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Originally Posted by debdodd  I know you guys have said this plenty of times but I still don't understand it ... the whole free will concept and all .... I have tried to understand but it simply makes no sense to me .... |
Hi Deb ... firstly I don't think it is too important whether we believe we have free will or not ... I (we) can't do anything differently anyway. I will carry on making decisions and choices, etc as I have always done.
Secondly when I arrived here seven months ago, I too believed I had free will, but I think I have been persuaded otherwise ... it's OK the world does not come to an end.
The way I understand it, any conscious action I have, eg replying to this post comes from a myriad of inputs. If I started listing the reasons it would go for a long time. Each of those reasons have their antecedents and so on. On top of that our nutrition affects our decisions, our environment, our genetics, our health ... (think of Cathy and messenger). So when I answer question in your previous post ... my thought might be "I like Deb, she was nice to me early on, I'll choose to answer" ...
.. but sorry Debs in reality it's a whole bunch of programming stretching back to way before I was born. But "I think you're OK" works too.
So can I suggest you choose a mundane action ... eg how you chose the last book you read. And just try to imagine all the influences that "allowed you to make that choice". Then think about the reasons for those.
That's my reasoning ... I cannot make a choice independent of my environment ... ie it is the environment that ultimately makes the choice. Og might add my environment and I are one. It just feels like I am making a choice.
not sure this helps?