What is Free Will?
My former editor would say that question is a cliché. In journalism we strive for originality, but some questions – some ‘clichés’ I should say, continue to follow us throughout.
Numerous opinions pieces, essays, and academic papers have been written on the subject. Philosophers, religions, laws, countries, and academic approaches have been formed around the concept of free will.
And there is a good reason for that.
We continue to ask ourselves about the merits of the existence of free will because the answers often create more questions. In order to try and give a concise and clear answer the mind is led on a complex path. There seem to be endless caveats and new twists to discover. These continue to creep up, because the answer to the question is essentially a paradox.
To me, free will is the ability to choose within a certain framework. While the demographic that is reading this piece might think that they have free will – once we break down almost any situation to the smallest denominator we often discover that the choices we have in any given situation are fairly limited. Generally the choice is broken into two categories.
Yes or no.
Should I accept the job offer? Should I ask for help? Should I write this essay? Should I watch this TV show? Should I use CP style to write this essay?
But, we do have a choice. When considering the path to take, I try to think a few steps ahead. I weight potential outcomes of the preferred path and how it would benefit the world around me and myself. For the most part we know the correct choice to make, it is a matter of making that correct choice. But I digress.
Wikipedia says free will is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action. It is closely linked to the concepts of responsibility, praise, guilt, sin, and other judgments, which apply only to actions that are freely chosen.
The concept is also connected with other notions like advice, persuasion, deliberation, and prohibition. Traditionally, only actions that are freely willed are seen as deserving credit or blame.
That is largely the concept that we, in North America, base our laws on. The person must have made the choices by their own free will to receive the appropriate punishment or praise for their deeds.
Our laws dictate that a mentally ill person is ultimately not responsible for their actions. The court will offer solace in the form if a treatment rather than a fine or jail time.
Yet, what we sometimes don’t consider is that if the stage – so to speak – is set in a certain way, certain patterns are observed and the entity manipulating the actors has an idea that within a certain set of circumstances with specific actors, specific choices are guaranteed to be made, which in turn cause very precise outcomes. Should we still give free will due credit in such a case? How much free will did the actors unaware of their circumstances have? And what level of punishment or praise do they deserve in this case? I will come back to this.
Or could it be the other way around? Could it be that we chose the framework – our human form – within which to exercise free will?
According to Vedic Hinduism and Buddhism teachings we are reborn multiple times and choose the form that we take on with the decisions we made in our previous lives. It is called karma.
Vedic astrologers would say that we, the English speaking demographic, who have the means to read and write opinion pieces on free will, were predisposed to have that luxury. Experience tells us, while we have this opportunity now there is a chance that we may not have had it in the first place. I immigrated to Canada thanks to my parents a long time ago. As a child I did not have a choice in the matter, in fact I was adamantly against the idea. Common sense dictates that I have better opportunities available to me because of the choice that was made for me. But it is impossible to say for sure. Once a step in one direction is made, all other possibilities for that moment in time fall away.
So is it possible this wasn’t part of my path in this life? Or was it? Could I have done something to change that? Realistically, who knows..
There are so many small elements that are influencing our every move that sketching the paths of each outcome is mind blowing. It is sort of like trying to comprehend the existence of the Milky Way. As humans we either don’t have that capability or we haven’t discovered how to engage our brains to get to that level.
Scientists say that our genetics predetermine, or predispose us to certain diseases or to certain abilities. Yet again it is our choice to harness these gifts and to minimize the risks. Some people seem to make the best out of a very crappy situation, while others manage to destroy every opportunity presented to them. However, there could also be a genetic predisposition toward self-destruction. So perhaps the self-destructive personality is meant to be on that path and is doing exactly what they should. They simply haven’t faced the right circumstances to make the changes to improve their poor decision-making skills or they must continue down the same path until something clicks and they change direction.
Someone famous once said, “Whether you do or don’t you’re right.” I think the quote fits perfectly here.
The choices that we make lead us to the next set of choices, and then to the next, and so on.
Ultimately free will is a dance between opposing wants, needs, and circumstances. A different set of factors may create a unique result, but can also – eventually – lead to a similar or the same outcome. The bigger framework of the situation can lead to learning a certain lesson that needs to be learned, or facing a fear that must be faced, or anything that leads to the next step in our growth – self-actualization.
So perhaps even when we are put in a position where we feel we don’t have a choice… Maybe we do, or maybe there is a bigger reason for the circumstance that we simply have to accept.
Written: Anastasiya Jogal
Photos: Stockvault - Spiral Milky Way by Pixabay, Supreme Court by Brian, Krean Bell, and Kruger Park Elephants by Nicolas Raymond
