Fate is a predetermined, unalterable life course for a single person. Fate connotes a lack of choice, an obligation, a lack of control. Fate is regarded to be a course of action  that is determined by someone or something outside of ourselves, as in a supernatural power or deity. There is no free will with fate.

Destiny is an outcome that we co-create in harmony with all other people’s destinies, as well with as the collective destiny of humanity and of everything on Earth. There are multiple paths to fulfilling a destiny. We always have choice as to whether or not we align with and fulfill our destiny, and we choose our destiny in harmony with and in support of the collective destiny of humanity. There is always free will with destiny.

Not at all. Free will is always a factor for us, in two ways.

One — we always have choice as to if we fulfill our destiny. We are not required to fulfill our destiny, but like everything in life, there are consequences (to us, to our community, to the world) if we fulfill our destiny and there are consequences if we do not. We are not usually aware of the consequences, but we do know whether our lives feel fulfilling and vibrant or if they feel empty and meaningless.

Two — we have choice in how we fulfill our destiny. Most people have multiple possible paths to fulfilling their destiny. Some paths are more efficient than others, some paths are more effective, and some paths are winding and circuitous. The best paths to fulfilling destiny are those that make us feel alive, vibrant, and excited to wake up in the morning.

No. Destiny is an expected outcome. We may achieve that outcome in multiple ways, some more effective than others.

Destiny, as stated before, is an outcome. More specifically, it is an agreed-upon co-created outcome, and all beings involved in its co-creation will have awareness of it on some level. The outcome is a target, not an endpoint. When an archer shoots an arrow into a target, he shoots through the target in order to hit the target, not at the target itself. It is much the same with destiny. We focus our energy through the destiny outcome, not at the outcome itself. In this way, a continuous flow of energy is set in motion, a flow that we ride in order to fulfill our destiny.

To a large extent it can be, but usually not completely. To completely finish a destiny often requires multiple lifetimes. Your lifetime may be the first the work on your particular destiny, or it may be the last or one among many consecutive lifetimes that all work to fulfill the same grand arc of a destiny.

Even if your destiny is not one that is completely fulfilled during your lifetime, you will receive so many benefits from aligning with your destiny that it will make a huge difference in the way you experience your life. Plus, all the work you do to fulfill your destiny benefits your family and loved ones, your community, and the world in ways you may not be able to see but are profound and significant just the same.

In addition, your destiny may be a multi-lifetime destiny that is not intended for completion within one lifetime, and therefore all your efforts in fulfilling your destiny now will help you, your community, and the world in that future lifetime as well as right now.

Aligning with and acting to fulfill a destiny changes a person significantly. You cannot ever go back to how you were before you aligned with your destiny—your energy signature changes, your patterns of interacting with the world changes, and your perspective about yourself and the world also changes so profoundly that it is impossible to return to the way you were prior to destiny. Once you align with Destiny, you will always remain in alignment with that energy, even when your personal destiny is complete.

When your destiny is complete, you become a teacher of sorts to the rest of humanity. Teaching of this kind can occur in a number of ways and does not always resemble what we consider “teaching”. Some people write books, some become bartenders, some create art, and some tend gardens. Post-destiny life is generally peaceful. It involves community and family. People typically pursue gentle pastimes, and often live long lives because a life of destiny fulfillment has left them with so many physical benefits. About 20% of us who actively engage with our destiny complete it in a given lifetime.

Living one’s destiny requires accepting the full magnificence of who we are. Today’s social and cultural mores discourage this. We are told to be smaller than we are, to be like everyone else or suffer rejection, and that we must fight for what we want lest some else get to it first. It is frightening to acknowledge our magnificence. We doubt our ability to measure up to it, because of the limiting beliefs we harbor from society.

Also, we do not talk about destiny any more. Many people confuse it with fate, which feels limiting and overly controlled, so we avoid thinking about destiny.

As more and more people connect with and live their destiny, the energy flow that supports destiny fulfillment will increase. As the energy flow of destiny increases, the concept of destiny will become normal for people to think and talk about. People will be more and more interested in consciously connecting to their destiny.

We are ALWAYS attempting to connect to our destiny. Destiny generates an underground river of energy that we always feel, even though we usually do not know what we are feeling. It is this flow that compels us to make certain life choices in an attempt to align with our destiny.

When people are not connected to their destiny, they cannot fully live it. When people do not live their destiny they feel powerless and unfulfilled in life, angry, meaningless, and empty. When people feel such a way they look to other experiences to fill their emptiness and attempt to feel more powerful in life. Throughout the course of human history, these power-gaining experiences have primarily been a form of conflict, which in its largest sense is war.

A person picking strawberries in hot California fields may have a destiny to network with other people in order to uplift them through a challenging time. It is easy to see that this person is in exactly the right place to fulfill their destiny. That same person could also spend their life as a writer of inspiring books, as an activist leader, or as a seller of Mary Kay products—all of which could also be a path to fulfill that same destiny.

However, destiny is an interrelated energy flow that produces an energy field. We are all connected energetically in many ways, including through the flow of our individual and collective destinies. The strawberry picker fulfills their destiny more easily because of the magnetic pull from their fellow strawberry pickers, who on an unconscious level sense the energetic contribution from the picker, which makes their destiny fulfillment many times more effective. We know this intuitively, and as a result we tend to select vocations that best support the fulfillment of our individual destiny, as well as support our part in helping humanity fulfill its collective destiny.

An individual with Down syndrome may have a destiny to teach other people a new way of looking at the world, specifically to see the good in other people. Socially, we tend to have few expectations of people with Down syndrome, which gives them the unique ability to sidestep normal social conventions and instead to share their perspectives and joys with abandon. This destiny could be expressed any number of ways—as a cashier in a store, as a poet, or as a warehouse worker. As long as this individual is in an environment where there are other people they can talk to, their destiny can be fulfilled.

On a soul level, we do not think of experiences such as living with disabilities like Down syndrome as being a problem. On a soul level, we seek new human experiences of every kind, and do not discriminate among them. All experience is valid, and all experience is desired. We cannot move on to the next plane of existence without having experienced all there is to experience as humans in a human body. Therefore, experiences of living with disabilities are opportunities for growth and understanding, not burdens.

A Muslim person living in the US may have a destiny to help other people understand their roles in society. While this destiny does not necessarily require the fulfiller to be of any particular religious affiliation, including that of Islam, the Muslim person is in a unique position to easily help others to understand their social role, because of their social position as an “outsider”. We tend to either listen more or wholly dismiss the outsiders in our midst. Either way, this Muslim person easily fulfills their destiny simply by existing among a homogenized population.

This destiny could be expressed in many specific ways: executive secretary; insurance sales; daycare teacher; pipe fitter. The only requirement here is that they be among others who do not share their religious beliefs. Simply showing up as a Muslim is enough to cause people to feel the energy of their particular role in society.

Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group of individuals as a response to their religious beliefs or affiliations or lack thereof. This dehumanization often turns to violence—physical, social, emotional. Nearly every religious group you may think of has experienced some form of persecution at one time or another.