Hi Ernst,
It's been while, but I'm back with a few questions that have been on my mind.
Is there something in the ancient scriptures that relates to the butterfly effect? And if so, how does it tie in with the debate surrounding free will vs. determinism?
To study and practice predictive astrology means accepting and experiencing that certain events are predetermined and free will is limited.
If our free will is limited to things such as our habits (the air element), isn't even that free will subject to God's will? In other words, we will change that habit if and when God wants us to? And if that is the case, aren't even our habits predetermined?
Example: You have a child. That child is the result of a very particular combination of genetic material (determined by your age, health, fertility, etc.) and shaped by outer circumstances during pregnancy. Had you waited a year longer, two days longer, you might not have had that specific child. Every little action you've taken has culminated in the birth of this particular person. God wanted them to be born, so they were.
If God has a plan for certain people to be born and thousands of tiny microdecisions need to occur for that to happen, who is really making the decision to change that habit?
And if that is the case, aren't our charts "perfect" in the context of the life we come to live? I. e. the person who was born with a debilitated Mars has a role to play that requires them to act out the habits based on that planet. So those habits, even though they might be frustrating and result in dissatisfaction with certain things in their life on a personal level, get them exactly to the point in the large picture God needs them to be?
I often thought about if life is so fated then why bother to do anything about it. We are born with a particular Rasi chart, with certain predispositions, very much fated. I contemplated on this for awhile. Life is a long journey with many stepping stones. We move from the last life to the current life with certain "baggage" that we need to take care of. I do believe even though much of life is fated, we are in this life so we could improve our inner self, let go of more material needs so we could move on to the next phase with less "baggage". That takes free will to achieve.
Free only kicks in when we feel unhappy and unsatisfied with our lives because it requires deep consciousness to make the change. Sometime when I do things I wonder why I did it that way instead of another way. Because it is in my DNA, and I was born with certain predispositions to do things a certain way as it is shown in my Rasi chart. If I want to change that habit it is because I am unhappy deep inside. At the core it is my consciousness and that to me is free will...
tuyet
I guess there are two approaches to life, be the perfect puppet and follow God's will, or assume complete responsibility and make a conscious disengagement from "bad habits/lajjitadivasthas".
Maybe both are indicative of a progressed spirituality and most people are stuck between the two approaches?