I just read an article from the New York Times speculating whether we have free will or are our lives predetermined? As near as I could understand in the article, if our acts are pre determined, that determining factor seems to be our subconscious mind. Excuse me, but isn't our subconscious mind a part of us? While it's true, our parents and culture tend to program certain things into our subconscious, it also gets programed by our experiences and observations as they impact our conscious mind. The article talked about genetic and evolutional programing as well, even mentioned particle physics. There was a study done where people were told to make random movements. Supposedly, the movements came a fraction before cognition, or the mind deciding the movement. The conclusion to the article was that we had enough free choice, or illusion of free choice for us to be comfortable.
Nowhere in this article was there any reference to a Spiritual Element. Maybe the author didn't want to bring another source of determinism, or he was just skirting the issue. I've always believed we could be moved by Spirit, if we're open and listening, but that it was our choice as to whether we took Spirit's advise. Then again, if Spirit is really serious about us doing something, I suppose It could manage conditions in our lives to encourage us to decide to do as It suggests eventually, even if we're stubborn. There are others who believe that our Souls determine our path in each lifetime. That's probably as good an idea as any other. Maybe we'll find out all about how things work sometime. In the meantime, we'll just keep muddling through.
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