Variations on the Self

In response to the question: What do you believe?

I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe in synchronicity and serendipity as major forces in all our lives. I believe I have a purpose: multiple purposes and that the universe requires my existence exactly as I am. That even the aspects of myself I don’t like are there for a reason. That whoever and however I am at this moment is precisely who and how I am supposed to be at this moment. And while I maintain a belief in free will, I also recognize how my free will is constantly influenced by whatever the universe throws my way: by coincidences and synchronicity and serendipity, by circumstances and opportunities and obstacles, by people and information and ideas coming into or going out of my life.

There is the constant debate over free will versus determinism, yet I believe in both. I believe the universe (god, your higher power, fate, destiny, call it what you will) presents you with coincidences, with opportunities, with obstacles all as a means to an end: as teachers, as guides, as breathes of fresh air to help to define your perspective, alter your perception, clarify your purpose, delineate your dream and you possess the free will to acknowledge or ignore these messages, to learn from or repeat these events, to define your perspective or remain willfully ignorant, to alter your perception or to re-affirm beliefs that may or may not be blocking you from realizing your purpose, from being your authentic self, from existing in a state of saturated bliss. And the reason that things seem so predestined is because the universe is persistent and will continually showering you with blessings in whatever form they may take: will continue giving you what you need until you realize it’s what you need.

May every moment be your greatest treasure, every opportunity your greatest adventure, and every obstacle your greatest teacher.