The point of all of this is to recognize the wisdom in the words spoken by a man named Socrates — “Only one thing I know, and that is that I know nothing”.

We usually go through life thinking that we know all sorts of things, and in that ‘knowing’, we create a lot of conflict, both in our own lives and in the world. Think of trees. Do we truly know that trees are not the most enlightened forms of life that exist? If we look carefully, we’ll find that in truth, we don’t know anything at all about the inner lives of trees — but to our eyes, they seem like nothing more than hunks of living wood.

Think of religion. One person knows, for instance, that to go to heaven you must accept such-and-such a doctrine. So this person then goes out and tortures anyone who doesn’t hold to that doctrine — the rationale being that he is ‘doing them a favor’ by trying to get them to accept his doctrine, and thus go to heaven. This is how, via the Inquisition, untold numbers of people were tortured and killed, based on the killers’ idea of compassion and helping (there were other reasons for this historical event, but I’m hoping you can see my point).

The more science explores the universe, the more it is discovered that we don’t really understand what existence is, what the universe is made of, and what space is. In short, we don’t know much of anything at all.

When we recognize our own ignorance, something magical happens. We’re free to see the world ‘just as it is’. Usually, however, our view of the world is tainted by biases and ideas and assumptions, and that’s when we begin to feel stress, anger, frustration, and other feelings that cause us suffering.

In the case of free will, the magic occurs when we admit that there is evidence for both sides of the issue, and the truth is that we just don’t know. In contrast, when we decide that there IS free will, then we become trapped into the world of ‘me existing in this universe of all sorts of other things’. And that, if we look closely, is the beginning of a whole mess of problems and confusions.

I hope that this explanation adds some clarity for you! =)

Sweetwater,
Kenton

It can get a little freaky, can’t it? There are actually a lot of basic assumptions which seem obvious to us (such as linear time, which you hinted at with your ‘yesterday’ in quotes), an external/internal reality, etc. They seem obvious, but when we begin to examine them, we begin to get suspicious that ‘something’s up’. And indeed it is.

I’d encourage you not to pursue this free-will question too deeply, but to first play around with a few more of your everyday concepts. Try to pin down any time other than ‘now’, or try to figure out just who it is that lifts your arm when you decide to lift your arm. These examinations begin an unraveling process which eventually gives us no choice but to look at reality directly.

Above all, it should be fun. If you’re encountering anything scary, you can be sure that you’re encountering ideas you’ve formed regarding what the world must ‘really’ look like outside our preconceptions. These ideas can be frightening indeed. But ‘real reality’ is nothing but amazingly wondrous.

Keep playing! =)

Love,
Kenton