Do we have free choice at all?!
An opinion from the Internet:
“I get what you’re saying about most of our choices being predetermined. But you seem to contradict yourself. At some points you say we can truly choose for ourselves; at other points, you say we are inextricably tied to nature and shouldn’t try to run counter to it.”
I can say for myself that I have had many choices. I think we all have. In hindsight, I can say that some of my choices have been excellent, and some have been terrible. But in any event, they have been MY choices. And that makes it MY life. That’s my only real point. When others presume to know what’s best for me and expect me to support them in making laws and regulations that force my support of them, that does NOT go well.
It is a very difficult and unpleasant topic and some might choose to remain happily oblivious to the truth.
But if we had the ability to examine all the cause and effect processes that lead to our “choices and decisions” we would see that due to the circumstances, our inner programming through genetics, upbringing, education, and societal influence all our decisions, choices are predetermined, we could not have made a different choice even if we are convinced that we made a conscious choice at the end. We are blindly led through our circumstances and our instinctive reactions.
So why do I say we still have a choice?
Our choice is to learn all those cause and effect processes that lead to the otherwise inevitable choices and decisions in life, to understand the purposefulness of the system we play our part in, and to finally come to such an intricate knowledge of the system, to such agreement with it that we would consciously and willingly choose everything exactly how the system determines for us, even before the system pushes us through those choices.
And while it looks like a very small choice or no choice at all, in truth it turns reality upside down and we would tangibly, realistically come to a sense that we control the system instead of the system controlling us.