Chapter 12: Beliefs about chance & fate
The twelfth major dissimilarity between the three Zones of Being is the vastly varying ways their members view the concepts of chance & fate. To help clarify the same, consider the following illuminatory examples thereof …
*Whereas Zone 1 advocates are certain that people are either subject to the whims of random happenstance (experiencing “good fortune” when things go well for them or “bad luck” when they don’t) or regulated “from above” by events that are concretely predestined or celestially scripted, Zone 2 acolytes believe that one’s seemingly circumstance-proscribed fate can be altered by righteous living &/or that a reprieve from one’s hardships (a.k.a. “fierce Grace”) can be summoned “from above” via disciplined thinking &/or proper worship. Zone 3 adherents, in stark contrast, maintain a much higher level of conscious influence over their lives. They believe in the omniviability of free will; that every sentient being has the power to choose how he or she responds to each & every happenstance; that as such each person’s “luck” is never ruled or even regulated by external circumstances, but rather is ever controlled by his or her chosen responses to the same. Indeed, those living the Zone 3 Way have come to understand that consciousness itself is the greatest of blessings, and that every self-aware being is objectively blessed regardless of the particular “positive” or “negative” circumstances surrounding his or her existence. Indeed, these people have come to know (from persistent practice and the deep experience that flows from the same) that the more uncomfortable or frustrating or difficult life becomes, the more potential power is awakened in those experiencing the same. The more difficult life is to live, the more difficult it is to extend Love in those moments. And the more difficult it is to extend one’s Love, the more powerful that Love becomes (and the more Peace that Love engenders; both for those to whom it is given and for those doing its giving) while being shared anyway. As such, agents of the Zone 3 life know that the various theories of fate & destiny & grace – regardless of how truthful they each might very well be – are always fully trumped by the over-arching power of conscious choice. These people have come to realize the Truth that life is always innately filled with an amazing Grace waiting to be actualized – and that the Peace of said Grace is always released & enlivened in every act of selfless caring – and this, fully regardless of any & all hindrances of seemingly pre-designed fate or apparently random happenstance.
*While Zone 1 proponents claim that life (or God, or “the Universe”) decides everything for us – that blessings & crises are randomly distributed to those “fortunate” or “unlucky” enough to receive them, Zone 2 devotees believe that each person can choose to control (or at least alter) their circumstances – that blessings can be manifested & crises mostly prevented by those disciplined enough to co-create &or defend against the same. In dramatic contrast, those partnering with the Zone 3 lifestyle know that nothing occurs randomly and that nothing that happens needs to be in any way altered – that it is our previous choices that effectively “summon” a significant portion of our lives’ current consequences, and that it is our chosen responses thereto that determine how much or how little Peace we bestow upon others as a result therewith – and thus how much or how little Peace we experience via the same ourselves.
*Though Zone 1 affiliates see happenstances that damage or disconcert or discomfort as “wrongs” to be eventually defeated via strife or struggle, and Zone 2 followers believe similar times of discord must be either intentionally altered or persistently avoided, Zone 3 enthusiasts have come to understand that moments of dis-ease (even those that are intensely painful) are not signs to alter or abandon one’s current path, but rather are calls to abandon the selfish ways in which one’s current way is being walked – and adopt gaits more soundly selfless instead.
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