Free will. It’s a big topic, and also very simple.
I can see if I can find free will anywhere. Is it in the words? In my images of free will? In my sensations that seem connected to free will? Can I find it anywhere – in words, images, sensations – in immediacy? Is it unfindable, even if I turn every stone?
I can explore free will within stories. I see that everything happening has infinite causes, stretching back to the beginning of time and out to the widest reaches of the universe. Where would free will come in? Does there seem to be room for it anywhere? Also, is there really a separate being that can “have” free will here? (This can be an interesting exploration, and may satisfy the mind a bit, but it’s not so helpful in itself. At the very least, this is not a stopping point.)
I also see that it makes sense to live as if there is free will. It’s an helpful assumption for my life, especially when held lightly.
And I see that free will can be seen as a metaphor for learning how to function well as a human being. To stand on my own two feet. To grown in being autonomous. To live from authenticity. (Which is undefended, almost as a confession.) To live from my guidance and knowing.
Free will can be seen as a pointer to autonomy.
The rest of life stands back. It allows me to explore. Make mistakes. Suffer. Learn. Align. Grow. Find autonomy. Grow in and within autonomy.
In this process, unexamined fears will come up. Unexamined fears, and unexamined identifications – in place to protect the imagined self. So a part of this process is to notice these fears and identifications. Allow them. (Notice they are already allowed by life.) Welcome them. See they are here to protect the imagined self. See they are from confused love. Find genuine love for it, as it is. Examine the conglomerates of words, images and sensations making up the unexamined fears and identifications. Feel the sensations as sensations, and stay with it.
Is the fear as solid as it seems? Can I find the threat? Can I find the threatened one?
How is it to take the leap into acting from my guidance, from my knowing? Even if there is fear here? Even if some of the fear is still unexamined?
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– free will
— explore, see if can find it, is unfindable (in immediacy), also, since from w/in stories everything incl. choices has infinite causes, no room for free will) + live as if is here
— metaphor for learning to function well as a human being, stand on ones own two feet, autonomous, authentic,
— life (the rest of life) will stand back, allow us to explore, make mistakes, suffer, learn, align, grow, find autonomy, grow within autonomy
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– a pointer to autonomy