes, adversity makes one stronger, however the man running the race who finds himself beaten with a whip or struck in the leg with a stick at each step most likely will not run as quickly, as confidently, or as contently as he might without those adverse factors. He instead would have more energy to devote to the task of running the race rather than having to divert attention to the pain and the opposition.

So it is on Earth now: many souls with clearly established destinies running that race - the race to get through life. How will you run your race? How will you affect the race of others? When we engage in service to our fellows we help them to run the race a little more easily, you see? That does not mean we carry them upon our backs, for it is their race, it is their destiny. But we do not trip them, or strike them.

Is our destiny completed when that far-off day comes when we stand in the presence of the Father? No, not at all. However, the striving to meet that particular goal is a very important part of the destiny of every one of you here today. Destinies are eternal and infinite, and no being has ever existed - mortal or non-mortal - that has fully expressed their potential destiny. This is a difficult concept to grasp for me also, nonetheless, it is so. So you see your destiny is a fluid thing, dynamic, growing, alive, subject to many forces, but most of all your own will, your one desire to act.

Yes, you have many helpers within and without, and their promptings can be very useful if you wish to accept them. So go forth. Meet your destiny. Run the good race.

Question: About the beginning of the 16th century a man by the name of John Calvin, when he was translating the Latin scriptures into French, became convinced that the New Testament taught predestination, and developed the doctrine of predestination which is known as Calvinism. It holds generally that people are predestined to go to heaven or go to hell. I realize that, in the Urantia Book language, this is predestined to survive or not-survive. This became such a strong point, that others, who
couldn't accept the idea that a God would create individuals to go to hell, said that they had the free will
to choose. And the doctrine of predestination and the doctrine of free will are considered to be opposite
to each other.

I think the Urantia Book teaches that they are consistent with each other, that when we are born we are
predestined - to do something, but we have the free will to change that destiny, point by point, decision
by decision. And if I remember it correctly, the Urantia Book says that we are predestined to do things,
but we are not foreordained to do them, that we have the free will to say no. Putting that together with
your lesson, suddenly it fills in the blanks.

Answer: Yes, you understand well. You see that there are many dimensions which have been left out by
the formal religious approaches of the past.

Question: I have a question about the active or non-active role that the different agents and beings that surround us actually take in our lives. Some of us think that they are quite active, I mean to the point where good fortune is placed in their path, if they are seeking the Father's will. And others of us feel as though they aren't that involved, that interactive. Can you shed any light on this?

Answer: Yes. Some are blessed with great agility in managing the material world and are perceived as being lucky. This is not a result of spiritual leading, necessarily, in the sense that you are referring to with external forces bringing to bear, however it is not that common for a material being to thrive without some participation in a program of spiritual growth. It does happen, of course. There have been some quite iniquitous beings who have done enormously well in the material sense. But of course they have lived with overwhelming inner torment which they have not generally admitted to others. But the one who thrives on Earth without inner torment must necessarily follow a spiritual program.

Material success requires study and practice at material skills. Wealth does indeed flow in well-defined channels, and the one who would be wealthy may easily, or not so easily, tap into these channels. This may be seen as luck, but it's more a matter of having a good eye and a high level of desire. There have been persons who've become wealthy who have also achieved high spirit attainment. This is rare, but known to happen.

Has their success been due to cosmic intervention? They too have been endowed with Thought Adjusters, and some have heeded the advice of Thought Adjusters and been helped in attaining their goals. Some have had other spirit helpers for reasons beyond what your history books may record. Much of this has to do with using well-placed beings to help offset some of the damage done during the rebellion. They happen to be in opportune positions, so an attempt is made to use them, but as far as anyone being intentionally placed in a position of power by seraphic or other guidance, no. Those in positions of power may choose to avail themselves of seraphic guidance that is offered, which is a free will decision, but there is not divine intervention in the matters of man beyond that. 

Advice is always at hand. Whether man chooses to take it or not is another matter. Let us look at the other side of the situation. What of the person who seems to be good and lead a life of worship and yet is beset with misfortune, material poverty from family tragedy? In undertaking the journey towards spiritual growth one may or may not choose to participate in the flow of wealth. Some choose not to, and therefore their material lives are impoverished while their spiritual lives are enriched.

This is rare. This is as rare as the other extreme. It is as rare as the wealthy man who is spiritually rich, but it does happen. The great mass of people do best, have the most so-called good luck, when they are engaging in worship in their activities and heeding seraphic guidance which is available to all. So you could say that good luck, no matter what your goals may be, they will be more readily attained, if you follow God's plan. This may sound somewhat like a television evangelist, but this is certainly not a call for donations to churches. If you lead your lives in such a way that you are loving, you are good, you are kind, you are truthful, you are bound to have some good fortune, and you are also bound to have some misfortune. But overall the services that you render in the plying of your trade, whatever that may be, will generally be well accepted, and you will prosper to whatever extent is possible.