Like most of us, you must have wondered about your life. You might have thought whether your life events are predetermined or whether your free will defined what you have become.

So, the big question is - are you free to choose your own course of life or does the environment shape and dictate your life?

If there was no free will, why would prophets and sages preach to refrain from sins? However, if there is free will, why do these very men talk about destiny and what is to come?

Furthermore, those believing in reincarnation say that whatever you are experiencing in this life is directly linked to karma from your previous life.

So they swear that there is no free will, and state that your current life is bonded to your past lives, even though you are not aware of your actions, you took in your past lives.

All psychics and astrologers vow that they can reveal your future; in fact their livelihood depends on the premise that future can be predicted. Various scriptures tell us about impending future in great detail.

If they are right, it would seem that basically you do not have free will.

Determinists argue that everything is as it is for a reason and not otherwise. They argue that the future follows the past or in other words because the past took a particular path, it will determine the future path as well. So everything is predestined.

In the real world, based on the scientific laws, you can predict certain immediate events – such as if you heat water for a considerable amount of time it will boil or that when the oil burns inside an engine, it expands and causes the piston to move.

But, generally we do not have any scientific way to predict the course of human actions or natural disasters or other natural processes.

You may have certain clues to future but you cannot predict future fully.

Almost all scriptures tell us what is to come. Logically, that means everything is predetermined. The revelations from astrologers such as Nostradamus, palmists such as Cheiro are clearly based on the idea that the future is predetermined.

Determinists argue that everything that is happening, happens because of natural causes and every human acts based on the laws they are being subjected to, but it cannot clearly explain certain events such as coin flipping.

My answer is similar – both free will and fate exist. It just depends on the observer.