Let’s take a look at ourselves. Let’s take a look at the idea of “free will.” We are here as the consequence of an action of two other people. We are dealing with life as the consequence of an action we didn’t take, yet all our lives people tell us to deal with the consequence of our own actions. So we didn’t choose our existence, our mind, our instincts, our body, the world, and ALL the world contains in it. We are just born INTO it and forced to adapt to everything we didn’t choose in the first place. Are we on the same page? Okay, good. Let’s keep going. They say we have options. More like options we are forced to choose from since we didn’t get to pick them. Now tell me, if I didn’t make my brain that serves as a sponge that absorbs all it was taught from birth, to the point we even think in the language we are taught, what part of me is actually originally “me”? What part of “me” isn’t just autonomous?We think this thought, “I can control my mind!” Yet the mind you didn’t make is what allows you to have that thought in the language and words it absorbed prior to you thinking that thought.
Let’s go back to the options we have to choose from, it’s like me telling you, “This is what you have to choose from, I know you don’t have a choice but to pick from these options, but tough, take your pick, go!” That is a metaphor to us being submerged into this world and having to adapt in the attempt to survive and find ourselves convenient to others through seeking their good favor and not their painful consequences based on how well we fulfill their desires. Life is about wants, wants, wants. My wants. Their wants. “I want”.
Following these pictures, they are as follows: 1. You about to take a plunge into the world and all it contains. Notice you had no choice in your entity or the world you are about to partake of. 2. The adaptation process. People around us use reward and punishment as a means to getting us to become pleasing, productive, and harmless if we don’t want to be negatively labeled, reprimanded, sent to be fixed with a shrink and pills, locked up in jail, or worse. 3. Realizing that we didn’t choose the options we have to choose from, makes you realize that the idea of free will is a construct. It makes you realize how it is natural for a person to feel trapped, or to be unhappy even if they have what most consider the “ideal” situation. Why? We chose nothing in the first place and acceptance is completely conditional on being pleasing, productive, harmless, and if you’re lucky related to someone or chosen by someone who has the patience to put up with you longer than your average stranger. If you please the senses of another, as in the case of romantic love, you are “loved” but it comes with the price of possibly getting suffocated by their possessive control and jealousy if you aren’t careful to set your boundaries and distance. The conditional nature in everything is what causes stress and makes us seek outlets from the thought of a relationship with a higher power/religion, to drugs, alcohol, addictions, or different distractions and entertainment to keep us from experiencing distress through the release of pent up emotions. Those committing crimes also come from this exposure of a life unless they are taught, trained, and encouraged against being a potential harm to others. 4. The fact that we can create something new from the options we were born into, doesn’t change that the “new” thing we created came from raw materials and options not chosen by us. We just worked with what the world we were born INTO provided. ———————————————
After I realized this on my own through thought and analysis, it radically changed the way I look at others and the way I look at myself. I can see that I am selfish and that any negative label I apply on someone is because they don’t do or say what I want. If we want to be specific we are selfish in that when we don’t smell, hear, feel, taste, and see what we WANT, we complain. We are trapped in seeking satisfaction as an escape to the pain we already have in being trapped in a reality we had no choice in but had to adapt to in fear of the greater pain of physical damage or death. I can see the struggle any person may go through regardless of wealth, status, looks, or ability. And it makes sense now. It makes me understand and connect with others in a brand new way.
This makes a lot of sense. I was just thinking today about how much free will we actually have. We don't choose our genetic programming and instincts, or the environment that we have to adapt to. Most of us try our best to use the abilities we've been given and curb our destructive tendencies so we can survive in our environment. And then we run into people whose genetic makeup is very different, who grew up in different environments, and they don't understand why we react to things the way we do. They don't understand some of our deeply ingrained habits, which may have served a purpose at one time. I often wish that we could all understand one another better, but I guess that's a topic for another post.
@TeresaRudolph71 Very well said! I think if we look at our experience of existence objectively, we can all grow a deep sense of understanding even when we flee from others out of self-preservation or to decrease pain in our lives. Thank you so much for your input! ❤️🌹
[b]"After I realized this on my own through thought and analysis, it radically changed the way I look at others and the way I look at myself. I can see that I am selfish and that any negative label I apply on someone is because they don’t do or say what I want. If we want to be specific we are selfish in that when we don’t smell, hear, feel, taste, and see what we WANT, we complain. We are trapped in seeking satisfaction as an escape to the pain we already have in being trapped in a reality we had no choice in but had to adapt to in fear of the greater pain of physical damage or death. I can see the struggle any person may go through regardless of wealth, status, looks, or ability. And it makes sense now. It makes me understand and connect with others in a brand new way."[/b]
YES YES YES .... AMEN TO THAT !!
What a wonderful essay, Miss Special! It reminds me of a book I read a few years back by Sam Harris, "Free Will" and at the same time it explores the theme in a fresh and delightful way. I think Dr. Harris would love to read your essay. You can reach him at: samharris.org
There are two You Tube lectures I'd like to recommend to you. I believe you might not only enjoy them but they will also serve well to accompany your thoughts on the subject of free will:
1) "Sam Harris on the Illusion of Free Will" - Sam Harris (09:27)
The lecture by Anil Seth explains with great clarity the role of perception on forming the conscious interpretation of reality.
Connecting this theme to Harris' concept of free will it we see that the brain uses it's prior expectations to tell us what we are consciously experiencing.
Terrific, huh? When I first began to realize this I was totally blown away!
A few years back I began my university studies in the field of the physics and chemistry of engineering because I was fascinated by how the research done in molecular structures created many of the innovations we are enjoying in our civilization.
And then I attended a lecture on neuroscience and holy smokes.... I got hooked .... and added on a new major ... because I couldn't let go of either. Both were just too darn fascinating not to pursue!
So keep thinking and writing about your thoughts, Miss Special. The more you do so the more amazed you'll be about the workings of people and the world we inhabit.
I suppose my point deals with the first “us”, if the Buddhist point of view will be considered. We have to exist first before we can “ask” for anything so nothing “asked” to exist in the first place.
