Predestination VS Free Will

I'm reading a book about Ramana Maharashi and I think I finally understand the difference. Most people in the west see free will as another inalienable birthright of every man, just like the right to life and liberty. Materialists attribute the belief in predestination to the gullible religious zealots.

Well, turns out both are right.

Free will only works on the level of the ego. It needs an observer, an action (the decision making) and a result (the outcome of said decision)...all neatly ordered on a timeline and observable. 

For example, I'm about to go out. The sun is shining so I decide not to take my umbrella. Later that day however, there's a big storm and I get soaked. Free will at work.

But what is the ego identification if not an illusion? Where is the ego when you're asleep? You still exist even though there is no ego at that moment. 

What remains once you transcend the ego? The Self. Your true identity, which is the same for all of us. The Self exists always, it is untouched by space or time, it is eternal. How then, could a time and ego dependent free will work for the Self. It doesn't. The Self is just another word for God or Cosmic Consciousness. Ascribing free will to God would mean to diminish his power and he would therefore cease to be God.

For the Self there is only the present. The past and the future all happen at the same time. Everything that has happened and will happen is happening right now in accordance with the perfect divine will. 

This means that free will only exists as long as we falsely identify with the ego. Once we shed the layers of ignorance that keep us from knowing our true identity, free will will dissipate along with all other illusions. You will still perform actions, but they won't be guided by the ego's will. They will be flawless actions guided by pure intent.