I wish I still believed in free will. It would make getting stuff done a lot easier. Feeling like you are fighting the universe to accomplish something you don’t want to do is much harder than feeling like you just don’t want to do something today. It’s the exact same situation either way, but the illusion of free will is, imho, valuable psychologically.
I just dont understand this admittantly common argument.
Free will seems like such a psychologically damaging lie. As if blaming yourself for the outcome of every sad movie you’ve watched is somehow motivational.
Since coming to accept that free will is farcically impossible, I feel free to just go about my actions with a sense of curious enthusiasm as to what will happen next, safe in the knowledge that que sera sera - whatever will be, will be.
Exactly the problem. It’s very easy to fall into doing nothing, and the question of whether that would be a problem if I actually still believed in free will, or at least didn’t actively disbelieve it, is a big one… that knowledge or belief is now part of my operating system, a core feature of who I am that impacts the choices I don’t think I actually get to make. One of the known variables that influences behavior.
I don’t think that “not fighting” is the same as doing nothing. Like I said, if somebody could truly understand this, there would be no reason to fight, not no reason to act. They would simply think and then act.
I’ve heard a kind of enlightenment described this way. Some people have claimed to attain it. It may not be possible in a pure state, but perhaps you can get close to it by degrees.
I wish I still believed in free will. It would make getting stuff done a lot easier. Feeling like you are fighting the universe to accomplish something you don’t want to do is much harder than feeling like you just don’t want to do something today. It’s the exact same situation either way, but the illusion of free will is, imho, valuable psychologically.
I just dont understand this admittantly common argument.
Free will seems like such a psychologically damaging lie. As if blaming yourself for the outcome of every sad movie you’ve watched is somehow motivational.
Since coming to accept that free will is farcically impossible, I feel free to just go about my actions with a sense of curious enthusiasm as to what will happen next, safe in the knowledge that que sera sera - whatever will be, will be.
I think if somebody truly understood this, they would just quit fighting. What would be the point?
Life, joy, friends, love, art, pleasure, dopamine, oxytocin, etc.
Anything we’re doing now can still be done without the concept of free will, because we’re already doing it without free will.
I don’t get any of those things out of fighting the universe.
We all get those things regardless. The stories we tell ourselves about how the world works don’t affect how the world works.
Exactly the problem. It’s very easy to fall into doing nothing, and the question of whether that would be a problem if I actually still believed in free will, or at least didn’t actively disbelieve it, is a big one… that knowledge or belief is now part of my operating system, a core feature of who I am that impacts the choices I don’t think I actually get to make. One of the known variables that influences behavior.
I don’t think that “not fighting” is the same as doing nothing. Like I said, if somebody could truly understand this, there would be no reason to fight, not no reason to act. They would simply think and then act.
I’ve heard a kind of enlightenment described this way. Some people have claimed to attain it. It may not be possible in a pure state, but perhaps you can get close to it by degrees.