Sat, 29 Apr 2023 12:14:55 -0700WeeblyWed, 25 Feb 2015 12:43:53 GMThttp://www.ethics-based-on-science.com/exercise-to-explore-free-will/exercise-to-explore-free-willHere is the exercise we did in class.  

A.  What is your story?
        Where are you from?
        Where are you going?
        What decisions constitute turning points or affirmations of this direction?

B.  Could your story have been different?  Explain.

C.  Can your story be even better than you now tell it?
        What would need to be different?   
       
What I am proposing about free will is that we demonstrate it not so much by any one conscious action or decision, but by a habit of intention towards participation in things larger than ourselves.  

Of course, one can argue that in rejecting to participate we are demonstrating our free will.  I would agree, but suggest that in that case, we miss the point.  The point about "free will" is that it grows stronger when exercised against resistance.   When we choose to satisfy only our own personal inclinations and priorities, we are choosing to rest, to coast with gravity, so to speak.  It is the rest period between "exercise". 

We need rest.  We need to survive in order to be able to exercise our free will.  That is why it is an interesting issue.  Human thriving occurs as we strike the balance between the engagement outside of ourselves from a self that is in internal alignment. 

I am proposing that we get to internal alignment through becoming aware of what we desire.   Our conscious mind chooses, but its choices are led by our unconscious motivations.  The motivations are our hopes and desires.  We can get clues to how our unconscious is prioritizing our desires by observing what we do.  We ourselves don't know how many layers of potentially contradictory motivations we embody, but if we are observant, we can notice when we are sabotaging our own efforts. 

No worry about sabotaging our own efforts.  It is like an isometric exercise.  The only problem is if one stops struggling and just gives in to coasting.  If one gets exhausted from struggling, then it's time to use our imagination, consult with others, and think of a different strategy.  We humans are really good at that.

In other words, we can use our free will to imagine our way out, and strategize plausible steps.  All of this is fueled by desire.  Desire is formed as we think towards what we love. 

In saying all of this, I am proposing that the swirling universe that unfolds around us, of which we are a teensy, tiny part, is something so big and so large that we will never fail to have further avenues for growth and exploration.  I am not forgetting that there are all sorts of us humans.  Some were born with less than standard equipment, through no fault of their own.  Others have suffered permanent functional damage, through no fault of their own.  Still others have made choices that position them at odds with our hopes, intentions and desires.  How we respond to all of these things is part of the unfolding of the universe. 

If you want proof, find it in how you yourself unfold.  Think about flow, and go for it!
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