Can We Predict the Future, or is It Random?
“You believe in a God who plays dice, and I in complete law and order.” - Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Letter to Max Born
“It seems that even God is bound by the Uncertainty Principle, and can not know both the position, and the speed, of a particle. So God does play dice with the universe.”- S. Hawking, 1995
From the tiniest particles in quantum physics to the tumbling of celestial bodies, not to mention the weather and the stock exchange – nothing in the universe ever behaves in a way that is totally predictable. In this article we conclude that the future is not predictable, but the universe operates in accordance with the universal principles, which are not mapped in scientific equations.
Einstein supported the notion that if we knew the positions and speeds of all the particles in the universe, then we could calculate their behaviour at any other time, in the past or future. The idea that the state of the universe at one time determines the state at all other times, implies that we can in principle predict the future. Quantum mechanics shows that a complete prediction of the future, can not be realized. In quantum mechanics, particles don’t have well defined positions and speeds. More accurately you try to measure the position of the particle, the less accurately you can know the speed, and vice versa. But even the quantum mechanics limited predictability disappeared, when the effects of black holes were taken into account. The loss of particles and information down black holes meant that the particles that came out were random. One could calculate probabilities, but one could not make any definite predictions. Thus, the future is not completely determined by the laws of science, and its present state.
Einstein was very unhappy about this apparent randomness in nature. His views were summed up in his famous phrase, ‘God does not play dice’. He seemed to have felt that the uncertainty was only provisional: but that there was an underlying reality, in which particles would have well defined positions and speeds, and would evolve according to deterministic laws, in the spirit of Laplace. This reality might be known to God, but the quantum nature of light would prevent us seeing it. Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), a Hindu spiritual master born in Tamil Nadu, who taught the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, shared a similar view, that everything in our life is predetermined. He believed that we are like actors playing a role in a Divine Plan scenario.

You are always free to change Your Mind and choose a different Future by making a new Choice in a Present Moment. – GM Brana
Outside quantum mechanics, every other branch of science – physical, biological, medical, social, psychological shares the same assumption: the events don’t occur without being caused to occur. Einstein believed that this assumption was justified. He believed, more generally, that the universe was deterministic in the sense that every event that occurs is caused by other events in such a way that the causing events bring about their effects, or in other words, “determine” the effects they will have. At the Academy we teach that everything happens in accordance with the universal laws (principles), which were set in motion, when the universe was created. We discussed in the Big Bang article that scientists hold a view that everything in the universe emanated from a singularity, which did not abide by the laws of physics. Many of the spiritual masters also teach that we are all One.
The laws of equally apply to all.When a person lives his life in accordance with the laws, he or she is successful in all his endeavors and is surrounded by harmony, love and beauty. If he knowingly or unknowingly acts against these laws, then the results are the opposite – failure, chaos, conflict with himself and with the surrounding world. In daily life we are very familiar with notions of cause and effect, of things behaving in an orderly and predictable manner. The law of Cause and Effect teaches that our future is effect of past and present actions, thoughts and emotions. The law of Free Will, gives each person the opportunity to make choices. Therefore, we can change our future by changing our actions, thoughts and emotions in the present moment. Spiritual teachers aim to help their students to create a better future for themselves and the world around them.
What in reality happens when prophets predict the future? The prophet may see the most probable outcome of the current situation, or simply visualize a certain outcome giving it higher probabilities, but this probability will change in accordance with the newly established parameters.