[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":60},["ShallowReactive",2],{"stoicism-article-12/27":3},{"path":4,"stem":5,"title":6,"description":7,"meta":8,"body":23},"/stoicism/12/27","stoicism/12/27","Don't Let Your Soul Go First","Meditation for December 27, 2021",{"quotes":9,"last_updated_at":15,"tags":16,"categories":19,"changeFreq":21,"backgroundImage":22},[10],{"quote":11},{"content":12,"author":13,"source":14},"It's a disgrace in this life when the soul surrenders first while the body refuses to.","Marcus Aurelius","Meditations, 6.29","2021-12-27T09:49:00",[17,18],"stoicism","mortality",[20,17],"meditation","never","/IMG_3410D9A89A17.jpg",{"type":24,"value":25,"toc":54},"minimark",[26,34,37,40,43,46,51],[27,28,29,30,33],"p",{},"Today's lesson from ",[31,32],"daily-stoic",{}," reminds me a term I struggled with long ago as a Christian. Predestination.",[27,35,36],{},"Predestination in this context, means that before we do anything, before we can think of anything, before we can believe\nin anything, even before we are born, even before mankind had existed, even before the creation of this universe and\nworld, God knew our destiny.",[27,38,39],{},"So if we are predestined, why make any decisions at all? Our fate is sealed already. We have no free will. We are just\nthe robots of mankind.",[27,41,42],{},"While this would all seem to be the logical answers, I learned that my Lutheran belief teaches we are not predestined to\ndamnation. Our salvation was given to us through Christ's suffering, death and resurrection. While our souls are\npredestined, we still have free will. We still make the choices that determine our fate. There is still much of this\nthat is confusing to me, but I believe I understand enough to know that my choices shape my destiny to some regard (He\njust knows my choices ahead of time).",[27,44,45],{},"For me predestination is the reminder. While we have possession of this physical body, we should never relinquish our\nsoul. We should strive to do good and avoid doing evil.",[47,48,50],"h3",{"id":49},"conclusion","Conclusion",[27,52,53],{},"Our soul will often mirror our body, but it does not need too. If our body is weak, whether to illness or sins of the\nflesh, our soul can be used as our compass. We should never abandon our soul, not even when our body abandons us.",{"title":55,"searchDepth":56,"depth":56,"links":57},"",2,[58],{"id":49,"depth":59,"text":50},3,1793716909298]