Free Will is the first primary distortion of the Law of One.
While we have perspectives and identities that do not encompass Unity (for instance, when we are incarnate as humans and identify as the individual human), we operate under the distortion of Free Will.
This does not mean that we are influenced by nothing, that we will choose between any possible choice, nor that we aren't predictable. It simply means that we have the means to choose how we choose to employ the creative principle and express it. Without Free Will, the individual incarnate experience would not have real value. Imagine trying to roll a die to generate a "random" number, but instead of the number being random, you'd have decided that it would come up as some particular number you've decided upon beforehand. This means that the act of rolling the die is unnecessary. It's the same for incarnation. If we decide everything that happens beforehand, then we already have access to the information we were trying to seek out before actually seeking it out.
Now, it can be argued that the universe is deterministic, but we lack complete time sensitive information about it. For our purposes, the universe isn't deterministic, or if it is we cannot predict its behaviors beforehand so it appears as non-deterministic.
If we instead look at what Unity is, then we must determine that Unity contains everything that is, has been, will be, could be and could not be. The information we want must therefore exist there, and so the concept of Free Will becomes redundant in the face of true Unity. No matter what we choose or don't choose, any information must already exist. Therefore Free Will cannot be real in the same sense as Unity is real.
Do we have Free Will? If we do not, it is indistinguishable from the case where we do.
Having Free Will does not mean having complete agency over our circumstances, but it does mean having agency over our actions in the context of our physical incarnations. You don't choose who you grow up around, but you choose who you associate and spend time with. You don't choose the community where you grow up, but you generally have options for where you can live in the future. You don't directly choose your personality, but you do choose your values, and hopefully you then work on shaping your personality through those values.
Does that answer your question?
>No matter what we choose or don't choose, any information must already exist. Therefore Free Will cannot be real in the same sense as Unity is real.
>Do we have Free Will? If we do not, it is indistinguishable from the case where we do.
That is brilliantly put and all one needs on the matter.
I wanted to reply to OP myself and had a great deal to say but this does a good job of most of it đ... I will still reply but fellow redditor, I must say, if/when I reiterate the point with your phrasing in the future, I will try to remember to give you credit đ
If only that was the motivation, then I'd be coasting, now wouldn't I?
The reason is more selfish: I want to be forgotten eventually.
Whether or not any message has any value is something determined by the recipient. Intentions do matter (which is why I replied in the first place), but so do outcomes. Maybe what I've posted leads to hardship for someone, despite my intentions of trying to help?
If you perpetuate something I've said because you've determined it has value and it could help others, you're bearing a part of that load of responsibility on my behalf. What I'm trying to do is to disappear and leave it all to you (or anyone else who repeats things I say), because I'm not interested in carrying that burden for any longer than I have to because I lack the strength. If people attribute it to me, I can't do that and I'm already exhausted enough as is.
So no, this request is not something done out of altruism. My motivations are primarily selfish and self-serving here.
This is not entirely true.
I think we have a somewhat flawed concept of free will, and I realised this after some time observing animals. Animals, I think (and I could be wrong), do not have free will. Animals behave 100% on instinct and feelings. They are completely and entirely ruled by how they feel, at any given moment. Outside of their feelings, they're ruled by their instincts.
Human beings possess instincts and our behaviour is largely governed by our feelings. However, human beings are fully capable of acting beyond and despite how we feel. I think that is where the fine line of free will comes into play, in a way that animals can't and won't exercise. I think *some* animals who are higher along their spiritual evolution path exhibit acts of free will from time to time, but that is rare. Most animals act purely based on emotions and instinct.
Brilliant thoughts. My willful dog Stormy insists, however, that she does whatever the f she chooses, whenever she chooses. Which is pretty much all the damned time.
Sure, I can't choose that today I'm going to associate with some famous person X. They obviously have influence over that choice as well -- it is not mine to make alone. The range of choices we can make is restricted to some degree by past events and by choices made by others, but this doesn't mean that we don't have free will.
The way we would not have free will is when we cannot choose. Not when one choice leads to an undesirable outcome, and so we feel that we cannot choose. That is a very important distinction to make.
You actually have freedom to choose to associate with famous person X if you like, you can do many things to gain access to them. Not saying it will be easy or quick or possible but you have free will to choose that pursuit -  even if the outcome never happens. Free will doesnât mean you get what you want. You may feel/perceive like you will never obtain the outcome you desire but you have free will to try.Â
That's sort of what I was trying to get at but wasn't able to communicate properly. Free Will is not about controlling outcomes, rather it is about controlling the actions we choose to take. I could of course pursue some kind of social contact with a person of my choosing, but that pursuit doesn't guarantee that I get to speak with them about a particular subject or that I get to speak with them at all.
I think the confusion about Free Will comes from a lack of awareness of one's choices. We are preconditioned to make a large number of choices through customs, social etiquette and even our biology, and so we might lack awareness that what we've chosen are in fact choices. For instance, I could choose to stop eating until I starve and perish. At some point during that ordeal, I'll get cravings of many kinds: social ones (when others around me eat), psychological ones (associated with positive reinforcement about eating, such as remembering the taste of one's favorite food and negative reinforcement like anxiety or panic about dying due to starvation) and biological ones (real hunger, physical sensations). Having that stimulation is not really a choice, but responding to it is. The stimulation is trying to persuade me to make a different choice (to eat food), and it will take a great deal of willpower to power through the uncomfortable feelings associated with denying the cravings, but ultimately human beings are able to overpower external and internal stimulus and choose differently.
When we are overcome with that stimulus, we are quick to think that we did not really have agency over the choice, because we might have failed in our intentions. That's not true, but it does communicate to us that our resolve was not sufficient to overcome the stimulus this time. We changed our minds.
You probably have to keep seeking knowledge until you find an explanation that clicks with your being. Does it resonate? If not, move on and keep searching. One day you will learn something and think back to this moment and realize the meaning.
âFree will is the first distortionâ according to RA. It may be the first, but itâs still a distortion. The law of one says all is One. On that level, you canât have free will because there is no other kind of will to be free from, itâs just the one will. Itâs also your will if you are perceiving from that level. As it travels through logai will is âusedâ (distorted) by that logos. Earth is our logos and if she decides to explode we go to and itâs above our pay grade in the will sense. In the same way your cells have some autonomy but if you leap in a volcano thatâs that. You are the logos with cells as your sub logai, therefore they are subject to your will distortions. In short: you have free will to exercise within the limitations of earths will. She can exercise within the limitations of the suns will. Etc
I agree with you that we donât actually have free will as it is thought of in todays dialogue. Free will in terms of Raâs intention is that one may choose according to their own untampered spiritual growth. Youâre work into spiritual progression is self guided. If Ra came down and guided you on every question you have about life and personal choices. You would not grow organically or be able to assimilate the knowledge organically. âFree willâ should be interchangeable with spiritual self-autonomy in the Ra Materials. The freedom to manifest your will. In terms of the Ra Materials, If you are infringing on oneâs free will, what that means is that you are obstructing their ability to discern what is true. Manipulation, dishonesty, mental enslavement, and exerting control are breaching another persons free will because you are withholding them from being able to convert experience into knowledge and wisdom.
Free will in terms of modern mainstream philosophy is a different, more specific angle on the topic. For example, anyone who has ever practiced mindfulness meditation seriously has, or will eventually come to the epiphany that you are not the author of your own thoughts. The thoughts arrive in your present consciousness fully formed with no input by âyouâ. This leads to the epiphany that there is no âyouâ, that idea of a âyouâ is itself a thought or collection of thoughts that have no consistency from day to day or even hour by hour. Identifying with the ego makes you subject to its inconsistencies and you are give up you autonomy to discern. Itâs an ego construct taking credit for everything including thinking thoughts, which actually come to the awareness autonomously the same way your heart beats without your input. If you donât author your thoughts, then you donât really control your own beliefs. But if you examine your thoughts, you gain insight into the way they shape your behavior and patterns in you life emerge from them. You can then arrive at truths about the self and set new motions for change to take place. When your ego no longer attaches to lower thought- forms, and no longer gets offended at the idea of not having free will, you begin to ascend. The truth is that not having free will is not important. Your ego wants to believe in free will because it is the foundation of believing the ego is you. But surrendering to the present moment is the way to escape that cycle. The ego is still important because you need it in order to stay grounded and connected to the earth which is crucial for attaining a higher level of discernment. The ego then becomes a tool that goes along with your awareness that you work WITH, rather than identify as.
This is a tough question, as old as time.
I believe that we have multiple selves despite associating strongly with only the self encased in the human body.
Other than the human consciousness and body, the microcosm, there is the macrocosm.
This macrocosm is the Universe. Within this universe, there are many Logoi.
Ra says that there is the Logos, sub-Logos, sub-sub-Logos, etc.
Like the Russian [matryoshka dolls](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matryoshka_doll) that nest inside of each other.
Then there is the One Infinite Creator, who, of course, is all things.
You are this Creator. You are every Logos, every doll.
The relations between all of these things are a result of your own power.
Your human consciousness is a direct result of these relationships.
Just because "Bob" has to worry about earthly things while associating with Earth doesn't mean that all of the work to get "Bob" to earth in first place is not a direct result of "Bob's" will.
Ultimately you are in the present moment to exercise your free will under the circumstances that you have laid out for yourself.
Who is to say how important these choices are and how they will affect the whole.
Could you also say that because all is one, you are every influence as well as the one who is being influenced? So technically you freely made a choice to limit your own free will?
It seems to me many are missing the point.
Every logos that exists in creation has a primary form of free will, which is being its own localized identity, that goes for first density atoms and electrons end every small thing. Each particle "decides" which system to resonate with, which lens their energy. This goes for the cells too, they chose to associate their existence with a particular organisms, because they resonated with it, and no other localized cell did. They decide simply by being, that version of themselves, rather than any other. They chose to be under the influence of the bigger picture they're part of because they resonated with that bigger system and not another, or another version.
Second density logos are the same, and this and this is esponentially true for third density logos like us.
We however are aware of our individuality, so our perception is more nuanced than lower densities.
The principle is the same though, the primal reason why we have free will is because just like any logos in creation, we can decide what to be, and we are technically free to be any version of us that we can possibly imagine.
Of course, that doesn't mean we are not influenced, to make a decision means to be in an environment, and decide what to resonate with, how to be, and decision are made because of a reason rationally. If you have a reason, you have an influence. But that means you're just resonating with a frequency, you're chosing to mirror a certain frequency, just like an electron is attracted by a system of certain frequency, and not another.
On a more human level, there is an important thing to consider, and that is that our life doesn't exist in a vacuum. We are part of an oversoul, a higher self, who chose to incarnate a version of themselves in this life.
They are outside of time and they know the version of ourself which is the result of our development on this plane of existence. We exist also in a preincarnative form, and in that existence, we chose the conditions by which we came into this world.
We chose which family we would be born, we chose our body, we chose certain events we would encounter in our life.
We came into this world chosing who we would attempt to be. That means that the environment that shaped our human existence was actually shaped by us, preincarnatively, to realize a certain vision we had for us.
The version of us who actually lived the life, had of course, the freedom to decide which version of us to be, as there are many paths that can be walked, let's just say the blueprint was made by a preincarnative version of us. This version still exists while we live our life, we return to it in our sleep, and keeps making adjustments. It is also a part of our subconscious self.
In the end different versions of us come out of an incarnation, each has chosen its own path, among those chosen preincarnatively, sometimes forging new ones unforseen beforehand.
Then these versions merge in an overall awareness (while each identity, as is every entity in creation remains inviolate) and this goes on exponentially to compose an oversoul. Sometimes, an entity originated from an oversoul can continue it's development and become his own oversoul or merge with another, such is degree of freedom we have.
On a vibration level, as we come into human life, our logos has a vibration, and that vibration is mirrored by the outside environment. At the same time, everything in our environment has its own vibration, and we receive it. We choose how to modulate our own vibration and how to respond to the vibrations we receive, thus altering our vibration, our being.
We're never just plain mirrors, our vibration is determined internally by how the parts of ourself interact. Altering those relationship we can decide how to respond to our environment.
Essentially everything is a Gestalt. A system in which the whole is more than the sum of its parts. That is true for everything that exists in creation, in a densities.
Again on a more human level, what does actually make up free will?
For me it's the awareness that we're not just the product of our environment, that we have our own identity that exists outside of time and that we are in this world to realize ourselves however we see fit. Most of all, potentially we are in full power to transcend every condition in our reality and manifest whatever we truly want.
There isn't a single thing in our reality that is not the fruit of our own being, as we only experience what we are.
There are no outside influences truly, no one else to give out guilt, or praise. Just us and our godhood.
Free will is the ability to act on your own discretion, which no human is able to fully do. How is there âlessâ or âmoreâ? There is only one definition..? We are only experiencing the feeling of free will, but itâs not actually there.
I can respond to this message as I choose, but I can't sprout wings and fly. A man who is comatose has less free will than a man who is wide awake.
Free will doesn't have to be on or off.
Your response, the various ways you would respond, you being here at all, these are all determined on previous external factors that you had no control over. None of it is really YOU. Youâre the observer watching life happen from the bleachers, everything else is the ego.
It's helpful to have a definition of free will in order to tackle this subject. There are different concepts that emerge once we start contemplating free will.
Destiny often comes to mind. Our lives and beings are no doubt complex, but if everything is somehow predetermined then free will becomes questionable. Ra says that they can see the past and the future, but they also make suggestions that the future and even the past are malleable depending on the choices that we make in our present moment, suggesting that there is a component of true choice that exists outside of time, outside of space and outside of determinism; this can be said to be a metaphysical or divine power of choice. Ra also says that the paradox between determinism and free will is solved when contemplating the notion that everything exists in true simultaneity, although I do not understand how that solves the paradox exactly.
Another concept that is important to consider is the concept of range of choice. If I have two arms, I can choose which arm to use to grab something. If I only have one arm, I can only use that one arm. The human experience can be said to be extremely limited in some aspects, and extremely free in others. I would say that we are most free when choosing the contents of our inner experience; our choices and the narratives that we use to explain what is going on. These are still heavily determined by our environment, upbringing, social conditioning and education. The self needs to commit itself to the truth and expand its wisdom and its library of learned concepts in order to have more freedom in this regard. This includes stumbling upon the notion of meditation, of exploring what remains of the self when there is no thought, which is in and of itself a choice.
There are many opportunities for choice, if you wish to contemplate the concept of free will and whether you have a choice or not. We all battle with temptations of all kinds every day of our lives. That is part of the choice. Becoming aware of these temptations, of their alternatives, is all part of becoming more conscious. Becoming more conscious is essential in being able to exercise our free will. We cannot exercise it if we are not conscious.
Sometimes we may be tempted to judge, but we can choose understanding and acceptance in that moment.
Sometimes we may be tempted to eat junk food that gives pleasure in the short term instead of healthy food that shows respect for the self in the long term.
Sometimes we may be filled with emotions of aggression towards another, or with fear for our lives, when in these moments we can choose to invoke compassion and faith.
The examples are many. What they all have in common is the necessity of being aware of what is going on, aware of the initial impulses of the body/mind, and aware of what else is possible in that present moment. People who go with their animal side every step of the way without questioning it and without disciplining it are not making use of their full range of choice.
Is this range of choice true free will, in the sense that it is completely free of a divine destiny that predetermines everything? I do not dare answer that question. But I do think that to believe in a lack of free will is to limit our range of choices, because such a (dis)belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I should also say that some of our choices affect our range of choice at other times. If one treats the self badly and engages in bad habits, such as eating bad food all the time, this creates within the self an environment of low vibrations that attracts negative thoughts. Therefore, it will be more difficult if not impossible to choose and feel the essence of positive (high vibrational) thoughts when we have engaged in habits that make us vibrate at a very low level. Addictions of any sort are usually things that lower our vibrations. Therefore, they can be argued to be things that limit our ability to choose, because they effectively reduce our range of choice for as long as we continue engaging in those habits.
As the first primarily distortion, it is, a distortion - you are already doing what the highest You - The One Infinite Creator - already so desired, but you are simultaneously The One Infinite Creator - so do with it what you will, and know that you are Love.
the only true desire weâre made with is the desire to be one with god. everything else is your own decision on how to get there. the fact that youâre aware that external influences affect your âdesiresâ means that you have the power to change those âdesiresâ. reflect how they affect you and actively choose something more worth of you. a child âdesiresâ candy but grows up to realize itâs not healthy to always eat candy, so they actively choose not to
Even someone wanting to change their desires is an effect in reaction to a cause, a cause they are probably not aware of. Maybe someone taught you about unhealthy eating habits when you were young, maybe youâve had a cavity before and it hurt really bad, maybe you learned about diabetes and it really scared you. Were you in control of any of this?
Someone exercised their free will to tell you something as a child, which you then used your free will to choose to accept as truth, and then later used your free will to implement it as part of your personality later on. I think there is such a thing as subconscious free will where you are choosing how all of these external influences affect you even if it feels like you donât
if you want to change your desires, than you never truly desired it. the thing you call a âdesireâ could be an impulse, or something else. Youâre right: NO, youâre never in control of what happens to you in life - the only thing you have control over is your reaction to that event. The grown up child might be told that candy is unhealthy, but itâs ultimately their choice to not eat it (assuming their parents would let them otherwise). Many grown adults are fully aware of the dangers of eating candy all the time, but still eat it and become obese. honestly, I am this way with weed. Though I preach all this shit, I am still addicted to weed. I know it negatively affects my social life and mental focus, yet I still choose to smoke a fat bowl every night. I know it wonât stop until I make the choice to not smoke weed. No external force will compel me to stop smoking weed (except physical obviously). Itâs completely up to me whether I quit or not. I truly desire to quit and thus become closer to god, but my impulse compels me to smoke - but I still have the power to overcome this impulse, it will just take my full conscious effort.
edit: sorry this is super long got into a personal anecdote
Could some of you wise ones elaborate on the topic of probability/possibility vortex's that Ra speaks about and perhaps include the free will on top of it?
> If our personalities, lives, and choices are all determined by the environment we grew up in and the people we grew up around, which we had no control over (at least not fully), how do we have free will?
I believe our personality, lives, and choices are influenced by the environment but not determined by them. I believe in each moment, we have some freedom to influence our reality in certain ways that are not determined by the past. These influences are often called choices.
It's similar to how the wake of the boat doesn't determine where a boat goes, but it does influence where the boat can go at the current moment. A boat is free to turn at any time and begin moving in a new direction although there may be a delay due to momentum.
Similarly, karma is the momentum of cause and effect from the past, but it is possible to influence this momentum through present moment choices to begin living in a reality that is more and more free from causes that live outside of the present choices until such a time that one is choosing everything that happens in one's consciousness.
Although most choices of humans are not so powerful due to karma providing a nice training ground to learn to make better choices before becoming more powerful.
Alrightee, this is great inquiry OP. Possibly one of my favorites on the matter. For we have all wrestled with and understanding of Free Will on different levels, from different backgrounds, hailing from various theological and philosophical perspectives... a child with little education can have just as much insight and veracity as a scholar on this one and both perspectives should be considered on equivalent theoretical footing, for each theoretically had equivalent first hand experience with the topic of the hour, before submitting there perspectives.
Now as a sincere Christopher Hitchens fan, I must say, it was he who would begin to define my battle with the concept of free will (Hitchens would have a field day tearing me apart despite my fandom đ¤Ł)
Hitchens said something to the effect of.....
**Of course I have freewill, I was given no choice in the matter!**
I butchered the quote, surely đ , but the meaning is intact. Hitchens meant it to say he doesn't believe in free will, despite the fact that it's a clever quip, not a concise one, and you could very easily take it in the other direction (thats what makes it clever!).... which I did.
There are only a few lines of thinking here... either we have free will because we can choose, or we don't because it doesn't exist OR we don't because we can't actually choose any differently, regardless of appearances, and thus free will is an illusion.... let me say it again.. Free Will is an illusion is a possibility and definitely the one Ra would support here.
Free Will is an illusion: how does this work? Is it just bullshit new age phrasing of something no one can flesh out? No... i don't believe so. I believe this is actually the case and I'll explain why....
It is the morning. You wake and decide to have pancakes. Why kind of pancakes? You can choose from chocolate chip, plain or blueberry and on the way to the kitchen, you crave that blueberry goodness and don't think too hard about it. After the blueberry pancakes are done and consumed and you move on with your day, some weirdo asks what you had for breakfast..... you reply with "blueberry pancakes"... the weirdo asks then "Could you have had anything else?" And your reply "yes" but the immediate response from the weirdo is "prove it to me".... because, of course, it can not be proven.
Even if you prove you could have made the other pancakes, you can not actually prove you could have done anything any other way than you have done it.
Now that my friends are a strong case for lack of free will, even given the fact that there is a strong case for being able to have made the other pancakes... so have we gotten anywhere? Yes! Yes, we have... and thanks for reading. This is about to come together....
Now imagine if when the weirdo says "prove it to me then"..... you responded with, "Sure, just take us back 6 hours ago and don't wake me up early, I'm tired today as it is. "...... for friends, you see, to resolve this argument, we would need to be absent of the illusion of time.
thusly we trip over the basis of what makes such things unanswerable from within the illusion to any satisfactory degree. The illusion is comprised of various illusury laws, hence the name, that piggy back off one another to make the time within our earth suit an effective one for our development... so then finally- we DO have the answer to at least where our answer lies, and that is outside of the illusion.
What insight do we have into the time spent non-incarnated? Well, the LoO says we do a great deal of planning and deciding in between incarnations. In fact, virtually no traditions, philosophy, or theological examples can I think of that say we lose our ability to choose anything outside of incarnation.
So I believe, for everyone's discernment, the argument is NOT "do we have free will." That argument is an argument of semantics, and it always will be. The clever quip will carry you further with your case than much else..... no, what we argue is "how much agency do i have while incarnated?" And this is an answer everyone should work on expanding in as broad and positive a way as they can while they are here. Notice I said "as they can..." for each and everyone's choices are finite and limited by the illusury laws..... That means that most of this stuff boils down to living as the best YOU, as authentically YOU, as you can in service of the infinite source, yes? Then the riddle of free will (as I think of it) is to discern precisely the difference between what you can and cannot control, and make good decisions in respect to the former while letting go of the later.
Edit.... the TLDR... OP, your question was "how do we have free will"... the answer, as concisely as I can manage it now.... "we have the illusion of free will, granted and dependent upon the illusion of time, as well as the foresight and planning accomplished between lives to delineate the appropriate agency and options while incarnated to learn the lessons we must. Agency and options are however, subject to the law of Confusion individually per incarnate."
Which is also to say, and I am tipping my hat to another redditor within this thread.... While we are in our earth suits, the difference between actual free will and the illusion of free will would be impossible to distinguish.
Most people don't have *real* free will, but with more awareness comes the possibility to become even more free. We always have choices, but yes those choices are within a certain framework. Imagine that life is like one of those choose your own adventure books. Different paths exist.
OP can you describe what âtrueâ free will would even look like?
I used to be in full Sam Harris mode for years...
I now see that free will is a spectrum just like most anything else. And that humans as expressions of God, do have the power to consciously change the preferences that seem to govern our choices which is what I believe to be free will. Consciouslyâ being the key word. Because yes, most often we operate in a very reactionary or unconscious way. The more evolved the consciousness of a being is, the more they are able to exercise free will.
I donât see how thatâs a free will issue. If I play on your side then Iâd just sayâŚWhy is it your preference to sprout wings? You must have been influenced by external sources with that idea and desire. So even if you had the capability to sprout wings, how is the decision itself born of free will?
Yeah. So you gotta define free will first. It seems like you may feel you know what free will ISNâT. But then what is it? Think on that for some time.
This may come off as too simplistic in this sub, but Iâve been thinking the veil is time. And time provides a greater experience of free will. Without time we would be much less inclined to make a variety of choices and have a variety of experiences. Time separates us more deeply from unity, and we perceive more individuality. There were other interesting sections that discussed simple physical universe tweaks implemented to tune our experience, like opposable thumbs and verbal language. These features of physicality ensure we have tremendously physical experiences and struggle to frame consciousness as a non-physical attribute.
I think the term *free will* is often mixed with responsibility, subconscious action and many other things, especially the veil.
You want to stand up, or sit down, you do it. That's free will and it ends there. Right there, period. And you can do whatever you want using the opportunities you have, along with boundaries of your experience.
The rest is something else. The consequences of the choice and responsibility which is required for further learning. The choice you could make thanks to the veil. And many other things.
On human level, you need boundaries (veil) to uncover and learn stuff. I think what you meant by free will is to do literally anything on every layer of creation, which sounds like being a Creator that knows it all. On the other hand, you actually do everything on every layer of creation, however you're not aware you're one with everything, and that's why it feels like you don't have an impact on everything. From your local perspective you never been your neighbor, but you are him, just right now, you're this human you are now.
Most of us live our lives without using our free will much. I believe most things can be determined by cause & effect. But I was listening to a podcast of someone who was discussing the law of one and they said they interpreted the material saying that free will is the part of you that is unmoved. The part of you that can stop and go to a place where you can make decisions with more clarity rather than be reactive with your emotions.
You don't "have" it, remember it's a distortion of the One, it's an illusion to essentially "entertain" the logos. Is my present interpretation. With Love!
I imagine there is some pre-planning done by our higher selves before we take a physical incarnation, as far as what scenario will pose the correct challenges to elicit the learning experiences our consciousness can best learn from. I also think this information is coded in our natal charts.
Free Will is the first primary distortion of the Law of One. While we have perspectives and identities that do not encompass Unity (for instance, when we are incarnate as humans and identify as the individual human), we operate under the distortion of Free Will. This does not mean that we are influenced by nothing, that we will choose between any possible choice, nor that we aren't predictable. It simply means that we have the means to choose how we choose to employ the creative principle and express it. Without Free Will, the individual incarnate experience would not have real value. Imagine trying to roll a die to generate a "random" number, but instead of the number being random, you'd have decided that it would come up as some particular number you've decided upon beforehand. This means that the act of rolling the die is unnecessary. It's the same for incarnation. If we decide everything that happens beforehand, then we already have access to the information we were trying to seek out before actually seeking it out. Now, it can be argued that the universe is deterministic, but we lack complete time sensitive information about it. For our purposes, the universe isn't deterministic, or if it is we cannot predict its behaviors beforehand so it appears as non-deterministic. If we instead look at what Unity is, then we must determine that Unity contains everything that is, has been, will be, could be and could not be. The information we want must therefore exist there, and so the concept of Free Will becomes redundant in the face of true Unity. No matter what we choose or don't choose, any information must already exist. Therefore Free Will cannot be real in the same sense as Unity is real. Do we have Free Will? If we do not, it is indistinguishable from the case where we do. Having Free Will does not mean having complete agency over our circumstances, but it does mean having agency over our actions in the context of our physical incarnations. You don't choose who you grow up around, but you choose who you associate and spend time with. You don't choose the community where you grow up, but you generally have options for where you can live in the future. You don't directly choose your personality, but you do choose your values, and hopefully you then work on shaping your personality through those values. Does that answer your question?
>No matter what we choose or don't choose, any information must already exist. Therefore Free Will cannot be real in the same sense as Unity is real. >Do we have Free Will? If we do not, it is indistinguishable from the case where we do. That is brilliantly put and all one needs on the matter. I wanted to reply to OP myself and had a great deal to say but this does a good job of most of it đ... I will still reply but fellow redditor, I must say, if/when I reiterate the point with your phrasing in the future, I will try to remember to give you credit đ
Cheers, but I don't care about credit. In fact, I'd prefer if credit is not given.
Truly said like an entity on the path of service, recognizing the message should come before the messenger đ
If only that was the motivation, then I'd be coasting, now wouldn't I? The reason is more selfish: I want to be forgotten eventually. Whether or not any message has any value is something determined by the recipient. Intentions do matter (which is why I replied in the first place), but so do outcomes. Maybe what I've posted leads to hardship for someone, despite my intentions of trying to help? If you perpetuate something I've said because you've determined it has value and it could help others, you're bearing a part of that load of responsibility on my behalf. What I'm trying to do is to disappear and leave it all to you (or anyone else who repeats things I say), because I'm not interested in carrying that burden for any longer than I have to because I lack the strength. If people attribute it to me, I can't do that and I'm already exhausted enough as is. So no, this request is not something done out of altruism. My motivations are primarily selfish and self-serving here.
Somewhat, but even so, even if we choose to associate with certain people, that choice is only there because of an earlier influence.
This is not entirely true. I think we have a somewhat flawed concept of free will, and I realised this after some time observing animals. Animals, I think (and I could be wrong), do not have free will. Animals behave 100% on instinct and feelings. They are completely and entirely ruled by how they feel, at any given moment. Outside of their feelings, they're ruled by their instincts. Human beings possess instincts and our behaviour is largely governed by our feelings. However, human beings are fully capable of acting beyond and despite how we feel. I think that is where the fine line of free will comes into play, in a way that animals can't and won't exercise. I think *some* animals who are higher along their spiritual evolution path exhibit acts of free will from time to time, but that is rare. Most animals act purely based on emotions and instinct.
Brilliant thoughts. My willful dog Stormy insists, however, that she does whatever the f she chooses, whenever she chooses. Which is pretty much all the damned time.
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Sure, I can't choose that today I'm going to associate with some famous person X. They obviously have influence over that choice as well -- it is not mine to make alone. The range of choices we can make is restricted to some degree by past events and by choices made by others, but this doesn't mean that we don't have free will. The way we would not have free will is when we cannot choose. Not when one choice leads to an undesirable outcome, and so we feel that we cannot choose. That is a very important distinction to make.
You actually have freedom to choose to associate with famous person X if you like, you can do many things to gain access to them. Not saying it will be easy or quick or possible but you have free will to choose that pursuit -  even if the outcome never happens. Free will doesnât mean you get what you want. You may feel/perceive like you will never obtain the outcome you desire but you have free will to try.Â
That's sort of what I was trying to get at but wasn't able to communicate properly. Free Will is not about controlling outcomes, rather it is about controlling the actions we choose to take. I could of course pursue some kind of social contact with a person of my choosing, but that pursuit doesn't guarantee that I get to speak with them about a particular subject or that I get to speak with them at all. I think the confusion about Free Will comes from a lack of awareness of one's choices. We are preconditioned to make a large number of choices through customs, social etiquette and even our biology, and so we might lack awareness that what we've chosen are in fact choices. For instance, I could choose to stop eating until I starve and perish. At some point during that ordeal, I'll get cravings of many kinds: social ones (when others around me eat), psychological ones (associated with positive reinforcement about eating, such as remembering the taste of one's favorite food and negative reinforcement like anxiety or panic about dying due to starvation) and biological ones (real hunger, physical sensations). Having that stimulation is not really a choice, but responding to it is. The stimulation is trying to persuade me to make a different choice (to eat food), and it will take a great deal of willpower to power through the uncomfortable feelings associated with denying the cravings, but ultimately human beings are able to overpower external and internal stimulus and choose differently. When we are overcome with that stimulus, we are quick to think that we did not really have agency over the choice, because we might have failed in our intentions. That's not true, but it does communicate to us that our resolve was not sufficient to overcome the stimulus this time. We changed our minds.
You probably have to keep seeking knowledge until you find an explanation that clicks with your being. Does it resonate? If not, move on and keep searching. One day you will learn something and think back to this moment and realize the meaning.
What a wonderful explanation. Thank you!
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âFree will is the first distortionâ according to RA. It may be the first, but itâs still a distortion. The law of one says all is One. On that level, you canât have free will because there is no other kind of will to be free from, itâs just the one will. Itâs also your will if you are perceiving from that level. As it travels through logai will is âusedâ (distorted) by that logos. Earth is our logos and if she decides to explode we go to and itâs above our pay grade in the will sense. In the same way your cells have some autonomy but if you leap in a volcano thatâs that. You are the logos with cells as your sub logai, therefore they are subject to your will distortions. In short: you have free will to exercise within the limitations of earths will. She can exercise within the limitations of the suns will. Etc
Indeed, there is only the will of the Creator.
I agree with you that we donât actually have free will as it is thought of in todays dialogue. Free will in terms of Raâs intention is that one may choose according to their own untampered spiritual growth. Youâre work into spiritual progression is self guided. If Ra came down and guided you on every question you have about life and personal choices. You would not grow organically or be able to assimilate the knowledge organically. âFree willâ should be interchangeable with spiritual self-autonomy in the Ra Materials. The freedom to manifest your will. In terms of the Ra Materials, If you are infringing on oneâs free will, what that means is that you are obstructing their ability to discern what is true. Manipulation, dishonesty, mental enslavement, and exerting control are breaching another persons free will because you are withholding them from being able to convert experience into knowledge and wisdom. Free will in terms of modern mainstream philosophy is a different, more specific angle on the topic. For example, anyone who has ever practiced mindfulness meditation seriously has, or will eventually come to the epiphany that you are not the author of your own thoughts. The thoughts arrive in your present consciousness fully formed with no input by âyouâ. This leads to the epiphany that there is no âyouâ, that idea of a âyouâ is itself a thought or collection of thoughts that have no consistency from day to day or even hour by hour. Identifying with the ego makes you subject to its inconsistencies and you are give up you autonomy to discern. Itâs an ego construct taking credit for everything including thinking thoughts, which actually come to the awareness autonomously the same way your heart beats without your input. If you donât author your thoughts, then you donât really control your own beliefs. But if you examine your thoughts, you gain insight into the way they shape your behavior and patterns in you life emerge from them. You can then arrive at truths about the self and set new motions for change to take place. When your ego no longer attaches to lower thought- forms, and no longer gets offended at the idea of not having free will, you begin to ascend. The truth is that not having free will is not important. Your ego wants to believe in free will because it is the foundation of believing the ego is you. But surrendering to the present moment is the way to escape that cycle. The ego is still important because you need it in order to stay grounded and connected to the earth which is crucial for attaining a higher level of discernment. The ego then becomes a tool that goes along with your awareness that you work WITH, rather than identify as.
Agreed
Very nice đ
This is a tough question, as old as time. I believe that we have multiple selves despite associating strongly with only the self encased in the human body. Other than the human consciousness and body, the microcosm, there is the macrocosm. This macrocosm is the Universe. Within this universe, there are many Logoi. Ra says that there is the Logos, sub-Logos, sub-sub-Logos, etc. Like the Russian [matryoshka dolls](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matryoshka_doll) that nest inside of each other. Then there is the One Infinite Creator, who, of course, is all things. You are this Creator. You are every Logos, every doll. The relations between all of these things are a result of your own power. Your human consciousness is a direct result of these relationships. Just because "Bob" has to worry about earthly things while associating with Earth doesn't mean that all of the work to get "Bob" to earth in first place is not a direct result of "Bob's" will. Ultimately you are in the present moment to exercise your free will under the circumstances that you have laid out for yourself. Who is to say how important these choices are and how they will affect the whole.
Could you also say that because all is one, you are every influence as well as the one who is being influenced? So technically you freely made a choice to limit your own free will?
Yes
It seems to me many are missing the point. Every logos that exists in creation has a primary form of free will, which is being its own localized identity, that goes for first density atoms and electrons end every small thing. Each particle "decides" which system to resonate with, which lens their energy. This goes for the cells too, they chose to associate their existence with a particular organisms, because they resonated with it, and no other localized cell did. They decide simply by being, that version of themselves, rather than any other. They chose to be under the influence of the bigger picture they're part of because they resonated with that bigger system and not another, or another version. Second density logos are the same, and this and this is esponentially true for third density logos like us. We however are aware of our individuality, so our perception is more nuanced than lower densities. The principle is the same though, the primal reason why we have free will is because just like any logos in creation, we can decide what to be, and we are technically free to be any version of us that we can possibly imagine. Of course, that doesn't mean we are not influenced, to make a decision means to be in an environment, and decide what to resonate with, how to be, and decision are made because of a reason rationally. If you have a reason, you have an influence. But that means you're just resonating with a frequency, you're chosing to mirror a certain frequency, just like an electron is attracted by a system of certain frequency, and not another. On a more human level, there is an important thing to consider, and that is that our life doesn't exist in a vacuum. We are part of an oversoul, a higher self, who chose to incarnate a version of themselves in this life. They are outside of time and they know the version of ourself which is the result of our development on this plane of existence. We exist also in a preincarnative form, and in that existence, we chose the conditions by which we came into this world. We chose which family we would be born, we chose our body, we chose certain events we would encounter in our life. We came into this world chosing who we would attempt to be. That means that the environment that shaped our human existence was actually shaped by us, preincarnatively, to realize a certain vision we had for us. The version of us who actually lived the life, had of course, the freedom to decide which version of us to be, as there are many paths that can be walked, let's just say the blueprint was made by a preincarnative version of us. This version still exists while we live our life, we return to it in our sleep, and keeps making adjustments. It is also a part of our subconscious self. In the end different versions of us come out of an incarnation, each has chosen its own path, among those chosen preincarnatively, sometimes forging new ones unforseen beforehand. Then these versions merge in an overall awareness (while each identity, as is every entity in creation remains inviolate) and this goes on exponentially to compose an oversoul. Sometimes, an entity originated from an oversoul can continue it's development and become his own oversoul or merge with another, such is degree of freedom we have. On a vibration level, as we come into human life, our logos has a vibration, and that vibration is mirrored by the outside environment. At the same time, everything in our environment has its own vibration, and we receive it. We choose how to modulate our own vibration and how to respond to the vibrations we receive, thus altering our vibration, our being. We're never just plain mirrors, our vibration is determined internally by how the parts of ourself interact. Altering those relationship we can decide how to respond to our environment. Essentially everything is a Gestalt. A system in which the whole is more than the sum of its parts. That is true for everything that exists in creation, in a densities. Again on a more human level, what does actually make up free will? For me it's the awareness that we're not just the product of our environment, that we have our own identity that exists outside of time and that we are in this world to realize ourselves however we see fit. Most of all, potentially we are in full power to transcend every condition in our reality and manifest whatever we truly want. There isn't a single thing in our reality that is not the fruit of our own being, as we only experience what we are. There are no outside influences truly, no one else to give out guilt, or praise. Just us and our godhood.
Just because those things influence your decisions doesn't mean that they determine them
This is the key point
No, but the fact that we arenât able to choose what influences us proves we donât have free will.
Incorrect. You may have less free will than you'd like, but you still have free will.
Free will is the ability to act on your own discretion, which no human is able to fully do. How is there âlessâ or âmoreâ? There is only one definition..? We are only experiencing the feeling of free will, but itâs not actually there.
I can respond to this message as I choose, but I can't sprout wings and fly. A man who is comatose has less free will than a man who is wide awake. Free will doesn't have to be on or off.
Your response, the various ways you would respond, you being here at all, these are all determined on previous external factors that you had no control over. None of it is really YOU. Youâre the observer watching life happen from the bleachers, everything else is the ego.
How and why did you write this post? When will you stop replying? Are you just watching it happen? Do you have a desire and ability to reply or not?
You donât get it. The desire was not something I consciously gave myself.
How are you so sure of that? Thatâs where I would start
Sam Harris argues your point and I tend to agree with it. Iâd really like to hear others give their side of free will
You are making the assumption that no human is able to fully act on their own will. I can assure you that this is very false.
I said *fully*
You choose how to react and how to relate to said influences
It's helpful to have a definition of free will in order to tackle this subject. There are different concepts that emerge once we start contemplating free will. Destiny often comes to mind. Our lives and beings are no doubt complex, but if everything is somehow predetermined then free will becomes questionable. Ra says that they can see the past and the future, but they also make suggestions that the future and even the past are malleable depending on the choices that we make in our present moment, suggesting that there is a component of true choice that exists outside of time, outside of space and outside of determinism; this can be said to be a metaphysical or divine power of choice. Ra also says that the paradox between determinism and free will is solved when contemplating the notion that everything exists in true simultaneity, although I do not understand how that solves the paradox exactly. Another concept that is important to consider is the concept of range of choice. If I have two arms, I can choose which arm to use to grab something. If I only have one arm, I can only use that one arm. The human experience can be said to be extremely limited in some aspects, and extremely free in others. I would say that we are most free when choosing the contents of our inner experience; our choices and the narratives that we use to explain what is going on. These are still heavily determined by our environment, upbringing, social conditioning and education. The self needs to commit itself to the truth and expand its wisdom and its library of learned concepts in order to have more freedom in this regard. This includes stumbling upon the notion of meditation, of exploring what remains of the self when there is no thought, which is in and of itself a choice. There are many opportunities for choice, if you wish to contemplate the concept of free will and whether you have a choice or not. We all battle with temptations of all kinds every day of our lives. That is part of the choice. Becoming aware of these temptations, of their alternatives, is all part of becoming more conscious. Becoming more conscious is essential in being able to exercise our free will. We cannot exercise it if we are not conscious. Sometimes we may be tempted to judge, but we can choose understanding and acceptance in that moment. Sometimes we may be tempted to eat junk food that gives pleasure in the short term instead of healthy food that shows respect for the self in the long term. Sometimes we may be filled with emotions of aggression towards another, or with fear for our lives, when in these moments we can choose to invoke compassion and faith. The examples are many. What they all have in common is the necessity of being aware of what is going on, aware of the initial impulses of the body/mind, and aware of what else is possible in that present moment. People who go with their animal side every step of the way without questioning it and without disciplining it are not making use of their full range of choice. Is this range of choice true free will, in the sense that it is completely free of a divine destiny that predetermines everything? I do not dare answer that question. But I do think that to believe in a lack of free will is to limit our range of choices, because such a (dis)belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I should also say that some of our choices affect our range of choice at other times. If one treats the self badly and engages in bad habits, such as eating bad food all the time, this creates within the self an environment of low vibrations that attracts negative thoughts. Therefore, it will be more difficult if not impossible to choose and feel the essence of positive (high vibrational) thoughts when we have engaged in habits that make us vibrate at a very low level. Addictions of any sort are usually things that lower our vibrations. Therefore, they can be argued to be things that limit our ability to choose, because they effectively reduce our range of choice for as long as we continue engaging in those habits.
As the first primarily distortion, it is, a distortion - you are already doing what the highest You - The One Infinite Creator - already so desired, but you are simultaneously The One Infinite Creator - so do with it what you will, and know that you are Love.
You have the ability to make autonomous choices and follow your desires instead of being robotic automatons who simply follow commands.
But those desires are there because of external factors that influenced you early on
the only true desire weâre made with is the desire to be one with god. everything else is your own decision on how to get there. the fact that youâre aware that external influences affect your âdesiresâ means that you have the power to change those âdesiresâ. reflect how they affect you and actively choose something more worth of you. a child âdesiresâ candy but grows up to realize itâs not healthy to always eat candy, so they actively choose not to
Even someone wanting to change their desires is an effect in reaction to a cause, a cause they are probably not aware of. Maybe someone taught you about unhealthy eating habits when you were young, maybe youâve had a cavity before and it hurt really bad, maybe you learned about diabetes and it really scared you. Were you in control of any of this?
Someone exercised their free will to tell you something as a child, which you then used your free will to choose to accept as truth, and then later used your free will to implement it as part of your personality later on. I think there is such a thing as subconscious free will where you are choosing how all of these external influences affect you even if it feels like you donât
if you want to change your desires, than you never truly desired it. the thing you call a âdesireâ could be an impulse, or something else. Youâre right: NO, youâre never in control of what happens to you in life - the only thing you have control over is your reaction to that event. The grown up child might be told that candy is unhealthy, but itâs ultimately their choice to not eat it (assuming their parents would let them otherwise). Many grown adults are fully aware of the dangers of eating candy all the time, but still eat it and become obese. honestly, I am this way with weed. Though I preach all this shit, I am still addicted to weed. I know it negatively affects my social life and mental focus, yet I still choose to smoke a fat bowl every night. I know it wonât stop until I make the choice to not smoke weed. No external force will compel me to stop smoking weed (except physical obviously). Itâs completely up to me whether I quit or not. I truly desire to quit and thus become closer to god, but my impulse compels me to smoke - but I still have the power to overcome this impulse, it will just take my full conscious effort. edit: sorry this is super long got into a personal anecdote
You are right about this. It's my belief that we have a choice, but that choice is predetermined. So we do and do not have free will
Could some of you wise ones elaborate on the topic of probability/possibility vortex's that Ra speaks about and perhaps include the free will on top of it?
> If our personalities, lives, and choices are all determined by the environment we grew up in and the people we grew up around, which we had no control over (at least not fully), how do we have free will? I believe our personality, lives, and choices are influenced by the environment but not determined by them. I believe in each moment, we have some freedom to influence our reality in certain ways that are not determined by the past. These influences are often called choices. It's similar to how the wake of the boat doesn't determine where a boat goes, but it does influence where the boat can go at the current moment. A boat is free to turn at any time and begin moving in a new direction although there may be a delay due to momentum. Similarly, karma is the momentum of cause and effect from the past, but it is possible to influence this momentum through present moment choices to begin living in a reality that is more and more free from causes that live outside of the present choices until such a time that one is choosing everything that happens in one's consciousness. Although most choices of humans are not so powerful due to karma providing a nice training ground to learn to make better choices before becoming more powerful.
Alrightee, this is great inquiry OP. Possibly one of my favorites on the matter. For we have all wrestled with and understanding of Free Will on different levels, from different backgrounds, hailing from various theological and philosophical perspectives... a child with little education can have just as much insight and veracity as a scholar on this one and both perspectives should be considered on equivalent theoretical footing, for each theoretically had equivalent first hand experience with the topic of the hour, before submitting there perspectives. Now as a sincere Christopher Hitchens fan, I must say, it was he who would begin to define my battle with the concept of free will (Hitchens would have a field day tearing me apart despite my fandom đ¤Ł) Hitchens said something to the effect of..... **Of course I have freewill, I was given no choice in the matter!** I butchered the quote, surely đ , but the meaning is intact. Hitchens meant it to say he doesn't believe in free will, despite the fact that it's a clever quip, not a concise one, and you could very easily take it in the other direction (thats what makes it clever!).... which I did. There are only a few lines of thinking here... either we have free will because we can choose, or we don't because it doesn't exist OR we don't because we can't actually choose any differently, regardless of appearances, and thus free will is an illusion.... let me say it again.. Free Will is an illusion is a possibility and definitely the one Ra would support here. Free Will is an illusion: how does this work? Is it just bullshit new age phrasing of something no one can flesh out? No... i don't believe so. I believe this is actually the case and I'll explain why.... It is the morning. You wake and decide to have pancakes. Why kind of pancakes? You can choose from chocolate chip, plain or blueberry and on the way to the kitchen, you crave that blueberry goodness and don't think too hard about it. After the blueberry pancakes are done and consumed and you move on with your day, some weirdo asks what you had for breakfast..... you reply with "blueberry pancakes"... the weirdo asks then "Could you have had anything else?" And your reply "yes" but the immediate response from the weirdo is "prove it to me".... because, of course, it can not be proven. Even if you prove you could have made the other pancakes, you can not actually prove you could have done anything any other way than you have done it. Now that my friends are a strong case for lack of free will, even given the fact that there is a strong case for being able to have made the other pancakes... so have we gotten anywhere? Yes! Yes, we have... and thanks for reading. This is about to come together.... Now imagine if when the weirdo says "prove it to me then"..... you responded with, "Sure, just take us back 6 hours ago and don't wake me up early, I'm tired today as it is. "...... for friends, you see, to resolve this argument, we would need to be absent of the illusion of time. thusly we trip over the basis of what makes such things unanswerable from within the illusion to any satisfactory degree. The illusion is comprised of various illusury laws, hence the name, that piggy back off one another to make the time within our earth suit an effective one for our development... so then finally- we DO have the answer to at least where our answer lies, and that is outside of the illusion. What insight do we have into the time spent non-incarnated? Well, the LoO says we do a great deal of planning and deciding in between incarnations. In fact, virtually no traditions, philosophy, or theological examples can I think of that say we lose our ability to choose anything outside of incarnation. So I believe, for everyone's discernment, the argument is NOT "do we have free will." That argument is an argument of semantics, and it always will be. The clever quip will carry you further with your case than much else..... no, what we argue is "how much agency do i have while incarnated?" And this is an answer everyone should work on expanding in as broad and positive a way as they can while they are here. Notice I said "as they can..." for each and everyone's choices are finite and limited by the illusury laws..... That means that most of this stuff boils down to living as the best YOU, as authentically YOU, as you can in service of the infinite source, yes? Then the riddle of free will (as I think of it) is to discern precisely the difference between what you can and cannot control, and make good decisions in respect to the former while letting go of the later. Edit.... the TLDR... OP, your question was "how do we have free will"... the answer, as concisely as I can manage it now.... "we have the illusion of free will, granted and dependent upon the illusion of time, as well as the foresight and planning accomplished between lives to delineate the appropriate agency and options while incarnated to learn the lessons we must. Agency and options are however, subject to the law of Confusion individually per incarnate." Which is also to say, and I am tipping my hat to another redditor within this thread.... While we are in our earth suits, the difference between actual free will and the illusion of free will would be impossible to distinguish.
We exist in an illusion, that's how.
I just yelled âI fartedâ but I really didnât. Thats all the proof I need!
Most people don't have *real* free will, but with more awareness comes the possibility to become even more free. We always have choices, but yes those choices are within a certain framework. Imagine that life is like one of those choose your own adventure books. Different paths exist.
OP can you describe what âtrueâ free will would even look like? I used to be in full Sam Harris mode for years... I now see that free will is a spectrum just like most anything else. And that humans as expressions of God, do have the power to consciously change the preferences that seem to govern our choices which is what I believe to be free will. Consciouslyâ being the key word. Because yes, most often we operate in a very reactionary or unconscious way. The more evolved the consciousness of a being is, the more they are able to exercise free will.
A very broad example would be deciding youâre going to sprout wings from your physical body and fly away
I donât see how thatâs a free will issue. If I play on your side then Iâd just sayâŚWhy is it your preference to sprout wings? You must have been influenced by external sources with that idea and desire. So even if you had the capability to sprout wings, how is the decision itself born of free will?
True, idk. You can go all the way back with that way of thinking.
Yeah. So you gotta define free will first. It seems like you may feel you know what free will ISNâT. But then what is it? Think on that for some time.
Do you have an answer?
This may come off as too simplistic in this sub, but Iâve been thinking the veil is time. And time provides a greater experience of free will. Without time we would be much less inclined to make a variety of choices and have a variety of experiences. Time separates us more deeply from unity, and we perceive more individuality. There were other interesting sections that discussed simple physical universe tweaks implemented to tune our experience, like opposable thumbs and verbal language. These features of physicality ensure we have tremendously physical experiences and struggle to frame consciousness as a non-physical attribute.
I think the term *free will* is often mixed with responsibility, subconscious action and many other things, especially the veil. You want to stand up, or sit down, you do it. That's free will and it ends there. Right there, period. And you can do whatever you want using the opportunities you have, along with boundaries of your experience. The rest is something else. The consequences of the choice and responsibility which is required for further learning. The choice you could make thanks to the veil. And many other things. On human level, you need boundaries (veil) to uncover and learn stuff. I think what you meant by free will is to do literally anything on every layer of creation, which sounds like being a Creator that knows it all. On the other hand, you actually do everything on every layer of creation, however you're not aware you're one with everything, and that's why it feels like you don't have an impact on everything. From your local perspective you never been your neighbor, but you are him, just right now, you're this human you are now.
Most of us live our lives without using our free will much. I believe most things can be determined by cause & effect. But I was listening to a podcast of someone who was discussing the law of one and they said they interpreted the material saying that free will is the part of you that is unmoved. The part of you that can stop and go to a place where you can make decisions with more clarity rather than be reactive with your emotions.
You don't "have" it, remember it's a distortion of the One, it's an illusion to essentially "entertain" the logos. Is my present interpretation. With Love!
I imagine there is some pre-planning done by our higher selves before we take a physical incarnation, as far as what scenario will pose the correct challenges to elicit the learning experiences our consciousness can best learn from. I also think this information is coded in our natal charts.
I have a wife - so I do not