Anthony J. Fisichella...
Freedom and Free Will - Illusion or Actuality?
An Excerpt From Book I of the One Solitary Life Series,
The Vision The Journey and The Quest
When thinking people gather to discuss the verities of existence, this question is often asked: “Does freewill really exist, or are all things predetermined?” To answer this question, even superficially, involves quite a task, considering the egocentricity of the masses and the overwhelming desire of man to consider himself a free agent. Whether or not he is a free agent, man’s personality longs desperately to believe he is, which complicates this question and makes our task all the more difficult. Not only must we address ourselves to the issue at hand, we have also to overcome this egocentricity and the tendency toward self-aggrandizement with which man is obsessed. It is this obsession, generally conveyed by the attitude “I am a free agent and can do as I damn well please,” that most militates against an open-minded consideration of this age-old question.
Recognizing how many individuals are caught up in this obsessive attitude and realizing the compelling nature of an obsession, we gain our initial insight into this question, for to have the mind obsessed with the notion of free will, or any other idea or inclination, is not to be free at all. The exercise of free will precludes the possibility of functioning in an obsessed state and therefore under compulsion.
See how difficult is our task in trying to examine this concept and its many ramifications? To attempt to answer this enigma adequately would require volumes of space transcending the limitations of this work; however, I believe, if we carefully examine certain aspects of this age-old question, we can shed some light on an otherwise foggy issue.
First, let us explore this question along religious lines. The doctrine is promulgated by most religions that man is an expression of the Divine nature, a creature created by God “in His own likeness.” This very statement contradicts the notion that man may act independently, for to be created by God in His “likeness” and endowed with certain qualities indigenous to that “likeness,” precludes the possibility of functioning outside of that “likeness.” The religious position might be summarized thusly: “All things, at their bottom, are of God. By necessity, they must follow that order which is God. Consequently, they cannot deviate from it and are therefore not free.” In the final analysis, man and his will are subservient to the will of God, thereby limiting man to a role compatible with the Divine nature and in keeping with the Divine Plan.
Moreover, we have been told that all men are created equal, a condition incompatible with freedom, for freedom and equality cannot coexist. Men are forever bellowing about the liberty and equality that they are simultaneously seeking. Is it not rational to conclude that things that must be equal to each other are, therefore, not free? A complete freedom would in fact create inequality, for that which is free will not be restricted by an arbitrary standard of equality. Conversely, a true equality, where things are actually equal to each other, does not permit anything to deviate from that which is equal, thereby negating freedom.
Turning to the scientific community for assistance with this question, we encounter a position diametrically opposite to that fostered by religion, but equally incompatible with the concept of free will. Generally speaking, the scientist tells us that all in existence is the result of a fortuitous and accidental interaction of natural forces productive of the environmental circumstances we now perceive. Man is thereby reduced to little more than a child of fortune and a slave of probability, his life and circumstances dictated by chance and totally out of his control. He comes into the world the product of the accidental interaction of certain genetic conditions which equip him with a mental, emotional, and physical makeup, all the result of heredity, and lives out his life the unwitting servant of these inherited traits.
Add to this the position taken by the behavioral psychologist that each person is the product of his environment, molded and shaped by the circumstances within which he was born and raised, and we observe the notion of free will losing its viability. Furthermore, owing to the ever-changing environment and its acknowledged ever-present conditioning effect upon consciousness, the mutable will of man and his ability to manifest that will are undergoing a perpetual reshaping which at any given moment enhances or detracts from the exercise of his will. This position obviously also precludes the possibility of freewill, for man’s will and consciousness are not of his own making, but, rather, the result of fortune.
Whether we subscribe to the religious or scientific view, it would seem that freedom and free will, in the true sense of these terms, does not in fact exist. Actually, an absolute freedom in nature would result in the greatest disaster imaginable; it would mean chaos. The order which we perceive in nature is dependent upon its own necessity. Things cannot escape this order. Everything is compelled to conform to its own nature, to its own motions, and its own changes.
In his book The World As ISee It, Dr. Albert Einstein touched the very essence of this matter when he stated, “In human freedom in the philosophical sense, I am a definite disbeliever. Everyone acts, not only under inner compulsion, but also in accordance with outer necessity.” I am in complete accord with this statement by Dr. Einstein, but would like to add that “inner compulsion” and “outer necessity” are not absolutes. They are, in fact, relative to the individual and illusory in nature. That which is viewed as an external necessity is viewed as such due to the arbitrary establishment of an intrinsic value which is imposed upon the observed by the observing agent. Nothing in the universe possesses an intrinsic value of its own. All sense of value stems from the conditioned status of the individual consciousness and its relative perspective at any given moment. Alter this conditioning, even subliminally, and the belief system it has created with its imposed values and the sense of “outer necessity” shifts, thereby producing a new subjective motivation, or “inner compulsion.” Thus it would seem, choices are little more than the result of positive or negative conditioning and reinforcement.
Yet, much is made of man’s volition, his so-called self-determination, the fact that he may say aye to some things and nay to others, and that he does so at all times. If it be granted that man has will and may make certain choices, the question must be asked: “What are the fundamental choices of his will, and does he exercise that will with total freedom?” In other words, given choice, what shall we choose, and can we choose freely? What are the fundamental choices of which man is capable? To answer these questions, let us begin by addressing ourselves to the most fundamental of all choices, that which involves life and death. Are we in a position to freely choose to live or die? (I speak, of course, of death in the biological sense, so-called clinical death.)
Man cannot choose death, for death is inevitable and comes to each and all eventually, whether we so choose or not. Each of us, at the moment of our birth, is indelibly stamped “terminal.” It merely becomes a question of when, where, and how. Is this then where our choices lie? I think not. How many of you, may I ask, know anyone who chose the time and mode of his or her demise? But, one may ask, doesn’t the suicide choose how and when to die? Certainly. However, wouldn’t you admit that such a choice is made under compulsion and not at all freely? How many of you feel free and capable of taking your own life? I am certain it requires
circumstances of a most compelling nature to force an individual to make such a decision, a decision that is made when no other course of action seems possible, and, therefore, is not a choice at all.
What of life? Can man choose to live? The fundamental choices of man cannot include life, for if we are able to choose to live, we are already living by virtue of the fact that we can make such a choice, and so it amounts to no choice after all.
Furthermore, if you are of the conviction, as I am, that man is in essence an immortal, unborn, and undying entity, then the matter is quite academic. Simply put, Life is eternal, death impossible, and neither constitutes a fundamental choice of existence. Therefore, we are really only free to choose how to use our existence. Or are we?
Consider, if you will, the nature of your being. You came into this incarnation equipped with certain qualities, talents, and potentials, all of which you have accrued under the guidance of the “Law of Karma,” as harvests of the seeds you had sown and nurtured in past incarnations. You are faced daily with circumstances requiring decisive action.
More often than not, your choice of a course of action is made as a reflex action, conditioned by the past and made without any real thought involved. Moreover, you are constantly being subjected to subtle influences of a subliminal nature from sources and things, the existence of which you may not even suspect.
Even when the mind is exercised to its fullest, in order to reach a determination, like a computer, it can only feed back decisions based upon past input. In other words—experience. Our experience, or lack thereof, determines our capacity to exercise our will. Our will is therefore dependent upon many variables:
- Exposure to the ever shifting kaleidoscopic panorama which constitutes our environment, our ability to respond to and relate to these ever changing patterns, our capacity to interpret and properly translate these objective stimuli, and finally, the instincts, tendencies, and predispositions that “the flesh is heir to,” the fruits of biological evolution.
- Experience, knowledge, understanding, and innate capacity are the things that dictate what our choices shall be, along with the desire to repeat and optimize pleasure, or escape and minimize pain. But desire is not a choice, it is a compulsion, and a very powerful part of our nature.
Let us examine the operational makeup of our desires, or what is occultly referred to as the astral nature or astral body of man. Each of us is composed of a myriad of energy units, vibrating at various frequencies that are electromagnetic in nature, which, in contact with the energy of the environment, demonstrate as an affinity for, or antipathy against, certain activities. We might express it thusly: when the vibratory nature of a human being is brought into juxtaposition with the vibratory nature of another person, place, thing, or event in time and space, a resonance or dissonance manifests.
The subjective excitation that occurs in the instance of resonance is harmonious in quality, magnetically attractive in its nature and experienced as a pleasurable sensation that is to be sought after at every possible opportunity and experienced with the highest conceivable magnitude. Conversely, the vibratory interaction that produces dissonance is shattering in its effect, magnetically repulsive in its nature and is experienced as a discordant, disruptive, and, when taken to the extreme, painful sensation that is to be avoided at all costs and diminished in intensity whenever and wherever contacted. These responses are triggered most often without any conscious volition on the part of the responding entity. In fact, the “responding entity” need not even be human: the clash and interaction of forces and energies produce a reaction on every level of the evolutionary spectrum of being. Experiments currently being conducted with plant life have begun to demonstrate this principle in that kingdom.
Apparently, the desire for pleasure and the desire to escape pain are also, in the final analysis, conditioned factors. Therefore, desire is not a freely exercised choice. The problem is that people prefer to think they have free choices. My suggestion then is, since you think you have free choices, use them to get to God. Your choices are really nothing more than the lawful unfolding of your karma and evolutionary development. That which seems an apparent choice, on another level, is seen as part of a determined system—the Cosmic Process—which cannot be violated or avoided. But try if you must, if that’s inherent within your process.
All things must conform to their specific order. The choices of man reflect the very necessity of his own being and do not represent him to be of free will. In the words of Schopenhauer, “Man can do as he will, but not will as he will.”
Next Month: Part II Free Will seen through the eyes of the Esotericist
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