Fate vs Free Will!

Fate and Free Will: A VR Game Analogy

Once in a while, I post answers on Quora, and here’s my take on this topic:

I hope you’ve had some experience with VR games or any computer games, because I’m going to use a VR analogy to explain.

When you put on a VR headset, you’re exercising your free will. However, once you’re in the game, you’re fully subject to the logic and rules created by the game developers. You think you’re making choices—hitting a ball, scoring points—but in reality, you’re just operating within the boundaries of the game’s design. To someone watching from the outside, your actions might even look strange or amusing.

Now, if you don’t get too carried away, you can always take the headset off—that’s your free will again.

This analogy works when discussing fate and free will in a spiritual context. God desires a genuine relationship with us, which can only exist if both parties are free. No one wants a relationship based solely on dependency or ulterior motives. For that reason, God grants us free will—the freedom to choose or reject a relationship with Him. Just like in this game you’re free to buy and use your games.

The problem is, in the absolute reality, there’s nothing but God—everything is part of Him, His energies, His creation. Put another way, God is too good to be rejected. By definition, God is the perfection, the absolute best at everything… To allow for true freedom, a world had to be created where God isn’t an obvious, overwhelming presence. In this “game”, God is optional, a matter of belief. This is the material world, which represents the VR game in this analogy, the virtual reality where God is optional and belief in Him is a matter of choice. It’s an artificial environment, a “fake” world in that it covers up the real reality. Now, how can we truly be free in a fake reality where we don’t belong, and were all we interact with is made up? That’s why, despite how compelling this “reality” seems (and no one wants to leave it), it remains unfulfilling.

Just like in the VR game, we have the free will to take off the headset and return to reality, but we often get caught up in the illusion.