“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.”
Francis Bacon
Had I known that at the beginning of my shaky and naive journey through the past few years it might have saved me a lot of time and effort (not to mention pain and tears). However, its the irony of life that you only acquire the knowledge after you’ve lived through the experience. So many might say I wouldn’t have been who I am had I not experienced what I did. Agreed. I guess in the end it was the choices I had, the paths I traveled, the decisions I made that accumulated into whoever I am today.
But then it makes me wonder: if every step we take is the effect of a cause, is there really such a thing as “free will?”
Ahhh… the conundrums of philosophy or simply put; life!
Well, freedom does not float away in a vacuum, freedom springs out of the soil of necessity and chains. Life has a funny way of showing us who we are; now, whether we become or remain oblivious, that is a choice totally ours. Pain is in the very character of change, and change is the state of the universe.
I see your point and I agree with your views about change as I’ve learned that the only thing constant is change itself. However, how does fate play a part in the grand scheme of things or while you’re exercising this so called “free will?” If you’re bound by fate and whatever has happened so far was your destiny then have you really been someone in charge of your own life?
War is the father of all and the king of all; and some he has made gods and some men, some bond and some free. Heraclitus
Determinism is the echo that fills the universe giving existence its iron-like character and crowning fate as overarching over the scheme of things.
1 – From its furthest bird’s eye view, life in its totality would appear no more than a grain of sand, totally fragile and insignificant while being driven to its end. 2 – One is trapped one within an “individual” awareness of his person, separating him from the oblivious dance of unity unfolding in the bosom of nature. He is now in a state of “Being” which prime constituent is an awareness of “time,” and hence of death and its timelessness. 3 – And inasmuch as man is a “political animal,” his meaning and consciousness are underlined by a social belonging and a springing into “culture.” (It is thus that Gilgamesh realized: “in my deed I am remembered”).
It is from this soil that we have grown while being confined and limited under the above scope. For what is freedom if not a “choice” and it would seem that a choice here is lacking. For whatever “choice” one exercises, whatever he wills himself to be, he cannot break step with the iron-hand that guides his every step of the way. But this is in the very nature of things, and precisely on this account, the choice, the act, is given weight and value, meaning and ground. The wider one opens his eyes the stronger he must be to endure that which now falls into his field of vision, and the greater his responsibility becomes over his act, over who he has become: therein, in the act of opening, is his choice, is freedom exercised.
Nietzsche asks: “To what extent can truth endure incorporation? That is the question; that is the experiment.”
Of course, it might be argued that whatever one “is,” whether gold, silver, or bronze, is the will of nature speaking through his flesh, that genius is nature inversely investing its utmost in its few. However, this does not negate but is rather the precursor in “becoming,” in the choice that one undertakes in the achieving of his “fate.”
In our modernity, many of the options which paths our feet have taken — options which were “presented” for our taking — and which in their sum have led to our present persons, to who we are, are not options at all in that they negate who we are as human beings. By the very fact of admitting them into consideration, we have forfeited our uniqueness, our originality, and the exercising of our choice and critical thinking.
By claiming that the “eagle” had the option to be a “lamb,” Nietzsche says, the lamb was able thereby to make the eagle responsible for being an eagle. But the option itself is illusory, and by admitting it into consideration the eagle negates his very nature.
Perhaps what is ultimately wanted is freedom from that truth which burden lays so heavily on our hearts; but that cannot be attained.
http://wineofwisdom.wordpress.com/what-i-write/my-quotes/sedimentations/
Also, notice the pitfalls and inadequacy of language: “the only thing constant is change itself.”
Haha! Well, I won’t argue on the logistics of grammar and language in today’s world because to me it fails to capture and express the totality of some ideas. I think it still has a long way to go before it can decipher the true meaning and context of the complex array of thoughts we are waiting to vocalize due to its inadequacy.
Now, back to the issue at hand…
After reading your 3 postulates in the beginning of the reply I can see that you are arguing by refutation and deduction and there’s nothing wrong with that but mind you you’re still accepting that a “higher power” (i.e. iron hand) is guiding our every step and therefore, bringing us closer to accepting the responsibility we have towards a “free will.” I guess in a scientific sense, free will is more of a personal theory that outlines our choices while still affirming my original point that there is such a thing as fate/destiny ensuring that we walk a certain path, predetermined and already set out for us. I guess how we “choose” to do so (crawl, walk, run, fly
) is a different matter which I think you’ve explained in an exceptionally thorough manner. Thank you for that.
I guess the way I’ve seen it so far is that no matter what, at the end of the day the universe and all things and organisms within in must act in a lawful and orderly manner (determinism) and for that to occur we must be bound by fate/destiny. This means that our “free will” is definitely constrained in certain situations i.e. when things don’t go as planned and we justify it in 3 ways.
1) Universe’s conspiracy against us
2) God’s will
3) Random event (karma, cause/effect etc).
And while reflecting on this so called mishap we reach the conclusion that a very “raw form” of free will had been exercised which in turn pacifies us that all is not lost and if we fall we must get back up again, (way of the world! cycle that must run its course only to start again, etc etc) all under the illusion that we “control” things. (Being cynical gets the best of me sometimes, don’t mind).