Why we don't have as much Free Will as people say - Simple logical reasons
Posted: September 17th, 2021, 9:37 pm
My questions I sent to Rock. Do any of you have any answers? Have any of you wondered about these things too?
Dear Rock,
Thanks for your voice message the other day. It was kind and helpful and well intentioned. But I still have some unresolved questions and issues. You seem to think that my inability to move or get out of Taiwan is due to procrastination or lack of discipline or will power. Those are logical sensible conclusions and I'm sure a professional therapist would say the same. But the question is: WHY? Why would I constantly procrastinate or lack discipline or will power? What would cause that? Especially if I don't want it and it goes against my will or intent? That's the big X factor and unanswered question. However, the thing is, I don't think it's just about lack of will power or discipline. Let me give you a list of reasons why below.
Let me state first that I do believe that free will exists. I am not an atheist who believes we are all biological robots with no free will and that consciousness is an illusion. No way. That makes no sense and does not fit the data and is a speculative assumption only based on a materialist philosophy. But free will seems to be a small factor only, not a big one. I've never understood why Americans, Christians, and New Agers imply that free will is an absolute divine principle and totally free without impediment. That makes no sense for many reasons, which I will list below.
1. A smoking addict or alcoholic cannot simply say to themselves, "I choose to stop smoking/drinking". That doesn't work as we all know. If it did then Alcoholics Anonymous and groups like that would not exist. An addiction compromises your free will obviously. You cannot simply command yourself to stop the addiction. Your body and mind will not obey. So where is free will in that case? Willpower alone cannot conquer an addiction as we all know. If you try to use willpower alone it will fail. Once your mind is against you, you are screwed. If you are not in control of your mind but your mind is in control of you, then your free will is gone right? What can you do about that?
2. If you watch interviews with serial killers, they usually say they could not fight the urge to murder people. It's as if it was in their blood or soul or innate. They usually fight it for months or years before giving in to it. Watch the interviews with Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer and you will see what I mean. Obviously if they could not stop their inner urges then their free will is compromised right? If you read the testimony of John Lennon's assassin, Mark David Chapman, he tried to fight his obsessive thoughts about killing Lennon for about a year. But they persisted until he could not stop them anymore. Why could he not use free will to simply make the choice not to kill Lennon, as you and I would have done? Why isn't it that simple?
3. Obviously, those with mental illness, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, OCD, etc. have their free will compromised too. They can't just decide not to be mentally ill or be free of their symptoms right? It either has to be solved with medication, management skills, or some type of spiritual therapy or shamanism (according to alternative researchers). It's not a matter of will power or discipline or choice right? We all know this, so why isn't this considered when people talk about free will as if we all have total free will without interference? Life is not like a video game where you can control your character with your gamepad and tell it to go wherever you want. If only it were that simple.
4. Spiritual teachers and psychologists say that mankind is fragmented in his inner psyche. That means we are divided within. So if half of you wants to do X but the other half you does not, then which side wins? The side that loses obviously lost its free will. America especially fragments you into a fake self vs your real self. ANd those of us who have trauma have probably created a split self in order to cope with it, the self that is trauma free and the self that is traumatized. That may be the case with me too. If so, then having multiple selves or inner fragmentation obviously compromises your free will.
Do you feel no inner conflicts Rock? Do you do everything in a whole unified manner with your mind and heart and soul and body in complete unification and agreement?
5. Haven't you stood before a big drop and something in you told you to jump and kill yourself? Or haven't you had thoughts of murdering someone? Everyone has. Where do such negative dark intrusive thoughts come from? You do not choose them out of free will. They just come out of nowhere, perhaps your dark side, or perhaps from demons and entities attached to you, which all major religions and ancient cultures say exist. So you see, you do not have total control of all your thoughts, especially the thoughts that are intrusive. There are intangible X factors too. We have either inner or outer demons or both.
6. If I told you: "Whatever you do, do NOT think of a pink elephant in the room" and you tried to do that, you will think of a pink elephant. That's a classic exercise that shows that the more you fight something the more power you give it. Have you heard of it? So you see, your mind does not always obey your commands. There is a part of mind that tries to do the opposite of what you want. I think in Scientology and the Dianetics book it's called the "Reactive Mind" is something that Scientology therapy tries to conquer? So again, this "Reactive Mind" compromises our free will right?
There's also a Zen lesson in Zen books that Alan Watts talked about. It says that if you try to use a bow to shoot an arrow to hit the target, it will mess you up. The action of the bow, strings, and release of the arrow has to be one unified motion without effort or thought. So you see, if you try to do something or think about it, it's like something pushes back against you and counters your will, like a reactive mind. Kind of like that Newtonian law: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." That's why if you try to fight an addiction, it fails. It has to be fluid like one thoughtless motion where you just do it and not think about it. I think that's the Zen lesson.
7. I've known people who constantly shoot themselves in the foot. For example my former best friend Michael Goodspeed had a YouTube channel and was making good videos that were attracting a growing audience. One day he closed his channel and deleted his videos for no reason. Some dark side of him always sabotages him and tells him "everything sucks" and makes him quit whatever he's doing. So he never got anywhere in life. If your own mind works against you, how can there be free will?
8. In my experience, when I try to do something against my destiny or what's meant to be, I get BLOCKED and my plans get thwarted and ruined. It seems I am only allowed to follow my destiny and only allowed to have what's meant to be. So if I am not allowed to do anything that doesn't fit my destiny, then my free will is moot isn't it? This has been my experience in life, so I've never been a big fan of free will since I never felt I truly had any. And I've never understood why most people were so adamant about free will when I don't see evidence of it. If I can either follow my destiny or go against it and get blocked, then I don't see how free will is a factor then. You get my drift?
9. I'm sure you've heard that someone does something because it's in their blood. For example, those who climb Mt. Everest and get killed doing it, which looks foolish to others, will say that they can't help it because it's in their blood to risk their lives climbing it. It's as if they didn't have total free will, because they were compelled to follow whatever is in their blood. Or at least what's in their blood is a major influence on their mind or will. In that sense, free will is not free if there are many things influencing it, such as your genes, your blood, your soul, your innate nature, higher forces and entities, a divine plan or divine order, destiny, karma, etc. Right?
10. When I am unhappy or depressed, I notice that my typing mistakes increase and my fingers and movements become more clumsy. Especially on the phone keyboard since the keys are small and it's too easy to type the wrong key. Also we sometimes drop stuff that we are carrying as if the object flies out of our hands. And food drops on the floor while we are eating for some odd reason, even if we are mindful and eating slowly. It's as if stuff likes to drop to the floor. And when we bite our tongue we yell "Ouch! Damn it!" If we have total free will, how do these things happen? Why do my fingers push the wrong keys against my will? Why don't they obey my commands? Obviously something messes with my commands and will right? The question is: What?
11. Science also says that most of what we do is from our subconscious mind routines. There are also scientific tests that show that our brain has already decided what we are going to do before we are consciously aware of it. As a result, many neurologists and atheists claim that free will is an illusion and doesn't exist. Especially since they believe we are biological robots with no soul and that consciousness is just an illusion. I don't agree with that of course, since I do believe in the soul, but it's interesting to note that our brain already decides something before we are aware of it. And it does seem to be true that most of what we do and think comes from our subconscious mind and its routines, as if we are on auto pilot. That does seem to be true. That's how we can drive or ride a bike or know the way home, it's in our subconscious.
12. Interference in my free will isn't something new btw. In Moscow in 2004 I also could not leave the city. It's as if some invisible hand didn't want me to. After 7 failed attempts and 2 months I finally left, but then a lot of bad things happened to me, such as scams, ambushes, assaults, etc. It was as if God or the universe was angry at me for disobeying its will. Very creepy. And as you know, it took me 3 years to get to China. I intended to go in January 2012, but didn't get there until 2015. I have cursed the universe and the gods countless times because of this and can never forgive them. Had they not interfered, I could have had a Chinese wife by now or at least have some relationships I didn't have. During those years it seemed like some invisible hand or force was blocking me and holding me back. I told everyone this many times. They may not believe it, but I definitely felt it. No one knows why. Was it an outer force or inner force? If so, what is it and how can I overcome it?
13. Rock, I think to you it's just a simple matter of willpower and discipline and time management skills (which I am poor in because I get distracted easily and have too many interests and hobbies and curiosities). Right? But is that all it is? How do you know there isn't more to it? How do you know it's not something in the spiritual dimension too? In your Christian background and tradition, there are demons and angels and ghosts/spirits. So those things are part of your religious tradition too. So why don't you consider the spiritual factor? Why do you and most men act like the spiritual factor doesn't exist and do not consider it? I don't get that.
You said that entities will not bother you if you don't believe in them or just brush them off. Some New Agers say that too. But if it was that easy then why do exorcists exists? And why can't schizophrenics ignore the voices they hear and brush them off? And why can't depressed or biplar people control their minds too and just brush off their mental illness? Like your friend Ava Paige? Obviously it's not that simple right?
Rock, does your will or intention get blocked or interfered with too? If not, why does that happen to me but not you?
14. Ever since I was 15 I've had a bizarre problem no one can explain that's not in any psychiatry manual. When I get nervous and don't want anything to interrupt me, the universe interrupts me more as if going against my wishes deliberately. Like when I'm in the middle of a thought, I'll either get an itch on my back, or my eye will have a blur in its vision, or a noise outside will cut off my thought. Normal people can continue on and pick up where they left off. But I can't. It's like something is ruined or shattered in me. It's hard to pick up the pieces. If I try hard to avoid interruptions, they come even more. If I tell the universe "Let me finish my thought please! Don't interrupt me!" Then it will interrupt me about 4 or 5 or 6 more times before it stops. Like it will make a sound outside, or an itch on my body, or a blur in my vision (since my vision has some strange imbalance that causes sudden blurs in vision). It's VERY ANNOYING for sure and has caused many years of aggravation, anger, and cussing. The more it annoys me, the worse it gets, as if it was intentional and some perverse force, like a form of Murphy's Law or curse it seems. My mind lacks some filter to tune out stuff that normal people have. Maybe it's just me being overly sensitive or touchy, but in an extreme unusual way, far beyond what's normal. After all, a lot of deep thinkers and eccentric people have sensitivities that normal people don't, I heard.
Who knows. Maybe my soul is from the 5th dimension or above, or I'm an ET Wanderer Soul (as I explained in other threads) and do not really fit into this practical world of materialistic values, and that's why I'm overly sensitive to everything? Because the 5th dimension is the realm of thought, where everything manifests instantly, not slowly like here in the physical plane. If so, that would also explain why I cannot be practical like you and Asian people are in general. I know that sounds New Agey and since you are not a New Ager, you may not understand or relate to it, because it's not part of your world view. But there are New Agers and spiritual seekers who have studied occult and spirit science who do know what I'm talking about. But just remember that just because something isn't part of your paradigm doesn't mean it's not true. We gotta be humble and understand that we do not know everything and there could be many things outside of our paradigm that are real. Just because we don't think about them doesn't mean they aren't real or true. The universe is not as narrow as narrow minded men are. Narrow minded people assume the universe must be narrow too, but that's a fallacy of course. So we gotta remain humble and open minded to stuff that isn't part of our paradigm. Because our paradigm does not define the universe or all dimensions in the cosmos of course. You get my point.
15. Nothing in the Bible teaches the concept of free will. The term "free will" is not in any Bible concordance. It seems to be an invention of modern Americans. Ancient people did not talk about it much either as if it were some universal divine principle like New Agers claim. I don't know if the Ancient Greeks and Romans believed in free will, they probably did, but not as a great divine principle without impediment. Their view of life is that we do not control most things that happen in life, and that most of our life is determined by fate and the will of the gods, not by our choices. So we have very little power to determine our lives, unless we are an emperor or powerful person maybe, but not the average person. America is probably the first country to believe that "we are the masters of our destiny" and "I am captain of my fate". Even Europeans did not traditionally think that way. That should tell you something.
Interestingly enough, I've also noticed that people who are upper middle class tend to believe in free will more than poor or lower class people do. Obviously, because the concept of free will implies that they have money and are successful because they made "wise choices" whereas those who are poor made "poor choices". So the concept of free will allows upper middle class and rich folks to take credit for their success and assets, and is hence flattering to them. In contrast, poor lower class types don't like the concept of free will because it implies they are poor because of "poor choices", which is insulting of course, but understandable. They do not usually believe that they chose to be poor, and see it as some type of fate or injustice done to them.
16. Finally, keep in mind that real problems do not have simple solutions. If they did, they wouldn't be real problems and you would not even hear about them. This is basic logic. If there were a quick fix, then it would be done and not even discussed or complained about. What this means is that even if someone else's problems look simple to you, if they are enduring, then they are most likely not as simple as you imagine, but more complex than you realize. Something to keep in mind.
* End of list.
I have more examples of how our free will is interfered with or blocked, but I can't remember them now. If I remember them later, I'll add them below.
Based on the list above, I think the conclusion here is that free will does exist as most people assume, since we are conscious and self-aware, so we must have free will to some degree. But it's a small factor, not the main factor in everything as most assume, because our free will seems to be constantly interfered with, compromised, and blocked. Does your will or intention get blocked or interfered with too? If not, why does that happen to me but not you? I've never understood why Americans and New Agers assume free will is an eternal law and immutable without any impediment, when it is obviously majorly compromised. Life is not like a video game where you can control your character with your gamepad and tell it to go wherever you want. If only it were that simple.
So you see Rock, this isn't just a simple case of willpower or discipline or choice or time management skills right? Procrastination is definitely real, but you can't just make a simple choice to overcome it right? For all the reasons above.
What do you all think? Have any of you experienced the above too? Or wondered about the above? How do you explain it? And what can you do about it? If you don't know the cause of all the above, then how can we fix it or deal with it? Aren't we shooting in the dark?
@hypermak you are a big believer in free will. How do you explain all the above? @publicduende can you forward this to him? I PMed him but he doesn't reply anymore. What about you @yick and @MarcosZeitola? What's your take on all the above?
Dear Rock,
Thanks for your voice message the other day. It was kind and helpful and well intentioned. But I still have some unresolved questions and issues. You seem to think that my inability to move or get out of Taiwan is due to procrastination or lack of discipline or will power. Those are logical sensible conclusions and I'm sure a professional therapist would say the same. But the question is: WHY? Why would I constantly procrastinate or lack discipline or will power? What would cause that? Especially if I don't want it and it goes against my will or intent? That's the big X factor and unanswered question. However, the thing is, I don't think it's just about lack of will power or discipline. Let me give you a list of reasons why below.
Let me state first that I do believe that free will exists. I am not an atheist who believes we are all biological robots with no free will and that consciousness is an illusion. No way. That makes no sense and does not fit the data and is a speculative assumption only based on a materialist philosophy. But free will seems to be a small factor only, not a big one. I've never understood why Americans, Christians, and New Agers imply that free will is an absolute divine principle and totally free without impediment. That makes no sense for many reasons, which I will list below.
1. A smoking addict or alcoholic cannot simply say to themselves, "I choose to stop smoking/drinking". That doesn't work as we all know. If it did then Alcoholics Anonymous and groups like that would not exist. An addiction compromises your free will obviously. You cannot simply command yourself to stop the addiction. Your body and mind will not obey. So where is free will in that case? Willpower alone cannot conquer an addiction as we all know. If you try to use willpower alone it will fail. Once your mind is against you, you are screwed. If you are not in control of your mind but your mind is in control of you, then your free will is gone right? What can you do about that?
2. If you watch interviews with serial killers, they usually say they could not fight the urge to murder people. It's as if it was in their blood or soul or innate. They usually fight it for months or years before giving in to it. Watch the interviews with Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer and you will see what I mean. Obviously if they could not stop their inner urges then their free will is compromised right? If you read the testimony of John Lennon's assassin, Mark David Chapman, he tried to fight his obsessive thoughts about killing Lennon for about a year. But they persisted until he could not stop them anymore. Why could he not use free will to simply make the choice not to kill Lennon, as you and I would have done? Why isn't it that simple?
3. Obviously, those with mental illness, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, OCD, etc. have their free will compromised too. They can't just decide not to be mentally ill or be free of their symptoms right? It either has to be solved with medication, management skills, or some type of spiritual therapy or shamanism (according to alternative researchers). It's not a matter of will power or discipline or choice right? We all know this, so why isn't this considered when people talk about free will as if we all have total free will without interference? Life is not like a video game where you can control your character with your gamepad and tell it to go wherever you want. If only it were that simple.
4. Spiritual teachers and psychologists say that mankind is fragmented in his inner psyche. That means we are divided within. So if half of you wants to do X but the other half you does not, then which side wins? The side that loses obviously lost its free will. America especially fragments you into a fake self vs your real self. ANd those of us who have trauma have probably created a split self in order to cope with it, the self that is trauma free and the self that is traumatized. That may be the case with me too. If so, then having multiple selves or inner fragmentation obviously compromises your free will.
Do you feel no inner conflicts Rock? Do you do everything in a whole unified manner with your mind and heart and soul and body in complete unification and agreement?
5. Haven't you stood before a big drop and something in you told you to jump and kill yourself? Or haven't you had thoughts of murdering someone? Everyone has. Where do such negative dark intrusive thoughts come from? You do not choose them out of free will. They just come out of nowhere, perhaps your dark side, or perhaps from demons and entities attached to you, which all major religions and ancient cultures say exist. So you see, you do not have total control of all your thoughts, especially the thoughts that are intrusive. There are intangible X factors too. We have either inner or outer demons or both.
6. If I told you: "Whatever you do, do NOT think of a pink elephant in the room" and you tried to do that, you will think of a pink elephant. That's a classic exercise that shows that the more you fight something the more power you give it. Have you heard of it? So you see, your mind does not always obey your commands. There is a part of mind that tries to do the opposite of what you want. I think in Scientology and the Dianetics book it's called the "Reactive Mind" is something that Scientology therapy tries to conquer? So again, this "Reactive Mind" compromises our free will right?
There's also a Zen lesson in Zen books that Alan Watts talked about. It says that if you try to use a bow to shoot an arrow to hit the target, it will mess you up. The action of the bow, strings, and release of the arrow has to be one unified motion without effort or thought. So you see, if you try to do something or think about it, it's like something pushes back against you and counters your will, like a reactive mind. Kind of like that Newtonian law: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." That's why if you try to fight an addiction, it fails. It has to be fluid like one thoughtless motion where you just do it and not think about it. I think that's the Zen lesson.
7. I've known people who constantly shoot themselves in the foot. For example my former best friend Michael Goodspeed had a YouTube channel and was making good videos that were attracting a growing audience. One day he closed his channel and deleted his videos for no reason. Some dark side of him always sabotages him and tells him "everything sucks" and makes him quit whatever he's doing. So he never got anywhere in life. If your own mind works against you, how can there be free will?
8. In my experience, when I try to do something against my destiny or what's meant to be, I get BLOCKED and my plans get thwarted and ruined. It seems I am only allowed to follow my destiny and only allowed to have what's meant to be. So if I am not allowed to do anything that doesn't fit my destiny, then my free will is moot isn't it? This has been my experience in life, so I've never been a big fan of free will since I never felt I truly had any. And I've never understood why most people were so adamant about free will when I don't see evidence of it. If I can either follow my destiny or go against it and get blocked, then I don't see how free will is a factor then. You get my drift?
9. I'm sure you've heard that someone does something because it's in their blood. For example, those who climb Mt. Everest and get killed doing it, which looks foolish to others, will say that they can't help it because it's in their blood to risk their lives climbing it. It's as if they didn't have total free will, because they were compelled to follow whatever is in their blood. Or at least what's in their blood is a major influence on their mind or will. In that sense, free will is not free if there are many things influencing it, such as your genes, your blood, your soul, your innate nature, higher forces and entities, a divine plan or divine order, destiny, karma, etc. Right?
10. When I am unhappy or depressed, I notice that my typing mistakes increase and my fingers and movements become more clumsy. Especially on the phone keyboard since the keys are small and it's too easy to type the wrong key. Also we sometimes drop stuff that we are carrying as if the object flies out of our hands. And food drops on the floor while we are eating for some odd reason, even if we are mindful and eating slowly. It's as if stuff likes to drop to the floor. And when we bite our tongue we yell "Ouch! Damn it!" If we have total free will, how do these things happen? Why do my fingers push the wrong keys against my will? Why don't they obey my commands? Obviously something messes with my commands and will right? The question is: What?
11. Science also says that most of what we do is from our subconscious mind routines. There are also scientific tests that show that our brain has already decided what we are going to do before we are consciously aware of it. As a result, many neurologists and atheists claim that free will is an illusion and doesn't exist. Especially since they believe we are biological robots with no soul and that consciousness is just an illusion. I don't agree with that of course, since I do believe in the soul, but it's interesting to note that our brain already decides something before we are aware of it. And it does seem to be true that most of what we do and think comes from our subconscious mind and its routines, as if we are on auto pilot. That does seem to be true. That's how we can drive or ride a bike or know the way home, it's in our subconscious.
12. Interference in my free will isn't something new btw. In Moscow in 2004 I also could not leave the city. It's as if some invisible hand didn't want me to. After 7 failed attempts and 2 months I finally left, but then a lot of bad things happened to me, such as scams, ambushes, assaults, etc. It was as if God or the universe was angry at me for disobeying its will. Very creepy. And as you know, it took me 3 years to get to China. I intended to go in January 2012, but didn't get there until 2015. I have cursed the universe and the gods countless times because of this and can never forgive them. Had they not interfered, I could have had a Chinese wife by now or at least have some relationships I didn't have. During those years it seemed like some invisible hand or force was blocking me and holding me back. I told everyone this many times. They may not believe it, but I definitely felt it. No one knows why. Was it an outer force or inner force? If so, what is it and how can I overcome it?
13. Rock, I think to you it's just a simple matter of willpower and discipline and time management skills (which I am poor in because I get distracted easily and have too many interests and hobbies and curiosities). Right? But is that all it is? How do you know there isn't more to it? How do you know it's not something in the spiritual dimension too? In your Christian background and tradition, there are demons and angels and ghosts/spirits. So those things are part of your religious tradition too. So why don't you consider the spiritual factor? Why do you and most men act like the spiritual factor doesn't exist and do not consider it? I don't get that.
You said that entities will not bother you if you don't believe in them or just brush them off. Some New Agers say that too. But if it was that easy then why do exorcists exists? And why can't schizophrenics ignore the voices they hear and brush them off? And why can't depressed or biplar people control their minds too and just brush off their mental illness? Like your friend Ava Paige? Obviously it's not that simple right?
Rock, does your will or intention get blocked or interfered with too? If not, why does that happen to me but not you?
14. Ever since I was 15 I've had a bizarre problem no one can explain that's not in any psychiatry manual. When I get nervous and don't want anything to interrupt me, the universe interrupts me more as if going against my wishes deliberately. Like when I'm in the middle of a thought, I'll either get an itch on my back, or my eye will have a blur in its vision, or a noise outside will cut off my thought. Normal people can continue on and pick up where they left off. But I can't. It's like something is ruined or shattered in me. It's hard to pick up the pieces. If I try hard to avoid interruptions, they come even more. If I tell the universe "Let me finish my thought please! Don't interrupt me!" Then it will interrupt me about 4 or 5 or 6 more times before it stops. Like it will make a sound outside, or an itch on my body, or a blur in my vision (since my vision has some strange imbalance that causes sudden blurs in vision). It's VERY ANNOYING for sure and has caused many years of aggravation, anger, and cussing. The more it annoys me, the worse it gets, as if it was intentional and some perverse force, like a form of Murphy's Law or curse it seems. My mind lacks some filter to tune out stuff that normal people have. Maybe it's just me being overly sensitive or touchy, but in an extreme unusual way, far beyond what's normal. After all, a lot of deep thinkers and eccentric people have sensitivities that normal people don't, I heard.
Who knows. Maybe my soul is from the 5th dimension or above, or I'm an ET Wanderer Soul (as I explained in other threads) and do not really fit into this practical world of materialistic values, and that's why I'm overly sensitive to everything? Because the 5th dimension is the realm of thought, where everything manifests instantly, not slowly like here in the physical plane. If so, that would also explain why I cannot be practical like you and Asian people are in general. I know that sounds New Agey and since you are not a New Ager, you may not understand or relate to it, because it's not part of your world view. But there are New Agers and spiritual seekers who have studied occult and spirit science who do know what I'm talking about. But just remember that just because something isn't part of your paradigm doesn't mean it's not true. We gotta be humble and understand that we do not know everything and there could be many things outside of our paradigm that are real. Just because we don't think about them doesn't mean they aren't real or true. The universe is not as narrow as narrow minded men are. Narrow minded people assume the universe must be narrow too, but that's a fallacy of course. So we gotta remain humble and open minded to stuff that isn't part of our paradigm. Because our paradigm does not define the universe or all dimensions in the cosmos of course. You get my point.
15. Nothing in the Bible teaches the concept of free will. The term "free will" is not in any Bible concordance. It seems to be an invention of modern Americans. Ancient people did not talk about it much either as if it were some universal divine principle like New Agers claim. I don't know if the Ancient Greeks and Romans believed in free will, they probably did, but not as a great divine principle without impediment. Their view of life is that we do not control most things that happen in life, and that most of our life is determined by fate and the will of the gods, not by our choices. So we have very little power to determine our lives, unless we are an emperor or powerful person maybe, but not the average person. America is probably the first country to believe that "we are the masters of our destiny" and "I am captain of my fate". Even Europeans did not traditionally think that way. That should tell you something.
Interestingly enough, I've also noticed that people who are upper middle class tend to believe in free will more than poor or lower class people do. Obviously, because the concept of free will implies that they have money and are successful because they made "wise choices" whereas those who are poor made "poor choices". So the concept of free will allows upper middle class and rich folks to take credit for their success and assets, and is hence flattering to them. In contrast, poor lower class types don't like the concept of free will because it implies they are poor because of "poor choices", which is insulting of course, but understandable. They do not usually believe that they chose to be poor, and see it as some type of fate or injustice done to them.
16. Finally, keep in mind that real problems do not have simple solutions. If they did, they wouldn't be real problems and you would not even hear about them. This is basic logic. If there were a quick fix, then it would be done and not even discussed or complained about. What this means is that even if someone else's problems look simple to you, if they are enduring, then they are most likely not as simple as you imagine, but more complex than you realize. Something to keep in mind.
* End of list.
I have more examples of how our free will is interfered with or blocked, but I can't remember them now. If I remember them later, I'll add them below.
Based on the list above, I think the conclusion here is that free will does exist as most people assume, since we are conscious and self-aware, so we must have free will to some degree. But it's a small factor, not the main factor in everything as most assume, because our free will seems to be constantly interfered with, compromised, and blocked. Does your will or intention get blocked or interfered with too? If not, why does that happen to me but not you? I've never understood why Americans and New Agers assume free will is an eternal law and immutable without any impediment, when it is obviously majorly compromised. Life is not like a video game where you can control your character with your gamepad and tell it to go wherever you want. If only it were that simple.
So you see Rock, this isn't just a simple case of willpower or discipline or choice or time management skills right? Procrastination is definitely real, but you can't just make a simple choice to overcome it right? For all the reasons above.
What do you all think? Have any of you experienced the above too? Or wondered about the above? How do you explain it? And what can you do about it? If you don't know the cause of all the above, then how can we fix it or deal with it? Aren't we shooting in the dark?
@hypermak you are a big believer in free will. How do you explain all the above? @publicduende can you forward this to him? I PMed him but he doesn't reply anymore. What about you @yick and @MarcosZeitola? What's your take on all the above?
