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Following the publication of the previous feature on the nature of fate or destiny, as opposed to free will and self-determinism, Psychic World received a number of responses. Here are brief representative extracts from the letters received. As you will see, this article created quite a stir.

A Mr Jones of Slough writes 'I have a destiny to work for peace that I saw in a nightmare prior to the atomic bombing of Japan in 1945. I could see burnt skeletons of tree trunks, there were no buildings just a flattened landscape. We are just like puppets, manipulated by governments and it is our duty to avoid further nightmares'. Mr Jones seems to have seen the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki prior to the event and the vision has created within him the need to speak out against war. Something I am sure we would all agree with.

Mrs Pearl Prisley of Ipswich wrote of an amazing prediction made by a medium that she and her husband would move home. Impossible she thought, too many commitments, don't even want to move. Yet within a very short period of time the spirit world had intervened. All Mrs Prisley's seemingly insoluble problems were solved, all obstacles removed and she had been guided to her new home town of Moffat in Scotland by numerous incredible happy coincidences that seem on reflection to be synchronicity in action.

For example, when she set out to tour the car mysteriously ended up in the town of Moffat. Then when the car went in for service she telephoned the garage, dialed a wrong number and was asked who she wanted by a Mrs Moffat. Following this as the couple drove along the road a huge lorry turned in front of them, along its side was the word MOFFAT in huge letters. Mrs Prisley is moving to Moffat as soon as the paper work is completed on the purchase of her new home there. She thinks it is her destiny, her fate and the spirits have influenced her life.

Mr Alex Irons of Bournmouth writes of how he was guided to his destiny by a voice from the world beyond. Mr Irons had been a machine-room foreman in a printing works, rather fed up with his work he thought of taking a better position but had been undecided as to exactly which direction to take. One day a sale representative called in to his works and told Alex that there would be a new job coming up within his company and he thought that Alex should apply. At the time Alex could not drive, the job involved travelling from town to town taking orders and developing business, not something he had ever done before. Having thought about that Alex decided to give it a miss. Too much of a change he thought. Then Mrs Irons, who attended a Spiritualist circle once a week, received a message. The spirits told her that there was to be a new dawn, they gave her images of spring, flowers and a wonderful budding oak tree, on the oak tree was carved her initial G for Glennys. The medium told her this message was not for her but for her husband. The Spirits had brought him a brand new opportunity and he had to take it.

Alex Irons retired recently from that 'new' job after twenty seven happy years as a sales representative. The spirits had not only found him his pathway they had placed him firmly upon it. He had even passed his driving test in double quick time to enable him to do the job.

Mrs Doris Illingworth of Morecambe, Lancs wrote about her childhood experiences in Yorkshire close to Cottingley Wood, famous for its fairies, she always considered it to be a magical place. At the age of 11 Doris was sitting the entrance examination for Bingley Grammar School, as she began to write a mysterious power seemed to flow through her and the essay she had to write actually wrote itself. Doris was amazed at the work her pen produced, it was of such a standard that she passed the exam with flying colours. To this day she believes that essay was written by forces from the world beyond who were guiding her along the pathway she needed to take.

In adult life Doris joined the Morecambe Spiritualist Church, one day the pianist failed to turn up and Doris involuntarily volunteered. She felt compelled to offer to play the hymns, though it had been over thirty years since she had touched a piano. As Doris sat before the keyboard she wondered why on earth she had put herself in such a compromised position. Then, almost without her thinking, she began to play. Years later Doris is still playing at that Church.

During this time Doris has found a firm friend, Elizabeth Baxandall. They met quite by chance, or fate, at the Morecambe Ladies' Choir. Together Doris and Elizabeth have produced books through Automatic Writing, a gift that Doris sought but Elizabeth had. Destiny had placed them side by side to enable the spirit world to communicate through their joint efforts. Their works include 'Out Of The Blue' an account of a spirit's life from around 2,000 BC through numerous incarnations to World War II. Their latest volume 'Ellie and The Spirit Children' tells of a spirit called Ellie that cares for young children.Both Doris and Elizabeth believe that their meeting was predestined. Those books had to be written and only Elizabeth, guided by Doris and the spirit world could have produced them.

It has not all been one way traffic, Elizabeth took the initiative and asked Doris to attend her art class with her. Incredible as it might seem, as Doris took the charcoal to draw that night's subject, a tree, she again found herself taken over by a mysterious force. Instead of a tree Doris drew a portrait. Over the months and years since this first artistic encounter with spirit Doris has drawn numerous portraits. Many are instantly recognised as being friends or family members of those close to Doris at the time of her drawing. It seems that the spirit world have continuously intervened in the life of Mrs Illingworth, placing her in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. Is it fate, is it destiny? Doris is certain of one thing, at the commencement of these encounters she was definitely not considering undertaking anything like the eventual outcome which has been, in each and every case, working for spirit.

Brian Bell wrote to Psychic World expressing his belief that whilst we may agree on our destinations prior to our birth, we have no conscious knowledge of this. Brian believes that at the moment of birth our life in the spirit world becomes a closed book and a veil is drawn over that part of our never ending lives. In Mr Bell's thoughts we exercise full freedom of choice, deciding to take the straight and narrow path to truth or wander along the wide highway of exploration ending who knows where? Our destiny is just a vague thing, seen in dreams or whispered in the words of mediums. Brian believes that only by exercising our freedom of choice can we progress, we alone decide.

Now not all responses Psychic World received were full of evidence that could be considered as supporting the hypothesis that we each have a destiny to fulfil. One gentleman, Mr Ralph Smith of Huddersfield submitted an extremely cogent argument against the idea that our lives are predestined. Taking a somewhat opposing position I discuss this below.

Mr Smith asks 'If our lives are predestined before we are born, is there any point in having aims and ambitions'. Of course there is, we are placed upon our pathway and given the free will to walk, run, sit down or go in the opposite direction. However, if we deliberately and consciously refuse to accept our intended path in life we all, eventually, meet our nemesis. It is my contention that we ourselves have agreed the purpose of our incarnation prior to birth, if we then decide to ignore the plot then we should expect the righteous anger of God. Sometimes that may well involve little more than a sharp shock, such as a minor 'accident' that pushes us back onto the predetermined road. Ralph Smith explores the theory further by asking if certain terrible tragedies are pre-planned. I will not be quite as explicit as Mr Smith but we will all have in mind the most recent horrors inflicted upon innocent members of our society.

To answer the question, and please remember Psychic World is simply posing a hypothetical argument, I would say that the mysteries of the universe are often beyond our comprehension. Was Hitler predestined to undertake the inhuman genocide of the Jewish people, or did he chose to do so out of his own perverted free will. Surely no one could consider that such deeds were pre-ordained, that people were born to die in such horrific circumstances or a person be pre-programmed to create mass destruction. Yet, as Ralph Smith points out, if we accept the hypothesis then that is exactly want we must accept.

Perhaps if we knew all the answers our very sanity would suffer. It may be that we must not know, can not know, and our destiny is to continue on our personal journey living in hope and the expectancy of spiritual progression. But not all want to progress, we must all know individuals who seem to enjoy living in what to us seems utter degradation. It is a self-evident fact that without evil there could be no good, without darkness we could not know the light. It may be that this is so within the spirit world, from which we both come and go. So that dark souls incarnate as evil human beings and light or evolved souls incarnate as good human beings. However we must remember that we are judging behaviour, both good and bad, using our own set of rules.

Some sociologists suggest that we live in an interactionist society. That we have to have a police force because we have criminals, yet we as human beings make the laws that create criminals. At one point in our history we deemed it a crime to have communication with the spirit world. It is within living memory in the UK that Spiritualist Mediums could be prosecuted under the Witchcraft Act of 1735 or even section 4. of the Vagrancy Act 1824. As Spiritualists we can surely see therefore that not everything which our society labels as a crime is a crime. Try telling that to the judge.

So it may be in the macrocosmic sense of life, the universe and everything in it, perhaps there has to be those people and things that we view as evil. Could it not be that we have to be given the choice between good and bad, because unless we actually want to progress towards the light and make a conscious effort, we will remain in the dark. The evil ones have a predetermined path that is dark, that may include the commission of what we view as evil. Perhaps there has to be that choice available to us. Might it not be that making that choice is the true nature of self-determinism.

I have heard it argued that there is no such thing as evil, in effect that is correct, but there is darkness and light. We recognise goodness and we know that it differs from evil, yet the two are a part of one and the same thing, life. I do not, personally, believe that God intervenes to prevent wickedness because he/she cares nothing for our suffering. I believe God wants us to evolve towards the light so much that he/she allows us the freedom to do just that. As life is eternal, given the will to do so, we can all eventually arrive in that place which we call Paradise. On the journey towards our destination we will play many parts, our exits, our entrances and the bit between that we call living only prepare us to meet our God and that is the true destiny of us all.

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