Human acts are among the events which have no definite and
irrecocable destiny. They depend on thousand and one causes, including man’s
own will and choice. All the possibilities which exist in the case of inorganic
material, plants and the instinctive acts of the animals, are valid in the case
of man also. In addition he has intellect, will and choosing power.
Man for his own reasons and of his own will can abstain
from doing a thing which is fully in keeping with his natural and animal
instinct. Similarly without being compelled by any external forces he can do a
thing which is totally against his nature, if he thinks that it is advisable to
do that. Man like animals is influenced by his instinctive motives and
emotional desires, but he is not tied to them. Even in the presence of all the
factors which compel an animal to act instinctively, man is free to use his
will power and to decide whether he should or should not take a particular
action. His performance of an act depends on like an executive authority. That
is why man influences his destiny as a free agent. He is always at liberty to
do or not to do a thing.
Anyhow, his liberty does not mean that he is not subject
to the law of causation, or he can evade it. In fact human liberty does not
mean man’s freedom from the law of causation. In contrast such a freedom will
actually amount to compulsion, for practically there is no difference between
man’s being forced by a particular factor to act against his will, and the act
itself not being dependent on has liberty and freedom, we mean that his acts
emanate from his will with the approval of his power of discrimination and
no-external factor, whether it is destiny or anything else, forces him to do a
thing against his desire.
In short all causes are manifestations of the divinely
ordained fate and destiny. The number of imaginable destines in respect of an
event will be corresponding with the number of the causes and the alternatives
which can be imagined. The particular course which an event takes will be in
accordance with a divinely ordained destiny, and the course which it does not
take will also be in accordance with a divinely ordained destiny.