Free Will

So I must say that the general consensus of the responses, that I love, were that the meaning of life is different for everyone.
There is no one way of approaching life’s purpose, it is up to each individual person. I did say that in this blog, I would address free will. I believe the concept that purpose is totally personal and individual directly supports my belief that free will exists and is in fact the only thing we as human beings own.
All other possessions can be taken from you, but the one thing, the only thing that you can always count on owning is your own experience and your choice in the way you feel about things.
I think of this as your perception, meaning that the only difference between a bite of violence and a bite of ecstasy are choice and perception.
It seems to me this is the most terrifying and freeing concept in the world. It is completely up to me.
night.
xox
Allison
Newer Comments →
  • SmallvilleRulz

    so yeh hmm…really excited because smallville’s on tonite and i no i can download it but i’m at skool and thursday is the worst day so i need somethng 2 look forward 2 except this is the last day for a while so thats so sad!!!!!:( oh well its on!!!YAYAY!!!!
    SMALLVILLE ROX!!!!

  • SmallvilleRulz

    sometimes ur mind gets changed because of peer pressure and stuff

  • Billy George

    Allison I thought by now that you were not going to talk about that. Well, I think Free will is that action that let us do what we decide for our lives. And I agree with you in the part that you say: “is in fact the only thing we as human beings own.” Thank God exists Free Will, that’s what I understood from “Gabriel Grant” Smallville’s character. hehehe. Have an excellent day Allison Mack! Querer te.
    Billy.

  • http://nathiest.deviantart.com/gallery/ Nathiest

    blah, This is why I have stick to the simple answer 42 now I know that the answer makes no since but really the fact is that the question, the question is all wrong. To understand the meaning of life ’42′ you have to first ask the right question.

  • http://nathiest.deviantart.com/gallery/ Nathiest

    know the question that is

  • arash

    I would really love to believe in free will. In fact I don’t want to think about the parts of my life I have no control on, that would just add stress and useless to think about.
    BUT;
    What about the environment, your families thought, believes forced into your mind. What about hormones and chemicals affecting your mood, your behavior. Or the malnourishment david hayes mentioned yesterday that can affect your conceptual part of brain.

    I was once betrayed by someone I loved which affected me deeply. Later I learned she was suffering and under medication for seven different psychiatric disorders, one of which was border personality disorder, I studied about that and I realized every single action of hers I blamed her for, was a simptom of her condition. Now I am confused. How much of that was a free will ? How much of a choice she had? Aren’t we all under some sort of influence but just in different levels? I think I should leave some space for my friends in this room, I love to hear what they think.

  • http://xanga.com/kasealaine Kasey

    I’m really tired, so I’m not altogether coherent, but let me just say that I completely agree. Maybe someone else will remember who it was (I can’t at the moment) but someone once said to learn all you can because no one can take that away from you. It’s the same with free will.

  • taylor nikole

    AMEN sista!
    (haha and 3 blogs in one day :)
    love it)

    possessions are possessions…
    this is true…
    experience is more important…

    bahh but what about those possessions with sedimental value…
    is the experience and memory that goes along with the possession that is taken away enough?

    maybe it is?

  • http://xanga.com/kasealaine Kasey

    Also, can I be honest and say that I thought the blog said “Free Wii” and I got really excited. Shows how shallow I am I guess… haha

  • http://www.myspace.com/AuthorPa Kevin Sturgis

    My statement is going to come off as confusing at first, I’m sure, but hear me out.

    I feel that we do have the ability of free will and that we always have the option to affect our direct situations. But, in the same token, I also feel that choice is an illusion. We have choice only because we are trained as children that we have a choice. George Carlin put it best “Elections and politicians are in place in order to give Americans the “illusion” of freedom of choice.” (source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOWe4-KXqMM) Honestly, I see where you’re coming from but I’ve always believed that choice is an illusion because if we really had choice, we wouldn’t be offered “choices” where we are “damned if we do, damned if we don’t,” if you’ll excuse the language.

  • Kyle

    I agree, free will is one of the few things we have and is given to us (if you believe in that). The real question is what will you do with the gift of free will?

    History has shown us people who have used their free will wisely and unwisely. You know them, you’ve read them, you’ve thought about them. But what about you? Will you be remembered as someone who used their free will, not necessarily to the full but wisely?

    Time will tell.

  • Jendi

    I am busting my arse to leave my office, but I couldn’t leave without a freewill speal!

    In 2002 I walked into my first ever University Lecture and it was an interest paper Philosophy 112! Topic freewill.

    While it is the only philosphy paper I swear it challenged the arse off me. my lecture was constantly asking “but what if your wrong, what if every single action or thought has already been pre planned or programmed?”.

    STOP ….before you all jump on me just hold the thought for a second….a wee bit longer…imagine it…..now be so god damn thankful that as far as I know and as far as you know we all have the ability to make decisions, choices, plans, feel our feelings and be responsible for our own actions…that being the key to freewill in my opinion that freewill makes us all responsible for our actions. From friends at high school making us do things to that friend who makes you have one last wine that causes the dreaded pillow lift (head off pillow in morning followed by thump thimp :) )
    I reakon freewill takes away the ability we have to blame others for the actions we can control. We can’t control everything but we can control ourselves and thats fucken amazing if you ask me.

    All of you that are still reading this are in control of one of mans most baffling and extraordinary um whats the word creations maybe??

    Oh one last thing great meaning of life stuff chaps, be remember something that in crap times I try and force myself to think..

    With out the bad times we wouldn’t appreciate the good times!

    take care all!

  • Nikk

    Like I said in the last blog entry, I’m a Nihilist. I believe that no belief system or idea is truly superior to any other or correct . So, in a kind of roundabout sense, having a semi-Nihilistic view on the world is kind of like having Free Will. You’re more or less free to think or believe whatever you want, so long as you know that there is no real correct answer to anything or one true belief system (and that goes for Nihilism, too).

    I apologize for the rambling nature of this entry. It’s late, I’m tired and I’m still a little giddy that I get to swap ideologies with one of my favorite actresses.

  • http://blog.allisonmack.com/2008/08/13/free-will/#comments Matthew

    So..im tired but ill do my best…how much of our so called “free will” is controlled by the actions of others, people who raise us, idols, or/and relegion (which is almost thrust upon us by our parents) …i mean if you look at a family most of the time everyone has alike beliefs…(for the idol part) lets use and example..allison mack for example…how many people read your blog and have their beliefs changed..request..it would actually be nice is you did a dicussion on beliefs..oh well..enough of me rambling..bye

  • http://pen.eiu.edu/~asvernon/ Anthony V.

    I find free will interesting. We have the freedom to do whatever we want to do, but we also have to keep it in check. There are sometimes when I do things just for the sake of doing it, for my own amusement. Sometimes people dont really see why, but, I guess thats my free will.

    In that end, of course we need to be careful with what we do with Free Will. Someone once told me a quote saying, “Authority is like a bar of soap: the more you use it, the less you have.” In a sense I think the same can be said about free will. We have the freedom to do whatever we want, whenever we want. Depending on how we use it, it can bring good things, or bad things. And the more we use it for bad things, then we may not have as much free will. This may be in the means of not being able to do stuff (being grounded for example if we’re a kid), or failing school (if we’re college students who dont go to class).

    In the end, I think it shows how we grow. So perhaps having free will is all a test of character…

  • Robin Hebert

    Free will is one of those enigmas I think….yeah we are free to do what we want, but yet, each choice we make has sometimes eternal consequences, sometimes measurable consequences, but consequences nonetheless….some choices we make are totally influenced by our perceptions, and some are totally from the heart…..I think the choices we make from the heart are what matter because they define who we really are….and we are forever finding that one out….what defines us? Hey that would be a good topic….what defines us…what would we want on our epitaph….when it all comes down to it….what did the choices that we made with our free will actually do to make us into who we are…?

  • Robin Hebert

    By the way, Allison, thanks again for this website. And I am really loving the new design….its very nice to look at it. I’ve gotten into the habit of looking at it every day…I feel a part of this group…its so much fun. You wanted to start communities and this is working out amazingly…..Robin

  • JoNNy DraVeN

    Ahhhh the meaning of life, well in my eyes the meaning of life is touching, Allison. Touch as many people as you can each day, which is what your doing here with your blog. You share your life with us and I admire that. I, myself try to do something nice for someone different each day. Its all about karma, and we should all respect and love each other in this crazy world we’re livin in because hey we are all we got :)

    P.S. thanks for the autograph Allison, my friend Piper was at the Superman convention and you signed a picture and some other stuff for her so thanks and good luck with the directing !

  • Gaia

    Yeah, we’ve different ideas about the meaning of life, but like you said it’s up to us how to building our lifes… and I always follow my heart and your advices to do this :)

  • Puffy

    “One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it’s remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver’s license.” P.J. O’Rourke

  • The Friday Philosopher

    The principle of “Free Will” can ultimately be boiled down to three separate implications; Religious, Ethical and Scientific. For example in religion, “Free Will” would seem to imply that God, (Which ever one or ones you may choose to believe in!) Even though is in total control of our being, does not assert power over individual will and or choices.
    In ethics it would indicate that each of us, on an individual level is completely responsible and ultimately accountable, for any actions we take or choices we make.
    In Science, it may indicate that the actions of the body, including the mind, are not wholly determined by physical causality.

    The Ethical standing of Causality, would say that there is no action without re-action. An eye for an eye, so to speak! Yet despite the millions of people who believe in Causality, (Mostly due to the Matrix films!) do not account for the fact that even with action we can still choose not to react, or even that some that choose to act, can actually get away with they’re actions!

    The scientific implication has always been in conflict with itself. As science utilises investigation to gather facts, and there are so many different theories behind “Free Will”, each one only slightly different from the last, there is no way to definitively prove that any one of them is ultimately correct without proving that the many theories are so similar that you can neither prove or disprove the existence of “Free Will”.

    In Religion, some believe that because God has free will, and we are made in his (or her) image, we too hold the freedom to choose. Yet despite how plausible this may sound, it begs the question, why would God create us, tell us to worship him (or her) and then give us the freedom not to?

    I suppose ultimately, “Free Will” is another of life’s many questions that we may never have the answer to. Greater minds have pondered over the existence of “Free Will” for a lot longer than any of us, and we still have no definitive answer. Maybe every theory is correct, and maybe none of them are! Maybe we are destined to live our lives a certain way or maybe we are in total control; both are equally frightening if you ask me! I’m not sure I would like to think that there is already a script to my entire life; wouldn’t that mean that all of the bad things that have happened were somehow planned?

    Alternatively, if we are in total control, it’s frightening to realise that the slightest wrong decision can ruin your life forever!

    Surely it would be better to believe that life is both pre-planned and that we have the freedom to choose. Maybe that way, any wrong choices we make can easily be rectified in order to bring life back to its pre-determined path.

    This leads me to a question, which, if I may be so bold as to suggest it for a future topic:

    Is it wrong to truly believe that, as an individual, you are destined for greater things? Maybe even changing the World!

    I appreciate your patients if you have managed to stay with me thus far!

    Friday

  • Graham

    Free Will is a good concept, but if everyone does as they see fit then anarchy will reign. If I use my free will to express my opinions and someone else uses their free will to express another opinion and we clash, what happens then? Do I use my free will to walk away? Does he use his free will to hit me until I conform to his opinion?

    I guess what I’m saying is, there are always rules in life. We don’t make all the rules, and we may not like some of them, but we follow them. We follow them in faith/trust that whoever made the rules (be it one person or a group) used their free will to make the right decision and help us live our lives the best way possible.

    Free will generally comes into play when you can see the person or group abusing their power for the good of themselves and not the community. it then falls on a small minority to use their free will and speak up against the threat to the community and restore a balance.

    This follows on from what you were saying earlier in your meaning of life blog. What you get in these types of situations is the ripple effect. i.e. if you drop a stone into a pool of water you notice ripples expanding outward from where the stone entered the water. This is what your blogs are trying to achieve, you make a splash (say with your greenest person blog) we watch the videos, go to the website and ultimately think of how we can change “our” lives and implement it in our daily routine. Then someone else sees what we do and they in turn adopt a new process in their daily routine and so on and so on, until the whole world thinks – “wow! i should really use red wigglers under the kitchen sink to help the environment” bada bing bada boom… the world becomes a little greener.

    Okay i know I kinda rambled on there a bit but theory is sound. We need free will but we also need control. Ergo we need a balance, and in order to get that balance we need someone in charge to lead us in the right direction, and someone else using their free will to make sure we don’t veer off that course.

    I hope I made sense and if your still reading, Thanks for listening.

  • Graham

    Sorry just add a little example…

    When I read your greenest person blog i watched the video. i then went to the website (out of choice) to what the deal was. I read the profiles of each candidate, saw how the votes were going, and even though i had free will to choose anyone there I went for Emily. Not because she was any better or worse than Fan, but because you recommended her. She had the free will to make a difference (the splash in the pool), you posted a blog to let other people know of her contest ( the first ripple), we then checked her out, I am definitely trying to be greener and recycle more (the second ripple). Say she wins or Fan wins they then go on to try and make the world greener (yet another ripple), more and more people get wind of how to be greener and (as I said before) bada bing bada boom – the world get greener.

    So yes I had free will to choose whoever I wanted to on that site, but I chose Emily as you lead me to that person/cause.

    We all have free will but ultimately we need someone responsible to lead us.

  • http://www.daybow.com David Hayes

    To Puffy (and P.J. O’Rourke), I ask … who is that person’s picture on my driver’s license? I don’t recognize him at all.

    To Nikk, I would like to relate something that the one time President of Kent State University Rev. Dr. Glenn A. Olds said during a class I took from him. He said that truth is NOT a matter of opinion. What you believe will not change the facts. The problem is knowing, with our limited senses and point of view, what the facts are. Reality, on the other hand can be changed by perception and action — if you believe something and act upon in causing a change in the environment.

    To Arash, what you said about how people behave being controlled by physical or emotional defects makes me think about the idea of a final judgment. If our imperfect courts take this into account … will God?

    On to the general ramblings. I was going to talk about the coexistence of Heaven and Hell based upon attitude, perception, free will and circumstance. I have been at jobs where two people are in adjacent cubicles doing the same work for the same supervisor under the same conditions and governed by the same work rules. One person loves their job. The other one hates it. Heaven and Hell sided by side. People can leap from Hell to Heaven by a change in attitude … or can they. Back to programming. Let’s say the company makes its income by selling products used in war. One employee doesn’t care or likes that hi company helps defend his country. One can’t get over being part of a team that finds more efficient ways to kill other people. Does that represent their free will to think their own way … or was it how they were raised. And isn’t the one that hates his job free to quit? Maybe. But maybe there is a family to support and debts to pay off and no other openings available that will let the person do that. Still, some people don’t support their families and some people don’t pay their debts … and some people were raised in a way that they would be too ashamed to continue or would be haunted by parental voices in their head the rest of their lives if they ignored the responsibilities they took on.

    Then there is the philosopher Sartre that points to the details that show free will. He says that, even when you are being held against your will and tortured, you get to choose the moment you give up. So, our bodies can be trapped, but our minds (barring mental defect) can be free.

    I know I often feel like Isaac Asimov got hold of me at birth and programmed me at birth with his robotic laws. I often suffer the stress as was once defined to me: Stress: the feeling you have when you resist the urge to strangle the living shit out of someone who richly deserves it. The robotic laws do not allow such behavior … but stress is allowed. So is creativity. If you can’t make your troubles go away, you can use your free will and create something to ease the string or make it go away entirely. I once had a very big splinter in my foot and my Father was having a difficult time removing it. The pain got so bad that I wanted to cry. But for some reason, I decided to try laughing. It was the strangest thing because the harder my Dad probed the more I laughed. I probably never laughed so hard in my life. He was pretty amazed and so was I. But I was even more amazed that I seriously felt no pain when I was laughing!

    Which raises another topic for another day (yet still related). Pain exists because we need a message sent to the brain when our body is being damaged. But like a person that doesn’t understand that you get the point, it just goes on and on even after you got the point and are working on a solution. Why aren’t we given a choice to turn that off (maybe we are — where is that instruction manual?). Also, our brains are programmed to desire needed scare nutritions for our bodies. Of course, people are so clever that we have found ways to fill our world to abundance with those previously scare foods and now we can and do eat and eat and eat — too much of a good thing. Why can’t we turn off the programming for sugar or fat after consciously realizing that we have met our maximum daily (or lifetime) requirement? Again, maybe we can. Finally, this one should REALLY go over like a lead balloon. Sexuality. To make replacements — continue the species, we are given pleasure by engaging in sexual activity. Now that is some programming that extends from the brain down to how our nerve endings are allocated. If you think of it as God or whoever designed our bodies saying, “Good BOY! You got aroused! Here’s a cookie!” then maybe you wouldn’t enjoy what you are feeling as much — except we are very well programmed to not react that way. We want any cookies life is going to throw at us. Does anyone else feel betrayed that we are so highly, physically rewarded for one behavior and not activities we would like to accomplish? An offshoot of this idea is that there is a reason for people being born Gay these days. We have enough people. Rather than turn off the sex drive and remove that ‘cookie’ from people’s lives, the Supreme Being could have instead decided that more people would be born Gay to help stem the population growth.

    So, there is free will … and there is DEGREE of free will. Can we control our entire experience … or control it to a degree … or control our thoughts … or limit our actions. Let the discussion continue. I am going to be late for work again. A situation I failed to control and an expression of my free will.

  • http://none Lauren

    Hi Allison,
    totally agree, random question but my friend(not going to lie I’ve been wondering the same)when season 8 starts where you live?
    P.S . I’m sure you’ll do just fine directing Smallville

  • me Rachel

    My hair has free will. It does what it wants whether or not I tell it to do something els.

  • http://www.orkut.com.br/Main#Profile.aspx?uid=10172528553527689925 Gnome

    The glass is half empty or half full?
    Thats up to you doc …………..

  • Amanda

    Here’s my two cents…you get what you pay for. :)

    Free will, from my perception, is having the ability to choose. Even though you may have outside influences on your decision, you still are making a decision. I also believe it is God given.

    This is for Friday.. He created us and gave us a choice to love Him, because He loves us. He wants a relationship not a forced servitude. So, he loved us enough to give us a choice. I also believe that he has a path for each individual BUT that it is up to us to accept or reject. Now, I’m not smart enough to debate religion or polictics. I can only tell you what I’ve experienced.

    And, I also don’t think I can make anyone believe anything. I can only share what I’ve experienced and let others make decisions for themselves…hmmm sounds like free will to me. :o )

  • http://www.myspace.com/AuthorPa Kevin Sturgis

    Amanda, please don’t take my statements as anti-religious or anything of the sort, because they’re not meant to be that way.

    I say that as a precursor to this:
    How can one say that we have free will, or in your perception, the ability to choose, but then turn and say that God is the reason we have it. According to the Bible, everything is set up in God’s plan, he has a plan for everything that we do. Therefore, referring to my previous comment, we only have the “illusion” of choice. We are given the illusion of choice so that we can feel better about life.

    Choice (from the Christian religion sense) does not exist. If there is a “divine plan,” we cannot, DO not have choice, as everything is already layed out and in place for us.

    Just my two cents.

  • Amanda

    Kevin,

    I understand what you are saying. But, I respectfully disagree. Our choice is not forced. Yes, I believe he has a plan for my life. However, I have to actively decide for myself if I want to follow. I have to decide for myself if I want to follow the plan. If I believe that God is my Creator, then I also believe he could have created me to follow him without having any say so in the matter. Like how a scientist creats a robot to do only what is programmed. Instead, He allows us to decide if we want to follow His way or our own.

    Does that make any sense?

  • http://www.myspace.com/AuthorPa Kevin Sturgis

    Amanda,

    The concept of free will (or freedom of choice) in religion is contradictory. I see what you’re saying and see where you are coming from, BUT, in that same statement, basically in religion, you’re given the “choice” to believe or not believe. After that, the divine plan picks up, at that point you no longer have free will, you no longer have a choice.

    To touch on another statement you made: “However, I have to actively decide for myself if I want to follow.”

    How may I ask, can one follow something that they don’t know? Perhaps the “choices” we make ARE in His divine plan? Perhaps if I kill this guy that was part of God’s plan? Part of his plan for me to eventually find my way back to Him? What if me stealing this car was His plan to get me back on track? Perhaps I was beginning to think too much for myself, and not for Him and it was his way of putting me back on the “follow me or go to Hell” path.

    Just a few things to think about.

  • Amanda

    Hmmm… Kevin I see what you’re saying. I guess it comes down to faith. Do I really believe God is who he says he is or not? If so, do I follow Him or not? If I choose not to follow Him, then I decide to accept whatever happens next. If I choose to follow Him, I follow his plan. I absolutely believe that God can use any situation to draw us to him. Did he cause the situation? I don’t believe so. I believe in a relationship not a religion. I believe in forgiveness and grace. I also believe in God’s unconditional love. This is what I know to be true. Like I said earlier I’m not smart enough to debate religion. I’m sorry, I’m not sure if this answers your questions or not.

  • Brittany

    Hey Allison, I completely agree with you. Free will gives us the responsibility to make our own choices and to do what we want or feel like, wether the outcome isn’t so great sometimes. Free will is the one thing we have (own like you said), but when placed in the wrong hands, it can get quite evil. It’s like a changeable object or force, it can become whatever you want it to become, it can do whatever you want it to do and so on. Anyways if that made any sense, hehe, great post on that, I completely relate to your opinions and thoughts. Keep up the great work! Much love and support, Brittany

  • garbhan

    i think there is free will. everyone has free will we can say, do, dont do, or dress what ever way we like. we can decide what we want to do in life. i believe in god and believe he put us on this earth not so much to fufil his destiny but our own we make the choices. without free will we would all live the same lives we would all do the same thing. that alone is evidence of free will and how we choose to use it.

  • paul

    ‘my lecture was constantly asking “but what if your wrong, what if every single action or thought has already been pre planned or programmed?”.’

    The dilemma being, of course, that you wouldn’t know! In a deterministic universe, everything plays out precisely the way it is preordained. Free will would be an illusion in such a universe, but it would be logically impossible to detect the illusion. It would seem utterly real.

    Logical puzzles like this lie at the heart of philosophy. They are intended to make you stop assuming, and start analyzing.

    Any philosophical system that posits a materialistic (“clockwork”) universe has a problem explaining free will. One way out is to challenge how free our will really is… stick a probe in a subject’s brain, or administer the right chemical, and their personality can change utterly.

    Historically, free will has had an essential place in theology. Posit an omnipotent Creator who is the essence of Good, and you’re immediately faced with the problem of why Adam ate the apple and the Cain and Abel slayage. Insert the concept of free will, and God is off the hook. (Or… is he?)

  • AnnK

    Very true. I DO agree on that. BUT…. I have a crazy dream to tell you about. I read that other post right before I went to bed last night and this is the dream I had….
    The dream was that I got an e-mail to fill out one of those online surveys and when I clicked on it I was in this huge doll house type thing and the “survey” was actually to see how I would react to different situations. And i kept going through doors and behind each door I was faced with another situation. Most of them were really weird. And I guess YOU were hosting this survey and you popped in during a few of the situations. One of them was me looking into a weird mirror and you were standing over my shoulder asking me really hard questions about myself and just was really challenging what and how I think. And what I think about myself in general. It was in a “tough love” kind of way. I was frustrated and challenged by everything but when I looked at you I could see you cared and it brought peace.

    CRAZY, huh!?!?!?!

    Now I know better than to read your posts before bed. But actually I REALLY REALLY liked that dream. Possibly the best dream ever. What do you think of that?????

  • taylor nikole

    haha AnnK i had a dream with allison *weirdd*
    accept instead of something like that…
    it was about that cookie video thing :)
    i made cookies
    and then i wanted to eat them myself instead of putting them on someones doorstep…
    but allison wouldn’t let me :(

  • taylor nikole

    haha AnnK i had a dream with allison *weirdd*
    accept instead of something like that…
    it was about that cookie video thing :)
    i made cookies
    and then i wanted to eat them myself instead of putting them on someones doorstep…
    but allison wouldn’t let me :(
    how selfish of me haha

  • me Rachel

    To Amanda,

    I totaly agree with what you said. I admire your bravery and corage to speak up about what you believe in. Thank you. :)

  • http://deleted Robin

    Good answer Jendi!!!

    Well part of accepting free will is to accept personnal responsibility for our day to day choices.
    Yet It is still easier to blame others..”you made me do/say it” or wash my hands of matters, these are concepts I struggle with every day and reflect on most nights, why did I say that/what “made” me do that!

    I guess it comes down to taking ownership of our actions and making the seemingly best choice be it viewed right or wrong and using whatever the experience to better inform our choices and use of free will in the future.

    Robin England

  • Frida

    This post is related to the previous post about the meaning of life.

    You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.

    Seriously, we live in a cruel world filled with a LOT of shitty people. It’s never gonna change, because the people caring about how we spend our lives or what we choose to do with our free will, we are not the one’s in need to be reached.

    It’s not pessimism, it’s realism. You try telling someone something, you try to understand people, you try to reach out to them…and you know what? They don’t care. They don’t want change because they don’t yearn for this or for that…they simply…are.
    It’s just life, and life is full of people we cannot relate to, that we cannot change.

    Truth is that all people let the beauty of life go to waste. Even though we fanatically search for it. What’s free will if we’re scared to use it?

  • http://www.daybow.com David Hayes

    Hmmmm. I wonder how many people were forced to post on this blog … and how many did it of their own … free will?

  • Taty

    To Amanda,
    I totally agree with everything you said!
    xoxo :)

  • Mary Depue

    First let me start by saying how much I love this site. Allison you are wonderful for doing this it shows how great a human being you are.

    Free Will it is there no matter if we want it to be or not. Every single person lives there life by there choices, some bad some good. Some try to deny they made those choices but you can’t run from them.

    I was reading all the comments and one sticks out the most which was made by Friday “Alternatively, if we are in total control it’s frieghtening to relize that the slightest wrong decision can ruin you life forever.” It got me wondering does it really ruin your life or does you free will let it ruin your life. You or I made that wrong decision to go down a path that could cause distruction, so why can’t you make the decision to turn that path around. So many people say that can’t turn things around but you can.

    My sisters drive me crazy with this because everything that has gone wrong in their lives go back to a path that they went down a long time ago, and now they are in there 40′s and stating that is why there life turn out so bad. It was there free will to let it turn and stay bad. Choice to let it go and live you life without regrets and know that you wouldn’t be where you are today without those choice no matter wrong or right, but choose to be happy and make it better.
    Don’t let you free will define who you are you define your free will.
    Thanks for listening, Allison keep up the awesome thought and good luck to you in your life enjoyments.

  • Jendi

    nice one David :)

    What I’ve found interesting is the religious debates that have emerged; from my point of view I’ve just hit 25 years old, just had my eyes tested today as part of my mid life crisis…..:) maybe I’m young and nieve, I don’t pretend to think I have even an answer to the may questions that come up daily; deep and philiosophical or whats better coke or pepsi???:)

    Personally when it comes to religion I’m not to sure, I’m not sure what i believe or don’t believe…in a god of some sorts or a faith or a biology teacher? Don’t take this the wrong way but it doesn’t keep me up at night; at present my faith is karma; who knows what it might be in 5 years time, even 5 days time. What events in my future may or may not effect my belief system…but i don’t think it’s important as long as I’m happy and content with who I am, what i do, how i treat people, myself included, Thats my freewill and thats my religion……today anyway:)

    P.S Religion is a personal thing, i commend and perhaps a part of me envys those of you who’s religion is a large part of your lives and who you are!

  • arash

    Religion used to be a large part of my life until I took my first social science course. We had to read two papers with different prespective on one subject and then discuss both ideas without taking side.

    See when you study religion, you can’t ask questions, or you will offend somebody. It is the word of God and you just accept it.
    Sometimes I am not sure if God has said all that but I can’t ask. You don’t question it if you believe.

  • skahahoo

    Ohhhh shnapp! There’s a religious debate going on in the hizzay! Nice! :)

    If I may interject my 2 cents…I think whether or not you think free will is compatible with a divine path depends largely on your interpretation of what a divine path entails. Do you think it’s like assembling furniture or like getting exercise? Say what? You’re right…I should explain. ;)

    If you believe in a God who draws up a detailed blueprint of your life, right down to which color shirt you’ll be wearing 100 days from now, then I would agree with Kevin that free will isn’t exercised by someone on such a path. How can it be? The outcomes of all the decisions to be made along that path have been predetermined by God. This, to me, is a lot like assembling furniture…like a fancy desk with drawers and shelves and all manner of strange doodads and hoohahs. If I put the pieces together as I see fit instead of following the instruction manual, then there’s a very good chance that I’ll end up with a dozen leftover pieces and that desk will fall apart. If I want that desk to turn out the way it’s supposed to, then I need to follow the manual. But if I do that, then I’m not exercising my free will – I’m just executing a plan.

    However, if you believe in a God who, as a sign of His love, bestows upon you the gift of free will, then the above interpretation of a divine path seems odd, no? I think it’s strange, or at least inconsistent, to have a God who says, “I love you. And to prove it, I’m giving you free will. But if you love me, then you’ll give that up.” If God did give you free will, then you’d need to be able to use that gift throughout your life in order to appreciate it. Otherwise, free will might as well be like one of those tacky sweaters your second aunt gives you for Christmas that ends up sitting in the attic somewhere collecting dust.

    But what if a divine path isn’t perfectly laid out ahead of time? That it was more of a journey to be navigated rather than a route to be followed? Maybe by accepting God and the divine path He has in store for you, what’s really happening is that He gives you a map and a compass and a promise that when you reach the end, it’ll be worth it. But that’s all you get. You yourself need to figure out how to get from point A to point B. In this sense, I think a divine path resembles the relationship that Amanda proposed. A relationship that is very much like the relationship I have with exercise. lol. I accept that exercise is good for me. I don’t know for sure that it will extend my life so that I’ll live to be 70 or 80 years old, but I have faith it will help me get there. So I’ve made a commitment to follow that path of exercise. But it’s not easy! I’m always debating…sleep or exercise? Fun or exercise? There are temptations and obstacles at every corner. Do I give up or stick with it? That’s up to me. And if it’s up to me, then I have free will.

    Those are just my rambling thoughts though. I’m actually not religious, or spiritual for that matter. My personal view of free will is that it is relative and fluid. I believe that the extent of my free will depends largely on how mindful I am of the factors informing the choices I make and the consequences that will most likely result. In my opinion, if robots have zero free will and some omnipotent higher authority has complete free will, then people fall somewhere in between those two. Where you fall on the scale depends on your biology, your environment, and your experiences.

    Sorry for the dissertation. How did this get so long?? lol. ;)

  • Darwin

    God gave us free will.

    And opportunities…

    …and allows distractions.

    But he knows us well enough to know which distraction will succeed the longest and which will have no effect whatsoever.

    And he knows which of us want what he has to offer MORE than anything else.

    And that is the key.

    We can spend our time doing anything and everything that is available to us…but only things that help will help and things that don’t help…won’t.

    If you picture holding a grain of sand between your fingers…and then imagine a beach miles long…with all of it’s grains of sand…

    And then the deserts…and all sand everywhere…

    That one grain you hold represents our time in this life…

    And all the other grains of sand represent eternity.

    And we have THIS life to determine our QUALITY of life for the eternities…

    Depending on our choices.

    It is like using drops of water to change a landscape…to become who we should become…to learn what we need to learn
    …to do what we need to do.

    EVERY DAY is an opportunity to utilize sufficient drops to change, improve…progress…accomplish…

    There IS NO dumping it all at the end and hoping for the best.

    It is ALL about choices.

    And choices are all about free will.

  • skahahoo

    Hey Darwin…thanks for posting your thoughts! I have a lot of questions, and was wondering if I could pick your brain. lol.

    When you say that God knows which distractions will succeed the longest, do you mean that He intentionally places those distractions into each person’s life as a test of sorts? To see who wants what He has to offer the most? Or that He just knows what makes each of us tick, and whatever distractions happen to cross your path, that’s the way your life works out – even though He may have the power to, He doesn’t put those distractions there, but He knows which ones will distract you the most?

    And when you say God knows which of us wants what He has to offer more than anything else…is that something He knows from the beginning of your life? Is that an absolute thing because He knows how your future is going to play out? Or is it relative? Some people start out wanting it very much, but taper off at the end, while others develop that desire as their life progresses? Or does He already know this because He knows your future, and so it’s not really relative but absolute?

    I have a lot more questions depending on your answers to these questions. lol. You don’t need to answer them though. Just thought I’d give it a try. Thanks though if you do answer! :)

  • Darwin

    Hey skahahoo!

    *laughs*

    MY brain is often “slim pickings” but if you bear with me…I will try to coax something worthwhile to the surface.

    Chinese call it “Yin and Yang” …physicists
    refer to “for every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction…”

    I have heard it referred to as “opposition in all things”. Life-death, bitter-sweet, good-evil…joy-misery…sin-righteousness…

    Options basically…
    If there were NO options…then we would have NO choice and No free will.

    WE need options in order to be enticed by the one or the other…to be able to make any free will choices.

    So God placed us here where we have options….and act for ourselves.

    This is the “schooling” environment for that.

    And we are tested to see if once we know – discover what is right in each circumstance…will we CHOOSE right?

    And of course…with every bad option there IS an “OUT”…provided we tale advantage soon enough…

    The trick is to get out, reverse course when need be…EARLY…because we never really know when “soon enough” is.

    And then of course…OPPOSITION is ALSO built into the GOOD things we try to do…

    Atticus Finch in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
    …he wanted to do what was right…dfend an innocent black man against false charges of sexual assualt. The townspeople tried to make him pay for it…and other kids tried to make his kids paid for it…his own sister did not understand and was not wholeheartedly supportive.

    He could have “bailed” in some form and MOST people would not have though less of him…

    Except himself…

    And God.

    And…sometimes others.

    Miss Maudie, a neighbor…understood what was going on. She told Atticus’s son Jem: “I simply want to tell you there are some men in this world who were born to do unpleasant jobs for us. Your father’s one of them.”

    Further, she said: “We’re the safest folks in the world…we’re so rarely called on to be Christians, but when we are, we’ve got men like Atticus to go for us.”

    In a world like this…opportunities to do right abound…

    God asks…”Who will step up and do this?”

    Some answer…some do not.

    Some do not answer this time…but perhaps they do another time.

    But I feel God knows…like any parent with a child knows…pretty much what each child will do in a particular set of circumstances…if they are paying attention. But God always pays attention.

    And he knows when they are ready…and when they are not.

    When they have developed the desire…

    And he gives us things…words..people…experiences to help with that…he gives us opportunities to “step up” to do good and right and sacrifice which comes with it…and he gives us opportunities to escape the “yuck” when we have gone that direction.

    But WE have to choose.

    Does he know what we will choose?

    I believe so.

    But I also feel that it is not so much that HE knows what we are capable of…but that WE discover what we are capable of.

    He EXPECTS wonderful things from us.

    What do WE expect from ourselves?

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