10/13/2021
“Everything happens for a reason, and that reason is physics.” - Bill Nye (the Science Guy, probably) and copied by my high school physics teacher (definitely)
Ah, free will — the idea that we, ourselves, are the authors of our actions. It’s the thought that we could have acted differently after doing something embarrassing or awkward. It’s an innate human concept that most people can’t help but believe… I mean, it feels so much like deliberation when I choose oatmeal over eggs for breakfast. Well, yeah, it feels that way, but the feeling alone isn’t enough, and with close examination and attention, we can free ourselves from the concept of free will in order to better harness compassion, self-love, and gratitude for a happier, better prioritized life.
The feeling of free will is closely tied to the conceptualization of self. Conscious as we all are, I feel like a “me” inside of my body — the thinker of my thoughts. Even though we identify with the next thought, it is clearly out of our control very often -- like when I snap my fingers, you can’t simply choose not to hear it. This is seen with our own minds in meditation, where thoughts enter uncontrollably and without clear origin. Even with directed attention to the breath, focus is repeatedly derailed by seemingly intrusive images. With this in mind, it starts to become more clear that you can’t sense your next thought, just like you can't control the sound caused by my snapping. It’s hard to wrap your head around, but it becomes clearer as we tighten the timespan. As an example, imagine the last time you thought you lost your phone. In that moment of sudden fear, it’s almost like someone hard-coded the intense worry into your brain, and you begin to act on impulse.
We see this experimentally, too. In a situation where participants were asked to move at random intervals, neurologists were actually able to recognize brain patterns and identify the impending movement moments before it happened. Consider a last minute decision you may have made. Maybe you decided to cancel plans or eat tofu instead of steak. Or maybe it was a bigger decision, and you finally decided to quit your job, add a class, or move somewhere new. If you were in a lab, it’s not outside the realm of today’s technology that scientists could identify these decisions before they happened, too. When did you actually decide to eat that tofu? Can you pinpoint the moment or identify where that thought came from? Usually, the answer is unknown. Consciousness is bizarre in that way, and it gets harder to define when we are examining it from within consciousness itself.
The “self” that we have a feeling of is simply a combination of our biology and our interaction with the outside world, which further changes our biology. This idea in philosophy is called materialism and hinges on the idea that all things and their interactions are a result of physical cause and effect. For example, if you were to kick a soccer ball, it would move in accordance with how you hit it, but it gets more complicated and harder to imagine on microscopic levels and with more variables. But that doesn’t mean our brains and bodies are free of this cause and effect. The argument many follow with, then, is in quantum mechanics and any fundamental randomness in the universe. However, this argument doesn’t directly deal with free will because even if there is randomness, it doesn’t add to the lack of a constructed “self” that we mainly associate with free will. Rather, our actions would then just depend on another variable out of our control.
Choices and decisions are still important parts of our lives, obviously, but they enter our heads more like the sound of a snap. Awareness that we aren’t writing our thoughts can come and go and it’s spooky, because you can notice decisions and thoughts emerge like the sound of snapping fingers. But this understanding can be helpful in a similar way as meditation and is freeing (ironic, right?).
If my claims are true, there's reason for an abundance of newly discovered compassion and loss of hatred. It’s so easy to become angry and judge others for actions or beliefs, but we don’t feel the same when pain or inconvenience is caused by a natural disaster. Once you realize that both causes are factors of the environment, you can treat all people with compassion as if they’re products of a storm. After all, none of us asked to be born where we were, with our biology and the parents we had. In this way, our experience as individuals is a matter of luck -- no reason to hate someone for being less fortunate.
This love and understanding can be not only directed outwards, but inwards as well. We’ve all been there -- reflecting on something you did that was dumb, embarrassing, or just plain uncharacteristic. When that happens, letting go of free will can be refreshing. It means that the action doesn’t define you. Instead of lingering on regret, shame, or self-hate -- instead of thinking, I should have done this or that differently, you can just take the pieces from the experience that teach you something and move on. If you were in the same exact situation with the same factors, you would not behave differently. But the person who did things (good or bad) in your past is not only not you presently, but not a “self” at all as we think of ourselves most of the time.
However, there is still an important role for reactionary emotion if it recognizes or affirms a situation in order to get more from it. For example, being hard on myself for a bit of time after failing a quiz is a way to recognize that my performance matters to me and will get me to study more next time.
I’m not claiming that this is all untouchable truth or clear -- there is just so much we don’t know. Maybe I did pick to be me and we’re living in a simulation. Maybe there is an immaterial soul that outlives our biology. But in my opinion, either of these things would be the cause of some root truth that is still out of our control and the realm of experience as humans.
I think this conversation is a chance to re-examine your priorities. Do you want to live a life with more compassion? If you’re like me, then you don’t want to feel anything other than compassion toward others and yourself.
Depending on how you view it, all of these thoughts can be either powerful and helpful in being happier or uncomfortable. If you don’t believe in what I’m saying or find it counterproductive to think about it, then you can choose not to! This is supposed to be just another mini tool to help live with more compassion and happiness, so if it doesn’t do that, then leave it alone! Some other things I like to employ along the same lines are gratitude and meditation -- check out those posts to add more to your happiness toolkit.
- Jack
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