molding our own destiny

7/29/2019 Molding Our Own Destiny

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MOLDING OUR OWN DESTINY


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Is our present life going according to our

highest dreams and ideals? Or is it a series of

events, often unexpected, that prevents us

from becoming what we would like to be?

If you were to live your life all over again,

would you take the direction of your life now,

or would you drastically change it?


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What is Destiny?

A predetermined

course of events,

usually considered as

something beyond

human power or

control.


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A young man brought up in a certain way

will develop a certain set of habits,

personality tendencies and characterqualities.

Together with the karma of the past,

these will determine his destiny: whether

he will be happy or not, harmonious ornot in his relationships, effective or not,

successful or not.

Most of these factors were not

determined by him. They were put thereby his parents, teachers, environment

and other influences. Thus his destiny

was molded for him by others, for good

or ill.


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Is it possible to change our destiny?

If so, how?

When unaware of

this situation, a

person just

becomes a victim of

the environment

and of the past;


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The dynamics of human destiny

To understand the dynamics of destiny, we

have to understand two important factors:

The internal factor: our own

psyche/individuality

The external factor: the environmental

circumstances brought about by past karma

We only have direct control over the first one;

the second one can only be indirectly

controlled through prior preparation


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The Internal Factor

The internal factorconsists of

two portions:

The inner individuality,which is not subject to

conditionings

The personality part, which

is a creature of conditioningMind

EmotionsBody

Higher Self

IntuitionHigher Mind


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Two Kinds of Destiny

Higher Destiny In the long run, through many lives,

our destiny is to become our highest

potential. This is when the higher

individuality becomes active andtakes an active role in creating new

causes or actions.

Conditioned DestinyThis is the pattern of life that will be

followed due to past karma, whether from

past lives or the present life. Unless

changed, this will be our primary destiny


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We are not permitted to choose

the frame of our destiny. But what

we put into it is ours.

Dag Hammarskhold

Parentage, country, body

heredity, innate

intelligence, latent skills,

relatives, etc.


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Thoughts

& Desires

Behavior

Actions

Character

Destiny?

Conditioned habits &

reaction patternsthat perpetuate

themselves

New inputs and

causes that aredeliberately created

by the individual

(Past Karma that has ripened)

(Present Karma being generated)

(cf. rice bottles)


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Conditioned habits &

reaction patterns

Past life seeds

Reinforcement from

environment

When there is no

intervention from

the higher

individuality, the

habits and patternsof the lower

personality will tend

to perpetuate itself,

thus reinforcing

conditioned destiny


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The extent of theinfluence of the new

unconditioned inputs willdepend upon thereceptivity of thepersonality or lowertriangle.

When the resistance ishigh (i.e., conditioning istoo hardened) then therewill be little change in

behavior and action. This is the significance of

purification in thespiritual life

Thus it is very important to

learn how to deal with the

hardened habits and reaction

patterns of the personality.


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8 factors that willmold destiny


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1. Clarity of Deep Individual Values

What do we like to live for? What are the

most worthwhile things that we want to

pursue in this life?

Are we going in that direction? Or is our

present life going in another direction?


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The Life List

If there are only three things that you wouldlike to achieve, to be, or attain before you die,

what would these three things be?

If there are only three things that you can do

or achieve in the next three years, what would

these be?

A helpful approach is to make a life list. Do this several times thisyear until you feel inwardly certain that these are your highest list

of personal values.


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2. Seeing Impersonal Core Values

Core values come from a

perception of the higher

triangle, hence not from

ones conditioning.

When they become strongly

linked with outer behavior

through deliberate self-transformation, then they

alter the life pattern of the

individual.


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Examples of impersonal values

Truth

Justice

Love Integrity

Kindness

Harmony

Etc.

Our individual values

should not contradict

universal values;

otherwise we will

encounter unpassable

barriers on the way

towards our highestdestiny


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These two sets of values

(individual and universal

values) constitute our life compass.

When they are not clear, then we will be

controlled by the values of our environment

and our past conditionings.

Clarification of our values therefore is crucial

in determining our own destiny


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3. New external influences

These can be either just reinforcements ofpresent conditionings or patterns of behavior,

which will not alter our direction much.

Or new influences that are in accord with ourhigher destiny and which can alter our life

directions

Readings (e.g., Life Ahead)

Discussions or lectures, (e.g., lecture on marital happiness)

Inspiration from non-physical sources

Group or company that we go with (peer influence andpressure are very powerful)


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4. New Habits

From birth to death, our lives are overwhelminglygoverned by three things:

Mental habits

Emotional reaction patterns

Physical habits

These three form our personality, and when thereare no other new factors, they cruciallydetermine our destiny


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When we are clear about our highest values in

life, then we must deliberately form our habits

that are congruent with our highest envisioned

destiny

This is the function of self-training

Habits are our slaves when they are being

formed; they become our masters after they have

been formed.

(Decide which railroad tracks you would like to built, and

in which directions; after you have built them, you can

hardly change them anymore. The train of your life will

have to follow those tracks.)


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Warren Buffett:

So why do smart people do things that interfere with getting the

output they're entitled to? It gets into the habits and characterand temperament, and behaving in a rational manner. Not getting

in your own way.

The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too

heavy to be broken. At my age, I can't change any of my habits.

I'm stuck. But you will have the habits 20 years from now that youdecide to put into practice today. So I suggest that you look at the

behavior that you admire in others and make those your own

habits, and look at what you really find reprehensible in others

and decide that those are things you are not going to do. If you do

that, you'll find that you convert all of your horsepower into

output.


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Real, constructive mental power lies in the

creative thought that shapes your destiny, and

your hour-by-hour mental conduct produces

power for changes in your life. Develop a train

of thought on which to ride. The nobility of

your life as well as your happiness depends

upon the direction in which that train ofthought is going.

Laurence J. Peter


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How to develop new habits

Repeat the desired habit for a period of three

weeks, done preferably every day

When it has become a habit, it will tend torepeat itself without your willing it

Examples:

Physical exercise, diet, different emotional

reaction, meditation practice, smiling, etc.


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5. Rationality

This is the impersonal mind, the abstract mind

or the higher mind. It sees things objectively

and not according to personal preferences.

In some people it is strong, in others weak.

When it is weak, then the life tends to follow

the conditioned reaction patterns, such as

tendency towards being hurt, or angered, or

being insecure.


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6. Sowing the right seeds

Our future circumstances are determined by

the causes that we generate now.

Hence it is important to determine what

karmic seeds we ought to sow and what we

should not sow.

Examples:

To sow: Kindness and benevolence.

Not to sow: anger, hurt, revenge, ill thoughts and

feelings.


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7. Awareness

Awareness is the important factor that enables us

to take charge of our minds, emotions and

behavior, especially when there are conflicting

factors in the human psyche. When there is noawareness, the strongest force (not necessarily

the correct one) will prevail. (E.g., teacher and sister)

Awareness enables one to manage theunproductive or ineffective forces and not let

them become obstacles to right decision making.


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What you are not aware of, you cannot

control (emotional reactions, mental

reactions, attitudes, physical behaviors)

Awareness is different from knowing. It is to experience it

consciously at the moment it is happening.

Knowing is an indirect way of perceiving, throughconceptualizing or cognition with labeling.

Knowing that you are angry is different from being aware of

your anger.


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Field of attention

Peripheral awareness prevents push

buttons from automatically acting

out, thus opening new options of

action.

It eventually erases the automatic

reaction, whether it is pleasant or

unpleasant, thus changing the

automatic patterns of behavior.

Peripheral awareness


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You can catch yourself entertaining habitually

certain ideas and setting others aside; and

that, I think, is where our personal destinies

are largely decided.

Alfred North Whitehead


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Meditation

Meditation is the best way of developing

awareness of the inner levels of the mind

Meditation is also the approach towards

intuition and transcendence that will bring us

to the higher summits of our destiny


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8. Intuition

Intuition is a perception of things by the

transcendent consciousness (contemplative or

spiritual consciousness in Christianity; buddhi

orprajna in the East). It not only transcends

the personality but incorporates ethical and

rational factors.

Intuitive perceptions are based ontranscendent wisdom, and are based on

timeless principles that guide the growth and

evolution of human beings.


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Intuition sees beyond mental reasoning and

personal values;

It sees the illusory nature of many of the

things that we take as important and objective

(e.g., social success) ; it is beyond the egothat makes such valuations

It has an integrative capacity in assessing an

entire situation, including the social, ethical

and metaphysical aspects of a situation.

It is the factor that leads us to our highest

destiny the realization of our highest

potential


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Alexis Carrel, Nobel Prize winner in medicine:

"All great men [and women] are endowed with intuition.

They know, without analysis, without reasoning, what is

important for them to know. A true leader of men doesnot need psychological tests, or reference cards, when

choosing his subordinates. A good judge, without going

into the details of legal arguments, and even, according to

Cardozo, starting from erroneous premises, is capable ofrendering a just sentence. A great scientist instinctively

takes the path leading to a discovery." (Man, the

Unknown)


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Albert Einstein:

The only real valuable thing is intuition.Johann Kaspar Lavater:

Intuition is the clear conception of the whole at

once.

John Astin:

There are things so deep and complex that only

intuition can reach it in our stage of development as

human beings.

Plotinus:

Knowledge has three degrees -- opinion, science,

illumination. The means or instrument of the first is

sense; of the second, dialectic; of the third, intuition.
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The keys to the molding of destiny

1. Clarity of deep individual values

2. Seeing impersonal core values

3. Deliberately choosing new external

influences

4. Development of new habits that are

in accord with ones highest values

5. Strengthened rationality6. Sowing the right seeds of karma

7. Awareness of our reaction patterns

8. The awakening of our intuition


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Implications on Parenting and

EducationParents and Teachers: need to lay the right foundations for habits, attitudes,

temperament, conduct and morals in the child

must be careful about imposing too strongly their ownpersonal values on their children (like wanting them to pursue

engineering as a career). It is better to help children discover

their own deepest values and help them realize these.

must guide them in discriminating about the correctness of the

values of society or the environment

Use of the eight keys in molding destiny such that a young

person can consciously design them according to a wholesome

set of values


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Destiny can be modified and

designed

The earlier that we use the

keys that lead to its mastery,

the greater is our control overour destiny

h k h d

molding our own destiny

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