When you make a choice, you set in motion circumstances that potentially exclude other outcomes.

If you plant a tree, for example, you make a choice as to which tree you plant. If you make a good choice about which tree to plant in your particular climate, and provide the tree with sunshine, fresh air, water, and the right kind of soil, there's a good chance that the outcome will be a large, healthy tree.

But if you plant a peach tree, there's no way you're going to get a lemon tree.

The seed of a tree has within it a whole tree. All of the information that is required to make that tree is contained within the seed. What you see as a seed is only the potential present of the tree at a moment in time.

It is the destiny of the peach seed to grow into a peach tree.

Let's say you decide to start a new career, and that career requires a deep knowledge of mathematics. Like the seed of a tree, mathematics is an informational system, a river of thought. When you decide on that career, you also commit to learning math, to swimming in that river.

Now you could take the contrary view, and either find some way to do your new career without math or invent your own branch of mathematics, but wouldn't you be swimming against the current?

Who is good at math, or anything else for that matter? In my opinion, it is those people who:

1. Have an aptitude for it (talent), and
2. Really enjoy doing it.

These are the two ingredients that insure success, because people that like doing something they are good at will persist until they succeed.

The limits of your free will is the level of consciousness you have attained. At the lower levels of consciousness, such as a baby, your free will is limited to a restricted number of choices by the parent. As your awareness and consciousness develops, so too does your choices, both in the inner and outer worlds.

Namaste

I enjoyed reading your question, something to think about, and it is an eye opener indeed!

But indeed I feel that they both play their separate roles in our life, and are indeed important aspects in our decision making, and choices at large. Although, and I agree with you that they both feel the same at times, and one could feel unsure as to the operation of Free Will, or Determinism in some cases!

I am trying to find how you see free will and determinism as opposite. Please join me in a game of pool here, I'll break. Now where were we, yes free will, I just used my free will to break the set here, you could have used your free will to say no I'll flip you for break. This would have changed things by your free will and my free will either agreeing or disagreeing with me. Next would have come the coin toss that on the surface would seem pure luck but if broken down would be determined by too many factors to calculate. "Three ball side pocket", now I just used my free will to choose the three ball but what you don't know is I am planing to bank the three ball setting me up for the nine ball over in that corner. "Look at that almost perfect shot but I over compensated!", by my free will I shot for the three ball and hit it in, it was my choice of angle and spin that the cue ball hit the three ball in so the three ball had to go in from the reaction of the cue ball hitting at the right angle and speed with the spin I chose to put on it. But as I said I over shot and that caused me to scratch out. The interesting thing is here you have a choice now, you can clearly see the nine ball is in front of the corner pocket, you could if you want position the cue ball in front of the nine ball for an easy victory or chose to shoot something else. Please chose something else I want to win this game, ohhhh you did it nine in the corner pocket you won! That was your choice to make using your free will but the determinism of how the balls all ended up where they ended up being from my break. You chose wisely, good game!

Conclusion free will and determinism work together perfectly.

I will review the game now, I wish I was good enough to say it was my free will I scored the one and two ball on my break but no that was determinism set in motion by my free will of how I broke. All those balls bouncing around determined that the one and two went in on the break.

Next my three ball shot was my free will, but my overcompensating determined that I scratched out thus giving you the three ball to spot where ever you choose.

You may say it was determinism that you had to spot the three ball in front of the nine for an easy victory. It was your free will to do so though, you could have chose to place it someplace else, a lot of pros actually do choose to shoot some place else just to show how good they are that they can still win.

Free will choices set up determining factors that cause a kinetic reaction down the road. Very similar to an old blues song "further on up the road, someone's going to hurt you, further on up the road someone's going to make you cry, the way you hurt me pretty baby someone's going to hurt you too." To use an old expression "what comes around goes around."

It is both. All possible choices have been made but not in this world. We are just in the track of one of those probabilities. Edgar Cayce, Nostradamus have peered into probable futures. Ghosts are examples of bleed over of the parallel past. Within this reality, we have probable futures of our choices now.

I have had some question round the Free will issue for a while, so I'm just going to type here and see what emerges.

I think no matter what the issue is each of us can only speak from personal experience. Until I started this spiritual journey, I'd say that I've always had free will and every choice I've made, I've done so with this free will but often those choices have been made from an unconscious perspective... still free will, but maybe ego motivated ?

However, since beginning to awaken ( or at least become conscious of my true being) I think there is another force at work. And I don't mean there is a puppeteer pulling the strings ( although at time it does feel like that ) and I have no say in the matter ( I do know that it's all me ). I do still have that free will but now the decisions or choices I make have to be in alignment with that higher power... otherwise I simply don't feel good.

I've never liked to say that I believe in fate, which is really similar to determinism... but you've got me wondering?