Earlier posts have addressed the question of whether we have free will, which we resoundingly answer in the negative. We have also looked at the societal consequences of life without free will. In this post we’ll look at the personal implications.
What does life look like without free will? The short answer: instead of guilt, blame, and pride we have compassion and gratitude.
When people talk about free will they mean that every sane human being has the ability to make logical and rational choices between good and evil, and that each of us consciously and freely chooses our every thought and deed.
The first consequence of the belief in free will is guilt: we blame anyone who has done something wrong, including ourselves (shame is self-directed blame). To feel justified in assigning guilt or blame, we must believe that a person is intentionally or premeditatedlybehaving in a wrongful manner.
They are doing wrong on purpose; they could have behaved differently if they had wanted to. They should have known better. Similarly, the only way we can feel shame is if we feel we could have behaved differently than we did. Free will is the cornerstone of this reasoning. When we believe in free will we think that we are the conscious directors of our behavior.
As the cartoon above illustrates, the conscious control component of guilt is easily demonstrated by imagining how we treat animals as opposed to humans for committing the very same acts.
Imagine that someone rounds a corner and walks right into you. Naturally you feel fully justified in blaming them for their inconsiderate carelessness: You shout, “Watch where the hell you’re going!” You then notice that this thoughtless twerp is wearing dark glasses and carrying the white-tipped cane of the blind. Ouch!
All justification for blame instantly vanishes and you find yourself asking the blind person’s pardon. The dramatic shift in your attitude occurs because you can no longer convincingly perceive deliberate wrongdoing. This individual literally could not see you, thus did not choose to walk into you, and, therefore, was not to blame for carelessness, thoughtlessness, twerpiness, etc.
In the same way, without free will we are not guilty of willful wrongdoing for anything we have done in our lives. Neither is anyone else.
There are a number of consequences that flow from this. The first is compassion, both for others and ourselves. When we realize we could not help ourselves, that others knew not what they were doing, we can step back from our judgmental, angry attitude. We realize that there is something wrong with this person and we feel the desire to help them, not retaliate for their misdeed.
Self-hatred is a universal human problem; the belief in free will is a major contributing factor.
We have an internal model of the perfect person, who is consistently kind, who doesn’t get angry, who doesn’t act selfishly, etc. When we inevitably fail to live up to our personal standard, if we believe in free will we think there must be something wrong with us because we freely chose to misbehave. This becomes grounds for hating ourselves. By the time we become adults we have amassed quite a case on ourselves. This is an enormous source of suffering.
We hate other people because we believe they freely choose to do wrong. Whether it’s because they murdered our child or because they are of the opposite political party, we justify our hatred with the belief that people are freely and willfully choosing to think and act in odious ways.
The truth is our minds are a complicated mix of subconscious processes beyond our conscious control. When we do something we are ashamed of, or another person does something horrific, it happens because we (or they) are driven to do it by subconscious impulses. We may need help, but we absolutely do not deserve guilt or blame.
The flip side of guilt and blame is credit. The belief in free will also means that we are responsible for all the good things we have done: we freely chose to be successful in our career, or to have a happy marriage, or to develop an artistic talent. Giving up free will means giving up credit.
It’s hard for most people to see any down side to credit. But pride was considered the deadliest sin by the medieval Catholic Church, and although we won’t use their argument that all credit should be given to God, our reasoning is analogous. We are not separate from our environment. Everything we have is a gift to us. Our intelligence, our talents, our genetic endowment, our willingness to work hard, our emotional intelligence, the economic circumstance of our family of birth, our local school system, our time in history, our family’s religion, our gender, our sexuality, (the list could go on…) all are factors completely out of our control.
Pride makes us competitive. We need to feel superior to make up for our self-loathing. We want to stand out and be significant. When we’re kids this competition is obvious, “My dad can beat up your dad,” and “I’m King of the hill!” When we become adults we learn to be more covert in our displays of superior attributes, but we are still playing the same game.
We cling to all the credit we can find in our lives because we hope it makes up for all the things we are ashamed of. Being allowed to take credit for our gifts and accomplishments helps soothe the pain of our self-hatred. We try to convince ourselves, and everyone else, that our self-hatred doesn’t exist by a dazzling and hopefully distracting display of our good sides.
But, if you don’t take the credit, you don’t have to take the blame. For anything.
Instead of pride we can feel grateful for the gifts that have been given to us. By letting go of the proprietary attitude, we can better appreciate them.
Giving up the belief in free will doesn’t mean we become a bowl of Jell-o, incapable of action or change. What is does mean is a shift in attitude, from guilt and pride to compassion and gratitude. It also means we are empowered because we are facing objective reality the way it is.
What does life look like without free will? The short answer: instead of guilt, blame, and pride we have compassion and gratitude.
When people talk about free will they mean that every sane human being has the ability to make logical and rational choices between good and evil, and that each of us consciously and freely chooses our every thought and deed.
The first consequence of the belief in free will is guilt: we blame anyone who has done something wrong, including ourselves (shame is self-directed blame). To feel justified in assigning guilt or blame, we must believe that a person is intentionally or premeditatedlybehaving in a wrongful manner.
 |
| Free Will = Guilt Cartoon by Arthur Hancock |
As the cartoon above illustrates, the conscious control component of guilt is easily demonstrated by imagining how we treat animals as opposed to humans for committing the very same acts.
Imagine that someone rounds a corner and walks right into you. Naturally you feel fully justified in blaming them for their inconsiderate carelessness: You shout, “Watch where the hell you’re going!” You then notice that this thoughtless twerp is wearing dark glasses and carrying the white-tipped cane of the blind. Ouch!
 |
| cartoon by Arthur Hancock |
In the same way, without free will we are not guilty of willful wrongdoing for anything we have done in our lives. Neither is anyone else.
There are a number of consequences that flow from this. The first is compassion, both for others and ourselves. When we realize we could not help ourselves, that others knew not what they were doing, we can step back from our judgmental, angry attitude. We realize that there is something wrong with this person and we feel the desire to help them, not retaliate for their misdeed.
Self-hatred is a universal human problem; the belief in free will is a major contributing factor.
 |
| cartoon by Arthur Hancock |
We hate other people because we believe they freely choose to do wrong. Whether it’s because they murdered our child or because they are of the opposite political party, we justify our hatred with the belief that people are freely and willfully choosing to think and act in odious ways.
The truth is our minds are a complicated mix of subconscious processes beyond our conscious control. When we do something we are ashamed of, or another person does something horrific, it happens because we (or they) are driven to do it by subconscious impulses. We may need help, but we absolutely do not deserve guilt or blame.
The flip side of guilt and blame is credit. The belief in free will also means that we are responsible for all the good things we have done: we freely chose to be successful in our career, or to have a happy marriage, or to develop an artistic talent. Giving up free will means giving up credit.
It’s hard for most people to see any down side to credit. But pride was considered the deadliest sin by the medieval Catholic Church, and although we won’t use their argument that all credit should be given to God, our reasoning is analogous. We are not separate from our environment. Everything we have is a gift to us. Our intelligence, our talents, our genetic endowment, our willingness to work hard, our emotional intelligence, the economic circumstance of our family of birth, our local school system, our time in history, our family’s religion, our gender, our sexuality, (the list could go on…) all are factors completely out of our control.
Pride makes us competitive. We need to feel superior to make up for our self-loathing. We want to stand out and be significant. When we’re kids this competition is obvious, “My dad can beat up your dad,” and “I’m King of the hill!” When we become adults we learn to be more covert in our displays of superior attributes, but we are still playing the same game.
We cling to all the credit we can find in our lives because we hope it makes up for all the things we are ashamed of. Being allowed to take credit for our gifts and accomplishments helps soothe the pain of our self-hatred. We try to convince ourselves, and everyone else, that our self-hatred doesn’t exist by a dazzling and hopefully distracting display of our good sides.
But, if you don’t take the credit, you don’t have to take the blame. For anything.
Instead of pride we can feel grateful for the gifts that have been given to us. By letting go of the proprietary attitude, we can better appreciate them.
Giving up the belief in free will doesn’t mean we become a bowl of Jell-o, incapable of action or change. What is does mean is a shift in attitude, from guilt and pride to compassion and gratitude. It also means we are empowered because we are facing objective reality the way it is.
No comments:
Post a Comment