THE MYTHS OF FREE WILL AND DOERSHIP

THE MYTHS OF FREE WILL AND DOERSHIP

The basic premise for any form of prediction, astrological or otherwise is the assumption that the trends in future shall follow a certain determinable course which is not likely to change. Any prediction or futuristic assessment shall not prove to be accurate if the assumptions on which it is based, change during the time preceding the predicted event or happening. If there is any form of control due to individuals’ actions on the factors affecting the ultimate outcome then any form of futuristic assessment is meaningless. The very basis of astrological analysis & prediction is the premise that the future trends are determined by factors beyond the control of any individual action. This fact more often than not, does not appeal to the egocentric mind & intellect of the modern human being which leads to a skeptical approach to astrology & other such sciences.

The ego and its manifestations in the form of “ I am the doer “ or that “ I have a free will ” are so strongly engrained in the mind & intellect of the average human being that any idea contrary to such a belief is not only vehemently challenged but is usually rejected by the indomitable Ego. Unless & until a clear and firm understanding that ‘Free Will’ and ‘Doership’ are myths and that only the ‘conditioned will’ and ‘happening’ are the truth becomes strongly embedded in the thought process, the relevance of astrology can never be appreciated by any person. It is for this reason that the very first chapter of this book has been dedicated to answering the frequently asked questions and to presenting the correct perspective on this topic.

The questions which are most often asked on the topic of ‘Free Will’ and ‘Doership’ are:-

Is everything in life predetermined or preprogrammed?

If fate or destiny are unchangeable then what is the role of our decisions & actions?

Is there no free will?

Do we have no control on our lives?

What importance is given to human effort or endeavor in Astrology?

Does Astrology advocate fatalism?

How does one define human achievement in astrological terms?

It is said that Human beings are masters of their Destiny. Is this true?

The answers to these questions are neither simple nor straightforward. For example the answer to the first question is both yes & no, which leads us to nowhere at all. The answers to these questions therefore have to be understood by analyzing the very process of life as it happens and deriving the conclusions there from. The answers to all such questions shall therefore be developed in the following paragraphs in a sequential manner to facilitate a sound understanding on this topic.

Every human being is unique and the human design is the most complex in the whole of Creation. The construction of the human being needs to be looked into, for establishing the fallacy of the arguments supporting Freewill & Doership. In this context the role of the genetic design or the DNA programming, the environmental conditionings, the conditioning of the intellect through education as well as the unique set of ongoing experiences of the individual that shape the human being every moment need to be understood. These factors shall be analyzed exhaustively in the following pages which shall clearly bring out the fact that there is very little control available to the individual in life.
The DNA programming

We as human beings possess three basic equipments or faculties which are- the body, the mind & the intellect. Of these the body’s design as well as its functioning are preprogrammed vide the code present in an individual’s unique DNA. Even though we may look alike and our bodies are normally equipped with the same number & type of organs embedded in the similar basic design, each one of us is actually different and unique in our constitution. This uniqueness of our physical entity is a manifestation of the programming coded in our DNA. Encoded within the DNA are the directions for traits as diverse as the color of the eyes, our height, the form of the nose, the tone & quality of our voice, our susceptibility to specific infections or diseases, our tastes as well as what attracts or repels us. It has been established by modern science that our DNA entirely determines our physical constitution. Whether we like it or not we do not have any say or control in this matter at all. In other words we are bound by our DNA programming and it is nearly impossible for us to transcend this limitation. The aspect of heredity is only a reflection of this basic truth.

The DNA programming therefore becomes a very important dimension of our existence since it gives us our unique individuality. Looking at it from a broader perspective, it will not be an exaggeration to claim that this programming comes into play in all spheres of our living since our physical entity is an inseparable part of all our actions & reactions. The limits to which we can stretch ourselves physically, are preset. For example, a person with weak lungs cannot hope to become a medal winning athlete or for that matter a person with a stammering drawback can never dream to become a great singer. We therefore are programmed with some strengths & some weaknesses and we have had no say in such a programming. This understanding is the key-We have had no say in our DNA programming. Our thoughts, aspirations, actions & reactions therefore always have an inbuilt dimension of preprogramming. In other words we carry our preprogramming in all aspects of our living & existence. With this inherent bondage which comes to us from birth, can we really claim to be having any Freewill?

The DNA programming can be compared to the parts or roles written down in a play. Each character of the play is preprogrammed and the actor has little or no choice whatsoever but to enact the character assigned to him/her in the drama. It is obvious therefore that the actors do not have Freewill to modify or change their assigned roles in any manner. Much in the same way we human beings have been assigned specific roles in the play of this universal drama for which we are programmed in the physical sense by our unique DNA code. The question of having Freewill in our play of life does not arise at all.

The environmental programming or the mental conditioning

The environment in which we are born is not our choice. The parents, the relatives, the neighbors, the geopolitical or the economic settings of our birth are not in our control. We are given these backgrounds by the power that may be deciding our life to be lived in the given birth. We are born with a clean slate with a given physical design controlled by the unique DNA code in a given setting or environment. We develop attitudes and get conditioned into a unique personality through our surroundings. The language we speak, the traditions & customs we follow, the religion, the value system & the philosophical background to which we subscribe are all learnt from the family & the environment in
which we are born. Our system gets conditioned by the environment in which we are born by the specific characteristics & features of the given environment.

This conditioning happens through the faculty of the Mind which absorbs & adopts the special properties of the given environment and makes it an essential part of our being. Our system thus gets tuned to the specific environment so that we can comfortably blend, exist & flow with the surroundings. This conditioning of the Mind happens after our birth and is not something with which we come to this world. The conditioning by the environment is not only unique but it happens in many ways & in many layers.

The first and the foremost layer of conditioning comes from the Family. The structure of the family, the nature of the parents as well as that of the siblings, the family’s historical as well as its current economic & social status, the way of life adopted by the family, the value system of the family etc. play a crucial role in defining the first layer of the conditioning of the individual mind. This conditioning received from the family is the first inheritance, so to say, for the individual.

The second most important layer of conditioning comes from the society in which the individual is born. The rules & norms of the society, the hierarchal structure of the society, the value system followed by the society, the beliefs, the traditions & customs of the society both historical & current as well as the place of the individual in that society and other such factors create specific & unique influences on the individual after his birth in the given social environment.

The individual imbibes the various beliefs, traditions, customs, values as well as the ‘Do’s & Don’ts’ of the society and makes them his own, at least in the initial stages of his/her life. The prejudices & biases which are prevalent in the society are learnt and accepted by the individual as his own which in turn condition his attitudes and reactions. It is for this reason why an individual born in one country develops ill will towards another country which is apparently inimical to his/her own country of birth. Similarly an individual born in a football crazy nation is more likely to become an ardent football lover. Thus it can be seen that the second layer of conditioning of the individual through the society is extremely important in shaping his/her unique personality.

The other dimensions of the environmental conditioning of an individual are the geographical & climatic conditions of his/her place of birth, his/her immediate neighborhood, his/her friends, his/her peers, his/her teachers etc.
All the above factors taken together create the unique ‘Person’ that
the individual becomes after his birth in a given environment. In all
his actions & reactions, the individual carries his/her unique personality shaped by his/her unique conditioning which is certainly not due to his/her choice or will. In view of these facts, can it be claimed that there is Free will for anyone in the given life?

The intellectual programming through Education

The human being has evolved from the primitive nomadic creature to the modern cultured, social & progressive being. This transformation is unique only to the human race. The plant & the animal kingdoms have not changed much over the years. The reason for the evolution of the human beings has been the gift in the form of the faculty of the Intellect.

The intellect provides the human species with the capacity to reason, to infer, to discriminate, to distinguish, to know, to learn, to understand, to think abstractly & profoundly as well as to plan. This single capability has enabled the human race to observe and learn about all aspects of its existence. With the help of the knowledge so gained, the human being has continuously improved upon & developed means & methods for better living in this world.

The evolutionary process has also helped humans to shed many of the animalistic behavioral attitudes and to learn, develop & cultivate value patterns for healthier coexistence. The development of music, poetry, literature and various art forms as well as of science & technology has all been possible as a result of the intellectual expansion of the human race as a whole. The human evolution on earth is an unparalleled success story which has happened over thousands of years due to the collective endeavor of innumerable human beings.

The human intellect has expanded enormously and in this process has pushed the horizons of knowledge & development further & further, so much so that the mighty forces of nature have been tamed to a great extent to serve the human species. The human evolution can be best described as a continuous relay race in which the runners from one generation have been passing on the baton of knowledge & development to the next generation of runners who in turn run further on the evolutionary path and in turn pass on the baton to the upcoming generation. This passing-on of the baton has been made possible by the process of Education.

Education is the process of programming the Intellect by the process of learning or gathering knowledge. The level of knowledge available at any given epoch in the world is the sum total of all the knowledge gathered & processed by humanity over the ages up to that point in time. This enormous knowledge has been branched out into different categories or fields as different sciences to facilitate understanding & specialization. It is difficult for a single individual today to have knowledge in all the fields hence the modern education has two important stages namely the primary and the secondary stage during which the student develops knowledge necessary for higher learning & specialization. Thereafter comes the next stage of higher education wherein the student focuses on a single branch of knowledge or science which is best suited for his aptitude & interest. During this entire educational process, the intellect gets programmed with the special knowledge being pursued. It is important to mention here that not all persons pursue education to the very end of the existing horizon and that is the reason why the degree or the level of evolution varies from person to person, even within the same epoch and within the same branch of knowledge.

The degree of evolution through education is directly related to the
behavior, attitude, actions, reactions, vision, enterprise as well as placement in societal hierarchy. This programming of the intellect through education is reflected in the manner in which the individual applies himself or herself in a given situation. It therefore becomes an essential and inseparable part of the total personality of the individual. Thus whatever the individual does, carries the dimension of his/her intellectual programming as well hence even if there are inclinations within the individual to act or react in a given situation in a certain manner, the response gets modified as per the educational evolution which the individual has been through. This establishes the fact that one is bound by his/her intellectual development too, thereby leaving no room for the so called Free Will.

The conditioning from Personal Experiences

Life is a string of experiences which keep happening continuously as long as one lives. No two persons can have the same set of experiences in life. Even if two persons have been brought up in the same geopolitical & economic settings within the same epoch, their experiences not only differ but are unique to each one of them. Our inclinations, our motivations, our opinions, our actions and our reactions are influenced to a great degree by our personal experiences. In fact our personal experiences are also some of the most powerful lessons learnt by us which orient us one way or the other in a given set of circumstances or situations.

If while dealing with one Mr. A I had a bad experience, I shall record in my memory that Mr. A is not good enough. On the other hand a friend of mine who has also dealt with Mr. A has found his experience of dealing with him to be a good one therefore he shall register favorable remarks for Mr. A in his memory. Mr. A is the same whether for me or for my friend but to me he is not so good a person whereas for my friend he is a pretty nice man. This contradictory acknowledgement of Mr. A is purely based on the unique personal experiences of my friend’s and my own dealings with him.

Experiencing is a regular & continuous process in our lives due to which we keep learning and reorienting ourselves every moment of our life. It also means that due to our experiencing, we keep changing from moment to moment even if the change is insignificant or unnoticeable. The following story brings forth this fact of life very effectively:
Once upon a time a great Zen master called one of his disciples and asked him a simple question on a topic which had been recently taught by him. The disciple gave the correct answer. The next day the master called the same disciple and asked him the same question, to which the disciple gave the same correct answer as was given by him on the previous day. The following day the master once again called the same disciple and asked him the very same question. This time the disciple got puzzled however he gave the correct answer to the master but now he had a doubt in his mind on the master’s real motive so he respectfully questioned his master as to why he has been asking him the same question every day? To this the Zen master replied that on all the occasions you gave the same answer to my question which showed that you have not modified or upgraded your understanding of the topic in question with respect to your experiences during the time since I taught you this topic up till this day. You are not the same today as you were on the day you learnt this lesson then how can your understanding remain the same? It only shows that your learning has only become a part of your memory but not a part of yourself.

This story highlights the importance of the subtle changes in our personality due to our experiences of life on a moment to moment basis. Our entire personality is always in a state of flux. One or more dimensions of our Self is always changing. Like the minute hand in the clock whose movement goes unnoticed but when looked at after some gap tells another time, we too keep changing in a subtle and unnoticeable manner on the basis of our experiences however over a sufficiently long period of time, the changes in our personality become clearly evident.

It is not without reason that while recruiting employees, the employer normally looks for a candidate with relevant & sufficient experience over and above the educational qualifications.

Knowledge by itself is only gathered information and unless this knowledge is seasoned by experience it does not become Wisdom. Whereas knowledge is a part of the memory, wisdom becomes the part of the total understanding which comes into play all the time in all aspects of living. Richer is the experience greater is the wisdom. By education one can gather knowledge but wisdom comes only through experience. The value addition to the personality of an individual is therefore directly related to his education and his experience which in turn determines his/her utility & place in society. In other words the status, position and success etc. of an individual in his/her life are directly proportionate to his/her experiences.

The experiences we come across in our lives are neither due to our choice nor due to our ‘doing’ alone. The events happen to us or around us due to which we gain direct or indirect experiences. When our experiencing itself is not in our control, then how the changes that occur within our system as a result of the experiences can ever be as per our choice or will? In which case the ‘Person’ both before and after the experience is not in control either of the experience or the changes within the Self caused by that experience. Extrapolating this analogy for the entire life, it can be easily arrived at that at no point of time during our Life, we are in control either of the happenings around us or of the changes occurring within our self, in which case where is the question of Free Will?

The individual human being at any given time therefore is a unique entity having a unique constitution determined by the DNA code, a unique personality fashioned by the environment, a unique level of evolution depending upon his/her education and a unique disposition caused by the experiences in the life up to that point in time. In all these aspects causing the individual to be as he/she is, he/she has had no choice. The choices we make or the expressions of our Will are not independent of our total conditioning. The so called willful actions of an individual are completely influenced by the overall conditioning & orientation of the individual as has been described in the foregoing paragraphs. The choices made or willed cannot be termed as Free Will. At best the will of the individual can be called the Conditioned Will. It is the ego which labels the Conditioned Will as Free Will. The ego cannot accept any form of subjugation because the ego is always insecure being afraid of annihilation or of losing its identity and therefore it asserts itself by declaring and making the individual believe that all his/her choices are a result of his/her Free Will.

If there would have been Free Will in human beings then there would have been total chaos in this world. How could have a reconciliation been possible for the expression of contradictory willing by different persons? There would have been a total absence of system and coexistence would not have been possible at all. Even a simple thing as the digestion of food would have been disturbed. It is not without reason that the power that created and may be managing this universe has not provided the human species with Free Will. Even with the limited or Conditioned Will the human race has created enough misbalance in nature in the form of ecological disturbances leading the entire universe to the brink of a colossal disaster. Today all living beings including humans are living on the edge. The tragedy would have been much more horrifying and would have come even more quickly, if the human being had Free Will.

The concept of Free Will has another dimension to it in the form of ‘Doership’. The so called Free Will is meaningless until & unless it results in the accomplishment of its objective - the willed result. Merely by making a choice or by willing, nothing can be achieved. An element of doing or action is necessary to make the Will a reality. The strong belief that merely by my action I can achieve my willed objective is what is called ‘Doership’. There cannot be a greater illusion than this belief of ‘Doership’ which is often expressed as ‘I am the doer’ or ‘I shall do it’ etc. Whereas action or doing is an inseparable part of living or existence, the idea of Doership is illusory. Actually Doership is synonymous with being in control in a given situation which is never the case and is an illusion created by the ego. Why the concept of ‘Doership’ is illusory or inappropriate is being explained in the following paragraph.
The fallacy of Doership

The strong belief that in any given situation I am fully capable of taking any action that I want to take, as well as that my action alone is sufficient to ensure the desired result is ‘Doership’. To understand the fallacy of this belief, we have to look at the process of ‘Action’ itself. Every action is preceded by a thought. There cannot be any action without a thought behind it. We get thoughts; we do not generate or create thoughts. A thought which is strong and compelling enough leads to action. The thought comes to us either from memory or as a reaction to external stimuli and we then label it as ‘my thought’. Whereas our memory is the register of all our past observations and experiences leading to our unique conditioning, our reactions always result from our total conditioning up to the point in time of the reaction. Thus any thought we get is never independent of our total conditioning. When the thought itself is not our creation then how can we call the action resulting from that thought to be our own action? It is our ego which identifies itself with the thought as well as with the connected action and calls it ‘my action’. Truly speaking none of our actions are actually ours. The actions only happen through our Body-Mind-Intellect system which has been conditioned in a certain unique manner as has been explained in detail earlier. This is the reason why different persons act differently in the same or similar situations. The very basis for the belief of ‘Doership’ is therefore a misplaced one.

Even if we accept the argument that I am what I am at any moment due to my total conditioning and that the ‘Person’ that I am, acts in a certain manner’ then the action happening through me is ‘my action’; the other part of ‘Doership’ which makes us believe that I shall be able to achieve any desired result due to my action alone is fallacious. The following example shall clarify this point:-

In a football match, the forward line players are assigned the role of putting the ball into the opposite goal as soon as they get an opportunity. When the goal is scored by a player, the credit of hitting the goal goes to him. The goal may have been finally accomplished by the said player but that act of hitting the goal is only the final act which would not have been possible if the other players of his team had not brought the ball up and passed it on to him. The goal scored is a result of the efforts of all the players of the team. If the player who scored the goal finally takes the entire credit, it is his mistake. He could score the goal only because the other team mates had done their part in the game. In the total effort his effort was only a part. Similarly in life too our effort in the form of our actions is only a small part of the total effort which goes into the happening of an event. We cannot take credit for the whole effort or claim that our effort was the only one to have made the event happen. The misunderstanding that ‘my action’ alone is responsible for the happening of an event is caused due to the fallacy of ‘Doership’

Every event that happens is the net result of the actions of innumerable beings. In fact it can be stated that every event that happens is due to the effort put in by the entire universe. We are at all times dependent on the whole of this universe. This fact of interdependence is however taken for granted and conveniently overlooked by our ego due to which we fall into the trap of believing that ‘I am the doer’.

Buddha in his ultimate wisdom declared “Events happen deeds are done but there is no individual doer there-off”. This is one of the greatest declarations wherein it has been clearly stated that the happening of an event can never be the result of any one individual’s doing or action.

The Hindu sages & seers went even further when they institutionalized this understanding in their rituals. One of the most important ritual for the Hindus is the Yagya or the Homam. During the performance of this ritual the community participates by offering their oblations into the sacred fire. This sacred fire signifies the fire of Creation and the oblations signify the effort or actions of each member of the community which are offered as contributions to the total effort in the form of the ongoing Creation. The idea behind the ritual was to make everyone aware that whatever one does is only a contribution to the universal process of creation. During the performance of the ritual, each oblation is offered with the chanting of the mantra “Idam na mamah” which means “This (action or offering) is not mine”. What a great idea to educate people to transcend the ego and its manifestation in the form of ‘Doership’.

Another idea highlighted by the ritual of Yagya was that all actions happen for the fulfillment of the universal agenda only. The community was educated through the rituals to keep the welfare of humanity as a whole, as the supreme consideration while deciding on a course of action. Any personal agenda or desire prompted action was considered to be a low grade action or an undesirable action. Unfortunately with the passage of time under the influence of greed and lust this ritual degenerated into an exercise for seeking divine blessings for one’s desire fulfillments which goes against the very purpose for which the ritual was designed.

The same idea was also proclaimed by Lord Krishna in his teachings to the prince Arjuna. Krishna said “One can only carry out his action but he can by no means ensure the result”. The natural corollary to this assertion is that the result or the happening of the desired event is dependent on the contribution or involvement of many agencies, not just on one individual’s action.

The actions or contributions of other agencies is never in control of any one individual. The best of shooters can at best set the aim perfectly before actually shooting at the target but if the target shifts as soon as the shot is fired, the effort shall fail. The behavior of the target is not within the control of the shooter. In much the same way the quality of the action alone does not determine its success. This fact highlights yet another dimension of the erroneous belief of ‘Doership’.

Our existence in this world in a given life is not for the purpose of self achievements or enjoyments. We are assigned roles in the play of the universe. The primary objective of a life is a part of the total universal objective set by Creation. Our personal goals have no bearing except when they happen to be in line with the objectives of Creation. The entire universe is committed to the goals of Creation and only those of our actions are likely to fructify which are directly or indirectly in conformity with those goals. It is difficult for any individual to know the objective of Creation at any point of time, hence we can act only as we should, as per our programming, in any situation with the full awareness that the result of such an action may not unfold as expected or desired by us. We may succeed or we may fail in our personal experience but the overall objective of Creation is always fulfilled.

Our ‘Doing’ based on our personal considerations is only our contribution to the universal process. The circumstances which
compel us to act one way or the other as per our personal conditioning, are never in our control. The circumstances happen around us to motivate us to act in a certain manner which is required of us, as a contribution to the universal process. Our existence is like the tiny particles in a kaleidoscope where our orientation is important only for the final picture that emerges from time to time in the kaleidoscope. We are neither in control of the picture nor of our own orientation in the picture but nevertheless we do have an important role in the setting. In such a universal design of which we are only a tiny part where is the scope for ‘Doership’. One has only to look around to realize this Truth. The Sun shines and provides heat & energy to the world. The Sun may or may not be aware of its importance for the sustenance of life on earth but nevertheless it s existence is crucial for life on the earth. The role played by the Sun in Creation is not its choice and certainly Sun cannot claim to be a doer so far as its role is concerned. Similarly even the tiniest form of life in this world has a crucial role to play for maintaining the fine ecological balance for life to go on smoothly.

The sense of ‘Doership’ is an illusion created by the ego which needs to be replaced by an understanding that all doing that happens through one’s system is necessary for the ultimate happening of an event which may or may not be exactly as desired or expected by the individual doer. In the ultimate analysis however, ‘Doing’ is essential-an essential part of one’s existence but ‘Doing’ should not necessarily be tied to the happening of any desired event as a result of the ‘Doing’. As a corollary to this understanding, it should be understood that ‘Doership’ is within the realm of Creation or Totality of Existence but is out of bounds for the individual human being. We as individuals are the unique tools in the hands of Creation prepared & conditioned for the specific role to be played by us in the ongoing process of creation.

Even the personal goals & objectives we set for ourselves as per our desires & expectations are actually necessary to motivate us to act in a certain manner so as to actually fulfill the requirements of Creation in the process of making efforts for our own personal fulfillments. Creation in fact follows the ‘carrot & stick policy’ to get its work done through us as individuals.

In the foregoing paragraphs, the myths of Freewill & Doership have been addressed. That Freewill & Doership are mere illusions has been explained. Unless these illusions are cleared it is difficult to develop a meaningful understanding of Astrology. A majority of questions that are frequently asked on Astrology arise from the illusory belief that I- the limited individual-have unlimited power to ‘do’ as I want and achieve whatever I want. These illusions get reinforced by the talks & writings of experts on Motivation and the self-help Gurus since such talks & writings generate hopes and create a feel-good factor by flattering the Ego. As the master business coach Mike Jay puts it and I quote ‘---let’s get real---we’re not equal. I suppose that’s the most difficult thing to swallow.’ He goes on to say that most of the self-help Gurus make us believe that ‘we come into this world as blank slates and that we can become anything we want to.’ In this process the self-help Gurus promote the illusory hope ‘If I can do it so can you.’ There can never be a formula for personal success or personal achievement. The same set of principles can bring success in one setting one day and can be the cause for a disaster in a similar setting another day. Once it is understood that there is nothing like personal success but only moments in life when one’s own objective coincides with that of Creation thereby giving the false notion of personal success or achievement, then and only then one can be truly realistic in one’s understanding & approach towards life & living.

There is some possibility of misunderstanding the concepts stated here-in-above as fatalism which is the other extreme of denying Freewill & Doership and it can lead one to develop the attitude of ‘all accepting impotence’ or fatalism which can be even more if not equally destructive as the diehard belief of Freewill & Doership. In no way cowardice or lack of entrepreneurship is being advocated or encouraged in the above paragraphs. Planning, programming and setting goals in the short term as well as in the long term is essential for any well directed action. Activity is the very essence of existence or living. Planning for the possible in any given situation is ‘Conditioned willing’ not ‘Free willing’ and similarly making a sincere effort as planned is ‘Doing’ not ‘Doership’. The false ego-centric understanding that ‘I am in control or that I can be in control’ in any situation is all that is being discouraged here. The following illustration shall help in clarifying this further:-

A student from a weak economic background will not plan his education from an expensive institution. While planning his future education he shall keep his economic limitation in mind. This is conditioned willing, which is a realistic way of looking at things. Much in the same way an aspirant in a competitive examination can only ensure his best possible performance- which is ‘Doing’- but he can never remain assured of his success- which is the concept of ‘Doership’- till the results are out.

In the final analysis what is being advocated is a ‘Realistic’ approach to living as against a bravado approach to life. It is hoped that the readers will get their answers to the questions related to Freewill & Doership as well as to the questions related to the degree of control one has on one’s own life.