FREEWILL VS DETERMINISM ?
It is the very nature of human
beings, both individually, and through the disciplines of religion and science to
try to seek complete knowledge and certainty. From a religious point of view, if
God is all-knowing, then He knows the complete history of every atom and every
soul from the beginning until the end of time. The Bible says that we can know much
with certainty: “When
the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will
not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he
will declare to you the things that are to come.” - John 16:13. But, how accurate are predictions? We also
find: “Ask, and it shall be given
you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:” - Matthew
7:7. But, how much can we, as human beings, know?
As for science, there was a time when
scientists believed that the goals of completeness and certainty were
attainable. See, e.g., the writings of Descartes and Laplace. They believed
that, given the initial conditions of the universe, the laws of physics would
allow us to explain everything in the universe and predict the entire future in
great detail. This deterministic point of view still exists among leading physicists
like Stephen Hawking who embrace atheism and declare that a theory of
everything is within our grasp. But, if everything can be known, it is
pre-determined. Do we have no freewill?
The last post made the point that proof
of Gӧdel’s incompleteness theorems changed the way we can see the world forever.
We know now that science can explain any aspect of reality we are capable of
conceiving of, but will never explain everything.
We also have the fact that, at the quantum level, there is a very small, but
finite amount of uncertainty. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle has been
validated as a basic fact of physical reality. But, even a tiny bit of uncertainty
can allow outcomes that lead to vastly different futures. See, for example,
discussions of the ‘Butterfly Effect’. Together, the incompleteness theorems and
the uncertainty principle have put a limit on determinism. The atheist’s dream
of a ‘theory of everything’ is unattainable, and the true believer can only
know the truth in some perfect realm existing beyond the space and time of the physical
universe.
The teachings of the past masters of
both scientific and spiritual enlightenment suggest that, as human beings, we
can change the world by changing our attitudes, by changing the way we think. It now appears that, at least to
some degree, reality is what we choose to
make of it. Millions attest to the fact that positive attitude and prayer
work, and quantum physics suggests that the very nature of physical reality,
and what we can say about it, depend upon conscious choices we make. Perhaps
you’ve seen this in your own life. My wife and I have seen what many would call
amazing miracles in our lives. We have defied the odds and the wisdom of mainstream
medicine a number of times. The important question now becomes: how much do we actually
change reality by what we believe and choose to do? If our belief is strong
enough, can we bring about results that others might think impossible?
The last post, focused on
incompleteness, was linked with two different headings for a purpose: the links
were designed to get the attention of different types of thinkers. The response
was good, indicating interest in this subject, with numerous shares and over
200 visits to the blog. That may be enough to allow me to conduct a small
survey. Following up on these posts, I want to try to get some more feedback. Here
are a few questions for those who would like to participate:
After reading the last two posts,
please go back to the Facebook link, or message me and reply with ‘T, F or ?’
for ‘True’, ‘False’, or ‘I don’t know’, for each of the first six questions below,
and provide a percentage for the seventh. I will
publish the results within a few days.
1. Incompleteness and quantum uncertainty
reduce scientific laws to statistics, and calculations of future events to probabilistic
estimates
2. Some things are predictable with
almost complete certainty
3. What I believe affects physical reality
4. Reality consists of much more
than the physical universe
5. Reality is created by the
accumulative effect of what everyone believes
6. Time is an illusion
7. What percentage of the events of life
are predetermined by circumstances beyond our control?
Ed, think of the bigger picture.... the greater reality.
ReplyDeleteFree will is a function of the level of consciousness from which an individual is operating and the attributes relative to that level. This must be so in order to protect ourselves and others from individuals with lower frequencies of consciousness.
If my consciousness is not cleansed and increased in frequency(this is what religion is all about), the lower frequency thoughts will act as anchors or ballast prohibiting me from exercising my free will. It's why Peter's doubt caused him to sink in the water.
That being said, there is a Divine Plan unfolding of which we are all a part. The higher we tune our consciousness the more we become a part of that Plan and exercise Divine Will rather than our individual will.
I agree. The purpose and method of all true spiritual practice is to cleanse the individual's consciousness of the dross of ignorance and wrong thinking and wrong action so that the truth of our real nature of oneness with the Infinite can shine through. The extent to which we agree is striking. I have only experienced a similar degree of agreement two or three times in this lifetime.
Delete"Reality consists of much more than the physical universe."
ReplyDeleteAn individual's perception of reality is totally a function of the level of consciousness from which they view it. What is non-physical at a lower level of consciousness perception becomes physical at the higher level. For me, people's thoughts and stored memories of past experiences in their soul field are physical objects.
I quite agree. The bell-curve of the mass of humanity's individualized consciousness is slowly shifting toward greater awareness. We are moving into what the ancient Indian Rishis called the Dwapara Yuga, but a large portion are still in Kali (dark, mechanistic) Yuga consciousness. Reference: "The Holy Science" by Sri Yukteswar Giri. Christ consciousness was represented by Jesus and Krishna at the nadir of the dark Kali Yuga period when the masses were able to discern spirit only very faintly.
Delete