"We must go beyond the constant clamor of ego, beyond the tools of logic and reason, to the still, calm place within us: the realm of the soul."
-- Deepak Chopra

Humans are taught at a very young age through social norms and false ideals of truth that we are to be in complete control of our own destiny. We are told that if life is not going the way we imagined it, we are simply not trying hard enough to succeed. This should immediately strike you as a shallow construct; no human has the authority to define "success." It is typical for a person to, in one moment, feel completely in control of life and, in the next moment, feel hopeless and powerless. While it is momentarily comforting to think we are in control, it quickly and harshly leads to disillusionment and a false sense of purpose. If you are feeling meaningless and powerless, it is not because you have failed at reaching your goal in life, it is because you have assumed your own purpose in an existence that you did not create. The most important aspect of human existence is learning to listen for your purpose and to stop attempting to create your own destiny in a life that is not yours.

During my brief existence on this wonderful planet, I have learned a great deal about the flow of events and the linearity of time as we experience it. If you are anything like me, you have attempted, on multiple occasions, to create your own series of events that will ultimately benefit your existence. If you have any awareness of the dimensional impossibleness of putting yourself above time (at least in this three-dimensional existence we are born into), you quickly realize that forcing events and orchestrating your own sense of spiritual experience is impossible, not because these types of moments do not exist, but because they are expressions of a world that is beyond our control.

We are given the ability to control our own actions in this existence, but we are not innately able to control that which is beyond us. To assume that this ability is innate is to assume we are born in a position of total spiritual connectedness, which is a naive and foolish thought. I believe that, in specific moments and experiences, we are meant not to control our own destinies, but to stand aside and let them be shown to us.

"Am I a harp that the hand of the mighty may touch me,
or a flute that his breath may pass through me?"
-- Kahlil Gibran

I firmly believe that, while we are given control of our own momentary actions, we are meant to learn how to step aside and accept guidance from that which is beyond ourselves. To attempt to take complete control of your destiny is to assume that you gave yourself the capacity to control aspects of life which are beyond you, which is not true. This assumption of power is not an aspect of humanity that we are born with, rather, it is something we have been programmed to think. Society tells us that we are to control our own destiny, for we are all that we have in this life. This is nothing more than a social construct, which we can very easily prove to be worthless and hollow.

While it is necessary for us to occasionally take control of our own path in life, it is also imperative that we individually learn to be vessels that channel beautifully the spirituality that is beyond us. God gave us the ability to speak to him and to learn from him, so to ignore this is to reject a fundamental part of our nature. To be deaf to that which calls us is to be blind to the sense of spirituality that we were given.

With this understanding of the things beyond our control, we can truly begin to live a life most pleasing to the being that gave that life to us. Instead of forming your own series of shallow events, learn to recognize those moments that are specifically meant to connect you with your true path in life. Embrace that which you were given, but do not force that which is not yours. In this mode of existence which we were born into, the future does not exist and it never will, so stop letting your fear of it control you. Learn when to listen and when to act, for life is not designed to be spent in complete action or inaction. Find your balance and find your purpose, then you will truly know what it means to live.