Topic: Do We Have Free Will?
no photo
Wed 02/20/08 12:26 AM
This is one of the greatest errors that Christians make when they pray “and God’s will be done”. Where is the free will in that statement, sounds like it all belongs to God anyway?


As strange as it may sound, (coming from a non-Christian) I understand the meaning of "God's will be done."

For me, God is the collective consciousness that is all that is, and we are part of that. We are all connected. (Again quantum science proves this.)

Soon, (and I think very soon,) Science and Spirituality will connect all the dots and a perfect picture of the true nature of reality will surface. Many scientific theories will be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, others will be discarded.

Religions will fade away.

"God's will be done." is an acknowledgment to ourselves that we do not have all information in the universe, and that we do not know it all, but that the connected collective unconscious and an intelligence that encompasses all of us, holding more information than we do, is much wiser than us.

It is saying that what we want for ourselves, we want for the good of all. It is putting our faith in a higher intelligence.

I see no reason to think otherwise.

Jeannie






Redykeulous's photo
Wed 02/20/08 12:33 AM
Will is always "free." But you are right. The ability to use it is not even amongst all creatures or beings, human or otherwise. One has to earn the awareness that it takes to use it.


Two things about your statement, first; if the ‘essence’ has nothing to do with the physical world, then our will is not free as we are ‘bound’ in a state of existence that is not natural to our nature. If we are god, in the spirit, than our physical being is not our natural state, and thus is restrains us.

Secondly, we can not earn awareness. We can only place the self in the context of what we know and/or believe. There is no way to physically continue without out ever giving a thought to the physical self. Our awareness is always framed by the physical.

Free will is not about what we are allowed to do. It is our ability to direct ourselves. We decide what to think, what to look at, how to feel, what to believe, how to act.


If we could ‘decide’ what to feel, we would have no need of emotion. Unfortunately emotion is one of those instincts that often keep us out of danger. If every action a person takes was carefully thought out and all current memory and knowledge were used to determine the action, the action would be the will of the person making it, but the outcome of that action or the way it’s viewed by others, is not going to be based on the same memories and knowledge used by the person whose action was witnessed. So judgment of others actions are made without understanding the reasoning behind the ‘will’.

The Will has little to do with the conscious decision of whether or not to believe in God. It is about the power to direct self.


The way I see it you are saying (the will is the power that drives a person.) This is what I take exception to. That statement implies that will is not conscious. If we cannot bring what drives us into our consciousness, how can we know how to proceed?

If I have a drive to do anything, it must emanate from somewhere. Where do you think it emanates from? From your other conversation I might make an educated guess, but I’ll let you answer. While you’re answering, may I also ask, whatever the source of that drive is, will it always be driving us in the right direction?


Even those people you mention above have that power although it may be weak, unrealized or not used.


If humans had the power you attribute here, there would be no need of medicine. If we had the power to regenerate faulty equipment (body parts), there would be no mental deficiencies, no Alzheimer’s disease, no amnesia and mental illness, due to chemical imbalance, could be easily corrected by the thought of the individual and spinal columns could be self-regenerating, and we would never grow old or die of natural causes.


no photo
Wed 02/20/08 12:35 AM
What you call will, well done, is what? Someone whose life is always wonderful? Someone who “decided” to make choices YOU think are good? Someone whose choices always make them happy? Someone whose choices always serve the greater good?


If your choices serve you and also the greater good, that is a good choice. If your choices only serve the little ego and hurt others, that is not a good choice. If you sacrifice yourself to serve the greater good that is not a good choice.

What then, do you think should drive the decisions we make?


Always act with love. This way, it matters not if you believe in God.

If you act with unconditional love you have made a good choice. If you act with love, you will always do the right thing.

Redykeulous's photo
Wed 02/20/08 12:39 AM

What gives us the ability to make decisions, at all, is the proper functioning of the brain. There can be no self-identity, and no decisions to make if we could not “remember” the past.



This is simply not true IMO. Besides, memory resides not only "in the brain" but in every cell of the body.

Jeannie


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmkiMlvLKto

This directs you to a fabulous study of a man named Clive Wearing. The majority of his frontal lobes were destryed by an illness. It's quite a compelling story. It's in several parts and also there are other documentary clips about him and his wife mixed in. I really hope you'll take some time to watch it and imagine what your life would be like if you suddenly had no eposidic memory of your life, what-so-ever.

no photo
Wed 02/20/08 12:39 AM
If humans had the power you attribute here, there would be no need of medicine. If we had the power to regenerate faulty equipment (body parts), there would be no mental deficiencies, no Alzheimer’s disease, no amnesia and mental illness, due to chemical imbalance, could be easily corrected by the thought of the individual and spinal columns could be self-regenerating, and we would never grow old or die of natural causes.


Exactly.

Humans do have this power and what you describe will be the future of the race. But that will be a very long time coming.

no photo
Wed 02/20/08 12:46 AM
Edited by Jeanniebean on Wed 02/20/08 12:53 AM
Two things about your statement, first; if the ‘essence’ has nothing to do with the physical world, then our will is not free as we are ‘bound’ in a state of existence that is not natural to our nature. If we are god, in the spirit, than our physical being is not our natural state, and thus is restrains us.


We are spiritual beings having human experience. (I'm sure you have heard this before, but it is true IMO) Yes we are restricted because we lack wisdom and knowledge and we lack our true memory of who we are. We are "bound" by our lack of awareness. But all we have to do is remember who we are to gain it back. It would be like when you are having a dream and suddenly you realize that you are dreaming and you know who your are and you know where you are sleeping in your bed, in the outer world. This is called lucid dreaming.


Secondly, we can not earn awareness. We can only place the self in the context of what we know and/or believe. There is no way to physically continue without out ever giving a thought to the physical self. Our awareness is always framed by the physical.


The physical is very much a part of who we are in every respect. After all, we created it with our mind. But the physical body cannot contain all that we are and the brain cannot contain all that we truly know.

no photo
Wed 02/20/08 12:50 AM


What gives us the ability to make decisions, at all, is the proper functioning of the brain. There can be no self-identity, and no decisions to make if we could not “remember” the past.



This is simply not true IMO. Besides, memory resides not only "in the brain" but in every cell of the body.

Jeannie


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmkiMlvLKto

This directs you to a fabulous study of a man named Clive Wearing. The majority of his frontal lobes were destryed by an illness. It's quite a compelling story. It's in several parts and also there are other documentary clips about him and his wife mixed in. I really hope you'll take some time to watch it and imagine what your life would be like if you suddenly had no eposidic memory of your life, what-so-ever.



I did experience that briefly once. I fell off of a horse and hit my head. When I woke up I did not remember anything. Not my name or anything. It lasted for about three hours, then I came back to myself. Upon returning the memory of the event was like a dream. I only remembered it vaguely. The memory of the entire rest of the day was lost forever. I would imagine you would be like a different person. But you would still be self aware... of that new person.

Jeannie

no photo
Wed 02/20/08 01:03 AM
Edited by Jeanniebean on Wed 02/20/08 01:44 AM
If we could ‘decide’ what to feel, we would have no need of emotion.


We can to some extent decide how to feel, or how to feel about things in general. We can decide what makes us angry or we can reframe the incident and decide to forgive.

If we were constantly reacting to things and had no handle on our emotions, we might be totally out of control. Self mastery is not about controlling emotions, however. It is about using the will to direct the emotions into positive things.

We certainly can decide how to feel. A change of attitude changes how we feel and react to things.

Unfortunately emotion is one of those instincts that often keep us out of danger.


I think it is instinct that keeps us out of danger. And maybe our higher awareness keeps us out of danger.



If every action a person takes was carefully thought out and all current memory and knowledge were used to determine the action, the action would be the will of the person making it, but the outcome of that action or the way it’s viewed by others, is not going to be based on the same memories and knowledge used by the person whose action was witnessed. So judgment of others actions are made without understanding the reasoning behind the ‘will’.


Edited:
Reasoning is done by the "mind" and/or brain. It is not done by the Will. Everyone is unique. The same exact experiences and or memory, (if that were possible to inject into a person's brain) may not always result in the same decisions.. if the Will is brought into it.

The Will can rise above all other influences that direct decision making.

Jeannie

no photo
Wed 02/20/08 01:20 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmkiMlvLKto



I watched the above video. That guy does have quite a problem. The cure lies in the key to unlocking the memory of the body.

I saw an account of one person who had half of his brain removed, yet that person's brain adjusted and functioned as a whole brain. Memory was not affected.

Science just does not know enough about these things.. yet.

Jeannie


no photo
Wed 02/20/08 01:33 AM
Edited by Jeanniebean on Wed 02/20/08 01:35 AM
The way I see it you are saying (the will is the power that drives a person.) This is what I take exception to. That statement implies that will is not conscious. If we cannot bring what drives us into our consciousness, how can we know how to proceed?


The will is conscious. We can bring what drives us into our consciousness.


If I have a drive to do anything, it must emanate from somewhere. Where do you think it emanates from? From your other conversation I might make an educated guess, but I’ll let you answer. While you’re answering, may I also ask, whatever the source of that drive is, will it always be driving us in the right direction?


It emanates from within us. (as apposed to from somewhere out there) It will always drive us in the "right" direction when we listen to it.

There are other things that cause us to make choices besides the Will. That is our programing.. DNA... instinct. etc. These are put in place so that we can operate on automatic so to speak. Like our heart does. (We do not have to think about the beating of our heart to keep it beating.) We do not have to think about reacting in an emergency situation of fight or flight. We simply react.

The little self (called the ego) which we identify as ourselves, is allowed to make its own decisions in ignorance of the true self. It is allowed to be in charge... to a certain degree. From there this discussion ...can get very complicated.

Jeannie

Redykeulous's photo
Wed 02/20/08 01:47 AM
A brain can be functioning properly and be kept in a jar. It does not make choices. The question to ask is: is it conscious?


A brain would have no reason to function in a jar, and without a nervous system it wouldn’t anyway. OK – so your question (is it conscious) Is what conscious – the brain? How could it be, it can’t function in a jar?

Does it qualify as life?

Does it think?

Does it have a will?

How can one tell if it did or not?


Let’s put it this way, could we function without the brain? What could we possibly ‘think’ if we had no memory? (I’m speaking of the physical human, not a spirit) Without memory, what could we know so what would we ‘think’ about?


But I know the difference between a computer and a human's ability to use the Will.

But then I believe consciousness exists outside of the brain. Scientist's don't.


Ok – if will exists outside of consciousness – what makes us think about it, and make decisions regarding it?

I think scientist's are not keeping up with quantum physics. You should read the book "The Holographic Universe.

Is it a reference book? Who’s the author?

For me, God is the collective consciousness that is all that is, and we are part of that. We are all connected. (Again quantum science proves this.)


I think the consensus is that whatever materials have formed the physical realm are pretty much inclusive of every physical form. To me that means that the resources available were capable of combining and evolving in such a way as to create every physical thing that exists. Sounds logical to me, but then I’m an atheist and don’t believe that a pre-existent being created something out of pure thought.

Soon, (and I think very soon,) Science and Spirituality will connect all the dots and a perfect picture of the true nature of reality will surface. Many scientific theories will be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, others will be discarded.

Religions will fade away.


Science connecting the dots will not change the way our human body functions, however, biophysical genetic engineering; may. Of course if religion fades away, so will spirituality and reincarnation and possibly all ideas of continued existence beyond the physical.


Humans do have this power and what you describe will be the future of the race. But that will be a very long time coming.


Sounds like you describe one the heavens of the Christian faith. Life, without hunger, illness or death. Immortality, what for? If we know everything, what would “drive” us?

I've noticed you've made some replies. I will have to respond tomorrow. Thanks for the rhetoric. I don't get much time for these kinds of conversations lately. Let me know about that book you suggested, can't promise I'll read it, but I'll check it out.

My will is weak, 22 hours without sleep, I am consciously deciding to allow the unconscious to overtake me. Good-night!

di

no photo
Wed 02/20/08 01:59 AM
Science connecting the dots will not change the way our human body functions, however, biophysical genetic engineering; may. Of course if religion fades away, so will spirituality and reincarnation and possibly all ideas of continued existence beyond the physical.


Spirituality will not fade away... LOL laugh laugh it will become science at that point. The only reason it is called "spirituality" now is because modern science can't explain it.


no photo
Wed 02/20/08 02:07 AM
A great book to expand your mind:
The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot

Special mention in contributing to the book:
Davi Bohm, Ph.D and Karl Pribram, Ph.D

also:
Barbara Bohm, M.S. Larry Dossy, M.D., Brenda Dunne, Ph.D.,
Elizabeth W. Fenske, Ph.D, Gordon Giobus, Jim Gorden, Stanislav Grof, Ph.D,

bla bla bla.... lots of other Ph.D's involved in the acknowledgements.

Anyway it impressed me a lot

Also you might go to my website and follow some links found at the bottom of this page. Some guy in Austrailia thinks he has found the connection. Most of it is above my head...but seems to fly in my reality.

http://www.queenofcoins.com/reality.html

goodnight

no photo
Wed 02/20/08 02:17 AM
Ok – if will exists outside of consciousness – what makes us think about it, and make decisions regarding it?


(sigh) sad

I did not state that the Will exists outside of consciousness. I stated that the Will exists outside of the mind.

The mind is not the brain.
Consciousness is not "being conscious" as apposed to being unconscious or asleep or in a coma.

Consciousness is awareness of any degree. It created the mind. The mind created the dream world in which we live.

We live in a holographic type 'dream' world.

At least that is as far as I have come in my personal conclusions. I could be wrong. I am waiting for more information to be assimilated. LOL

laugh laugh laugh laugh laugh laugh

feralcatlady's photo
Wed 02/20/08 08:42 AM
yes we have free will.......We have free will to believe in God the Father or not believe.....I think if you look at genetics you have generational curses but in the biblical sense...Let me explain.....My families bibilical curse was alcoholism....Somewhere in the family some did some very very unpleasing to God....and thus this is what happen....Now this goes on and on for more then 400 years, where I can trace my family lineage and in each family with an alcoholic. Now then we have one part of the family that listen to God, walks the walk so to speak instead of just talking the talk. The generational curse is broken, and now the families from then on have no alcoholics.

Now you also have choice to your free will.....for example.....If I chose to sleep with a man and I am married, that is my choice my free will.....But I will at some point pay dearly for this choice/free will. And also I would hope that this choice I would make would lead me to my Father God and seek the right choice for myself that would be pleasing to God.

no photo
Wed 02/20/08 09:03 AM
Edited by Jeanniebean on Wed 02/20/08 09:04 AM
yes we have free will.......We have free will to believe in God the Father or not believe..


The will to direct one's self has nothing to do with whether you belief in a God or not. It is connected to a higher awareness IMO.


no photo
Wed 02/20/08 09:19 AM
Redykulous,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmkiMlvLKto

This directs you to a fabulous study of a man named Clive Wearing. The majority of his frontal lobes were destryed by an illness. It's quite a compelling story. It's in several parts and also there are other documentary clips about him and his wife mixed in. I really hope you'll take some time to watch it and imagine what your life would be like if you suddenly had no eposidic memory of your life, what-so-ever.


Do you know any more about this man Clive Wearing? I may know a man who can help him. I have sent him an email asking for his opinion of the condition. He is a man who regained his childhood memories which he had lost after a head injury. He was without these memories for over 10 years. Even so, I don'tknow if Clive Wearing can be reached.

no photo
Wed 02/20/08 09:26 AM
A trend I have noticed in this thread and others is for people to use rationalizations rather than reasoning. Please remember that there is a huge difference and you should search your heart and make sure that what you are posting is reasoned, rather than rationalized. If we all use reasoning, I think we will have a more honest discussion.


Rationalization. The substitution of a rational pretext for a real reason, with an implication of self-delusion or hypocrisy; the improvisation of a plausible reason for a human action when one either does not realize the real reason or seeks to keep it secret; the use of a false but reasonable justification or interpretation of an attitude or action, which appears to be unsatisfactory or contrary to accepted reasoning, when one is either ashamed or not aware of his actual motive.



Reasoning
Engaging in a process that leads to a conclusion or inference using known facts or assumptions.


Just a suggestion from your friendly neighborhood SpiderCMB.

no photo
Wed 02/20/08 10:09 AM
The post above has nothing whatever to do with the topic we are discussing. If you have anything specific you would like to question please do so.

Thank you.
Jeannie

no photo
Wed 02/20/08 10:21 AM

The post above has nothing whatever to do with the topic we are discussing. If you have anything specific you would like to question please do so.

Thank you.
Jeannie


You are correct, my post has nothing to do with the subject. But it does have a great deal to do with how the subject is being discussed. If there was anything specific I wanted to question, I would have already posted. We can all continue to ignore the elephant in the room, I don't care. I would rather avoid being flamed than to speak my mind openly.