CHAPTER III.

FATE OR FREE-WILL?


Great has been the controversy in the past, over the vexed subject
of fate versus free-will. On the one hand, fatalists claim that man
is so closely bound to the wheel of fate it is impossible for him
to live his life in any different way than that which is mapped out
for him. He can bring a quantity of first-class evidence in support
of his claim and believes in his theory with all his heart. On the
other hand, the advocate of free-will believes just as whole-heartedly
that man is not bound at all, being as free as air. He, too, can bring
plenty of evidence in support of his theory, which confirms him in
his belief. Each one of them thinks that the other is wrong, yet they
cannot both be wrong! Let us therefore examine the subject for
ourselves, for it is an important one, being intimately connected
with the subject which this book discusses.

First of all, let it be said, they are both wrong, in part, and right,
in part. Man is bound to the wheel, yet, at the same time, he has
free-will. Let us, therefore, explain this seeming paradox.

It is an ancient truth of the inner teaching that man, when he is
unevolved and before he is "unfolded," is bound to the wheel of fate
very closely. The unevolved man follows his desires, thus creating