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The idea that we have unlimited free will is in fact an illusion. IMO. As evidenced in a multitude sources including stories in the Bible were even the devil has to get permission to mess with someone like Job for or in the vampire of lore who requires permission to enter the home. This type of free will reminds me much of the type of free will I would give to my children when they were small. Which was summed up in my famous slogan, “You can have anything you want..up to a limit.” This was put to use quite frequently, for instance, in the grocery store I might give their freedom of any ice cream flavor within a certain price range. Similarly, we also are given freedom within the range we are allowed. As defined by factors including to which degree our autonomic nervous system is online (Gabor Mate: When The Body Says No), we are present in mind (Retaining reflective thought) and willing to be rejected by our peer group in order to adhere to a higher code than that which is reflected in the ever shifting sands of the mob mentality.
In addition, scientifically speaking approximately 39% of the population is capable of reflective thought at any given time, however, only 10% of the population actualizes the reflective thought process when confronted with peer pressure (The ultimate marshmallow in the ultimate marshmallow test). Reflective thought being the earmark of free will. Because reflective thought alone allows us to step above our animalistic desires to fit in at any expense, which desire physiologically is at the root of phenomenon like mass genocide. This is evidenced in the Milgram study which has been re-produced in culture after culture, presently on this earth, and produce the same results regardless of religion. Namely that upwards of 61% of all people will torture another person to death if an authority figure prompts him to do so. That number jumps to 90% when peer pressure is added to the mix. Leaving only 10% of people who retain the ability to think reflectively under the spell of peer pressure and approval.
It’s an irony that 10% of the population statistically is given disproportionate amount of abuse in childhood. Studies have also found that the child who is scapegoated is often a child who does not go with the flow of the family, who usually is engaged in some sort of ill conceived practices. This literally means that society is scapegoating the 10% who are capable of reflective thought under all circumstances possibly from birth. This abuse when inflicted in a certain timeframe of youth causes the connections to the frontal lobe that form by play, i.e. mirroring creating neural pathways in the mind that allow us to reach our frontal lobe for the purpose of reflective thought, in addition, the nervous system gives us our ability to function within our body and within reality and forms our perceptions of reality- these things are caused in these early formative years. So, these things can be fractured by circumstance when a child is still in a hypnotic brain state in their formative years. I personally believe this belief that the body is so insignificant that it can’t be compared to the soul, that it can exchange organs with other species and continue to live even without its body parts in exist for the sake of the soul alone is a partial truth much like the partial truth presented post Babylon. But I mean by that is it product of dualistic thinking. The body and the soul are meant to be married. Whatever our perceptions of reality are, it is proven by science that our body does in fact tell the tale and hold the memory. Much like my fingers remember how to play piano. Muscle memory. Our body was made from the substance of the earth, our soul is not disconnected from this.
In the cafeteria line as kid they always kept the dessert down by the register at the end. I could see there were two types of dessert. If by the time I reached the register there was only one type of dessert left, I would experience an acute sense of unpleasant internal physiological arousal. Even if the one type left was likely the one I would have chosen. I can see now that such choice wouldn’t count as free will, and almost none of the choices I’ve ever made really meet the criteria. It was an illusion. I do think that choosing an environment of association with people who have their internal on/off switch of spiritual desire flipped to “on” is a real act of free will.
From your lesson my free will lies in my ability to choose the environment that I wish to be in so as to grow but I am still trapped in this reality therefore I have no free will. What I have is the power to choose when I would like to begin the process of correction and to choose from among the many paths and teachers who present themselves, which is the correct one all this based on my limited perception of reality. Very confusing indeed.
So much of our lives moment to moment is informed and manifested from our matter, nourishment, and upbringing. Sometimes I feel that that which came before me is more of me than what I am now, and yet I am its arbiter on how it will be used and play out through the environments that I place myself in. Acting on the collection of these forces as a whole.
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