Acharya Prashant addresses the question of how choice fits into the deterministic process of Prakriti (nature). He explains that human beings are like seeds rather than pebbles. While a pebble is just a pebble, a seed has a certain potentiality. This potentiality is the difference between a human being and an inanimate object like a pebble or a boulder. The work of Hitler was different from the work of Shri Krishna, which illustrates this difference. The choice element is what allows a human to realize this potentiality. Most people, however, never see that they have a choice and just keep flowing with their natural tendencies. Their choice leans almost absolutely towards the Prakritik (natural) side. You could say they choose to side with Prakriti, or that they don't decide or choose at all. You are truly alive when you make the difficult, unnatural choice. If Prakriti is nature, then you come alive when you make the unnatural choice, the choice to surprise yourself. This involves observing that which appears instinctively and obviously right in the Prakritik sense. The observation itself is the choice that leads to detachment. Most people just pretend to be choosing. The less you truly choose, the more you need to pretend to choose. This is why there is so much emphasis on choice in the modern world. People say, "I live as per my choice," but when you don't really have freedom, you talk too much about it. For example, one might choose between tumblers made of glass, aluminum, steel, or copper, but ultimately, one is choiceless when it comes to the water it contains. This facade of choice is just a way to pamper oneself. The ego is the chooser, and it keeps on choosing all its life, but all its choices are fallacious, sham choices between things that don't matter and are therefore all identical. The ego pretends as if there are a lot of options when there is no real choice. The only real choice is to acknowledge the nature of the chooser, the ego. Once you see that, the real choice has been made. The hollow ego is busy fighting hollow battles throughout the day. The ego is always surrounded by problems because problems secure its existence; if there are problems, it proves that someone is there to be troubled. The ego's inverted logic is: "If there are so many problems, surely I exist." Therefore, it will not let the problems disappear. The only real battle is the one of self-annihilation. The only real choice is to see the nature of all this.