I find it hard to believe that freewill exist. I don't choose who I am attracted to, I'm just am. I don't choose my upbringing, I don't choose whether or not I stumble upon a book that will change my life, etc...too many circumstances beyond my control decide my character. Is freewill and free action just illusions?
2006-09-10 15:13:02 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
A robot does what his creator tells him to do.
2006-09-10 15:16:30 · update #1
You don't have a choice to have the attraction in the first place. By freewill I'm not talking about making a choice, I'm talking about choosing the ability to make a choice.
2006-09-10 15:21:51 · update #2
I like that quote, "Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him." But do we choose how much revealing we experience? Hmmm...
2006-09-10 15:25:30 · update #3
No. Look at how this world has flourished! There are choices all around us!
2006-09-10 15:15:21 · answer #1 · answered by Exodus 20:1-17 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Life experiences don't shape who we are, but they can help alter how we think (and there's a difference).
People not only have free will, but they have free will to define for themselves what their character will be. A person can know about any number of character traits and just decide to be them. Further, a person can decide not to allow his circumstances to define him; and he will decide to define himself regardless of his circumstances.
There are all kinds of circumstances that can affect your life, make it more miserable or make it nicer, and sometimes be a real test of your character by forcing you to figure out how you should respond to those circumstances. They do not, however, determine what your character is (your finances, maybe; your happiness, maybe; but not your character).
Yes. There is free will and free action. Believing otherwise may take you off the hook with regard to responsibility for your character and behavior, but believing otherwise will leave your feeling/being powerless and often hopeless.
One of the few things in this world over which you do have some control and power is your character. Define who you are and strengthen who you are, and you're circumstances will be nothing more than challenges along the way.
When all is said and done, life experiences can be challenging and can try your character and strength; but they don't have to determine anything about your character unless you allow them to.
2006-09-10 22:46:55 · answer #2 · answered by WhiteLilac1 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to all ancient spiritual writings, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and A Course in Miracles, our lives were predetermined before we were born. Also, the choices we make come from our subconscious mind rather than from our conscious mind and our thoughts create many of the things that happen in our lives. Look at some books by Earnest Holmes, also "The Disappearance of the Universe" by Gary Renard is on the latest and best books on the subject.
2006-09-10 22:27:42 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think this a vague question that requires further analysis. If you look at it on a religious point of view there are different perspectives:
Buddhists believe we alone in control of our destiny and what happens to us.
Christians rely on God for support and strength and we have the free will to follow him or not. If we take the other path, we may suffer because God wants us to follow his ways.
So just to illustrate, opinions will be based on personal experiences. I believe that everything that happens to us is a function of what God would like us to be. I believe that we do have control but we are limited. It should be more about looking about responding to what happens to us than being hard on ourselves that this or that did/did not happen.
Our world is what we want it too be. If we want a materialistic life, we pursue materialistic jobs to support that life. A spiritual life pursue spiritual goals. These type of decisions are in our hands but a, b, c & d will happen to us and what we do next is what shapes our life both good and bad experiences. The strong person looks at the learning lesson from both types of experiences. A weak person looks at the hard stuff as a struggle and kind of suffers.
2006-09-10 22:25:21 · answer #4 · answered by ccas2200 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Despite whatever you have gone through, you are still responsible for your choices in life aka free will. Is it fair? Maybe not to you but that's life and nobody has it easy. We all have to overcome obstacles and consequences of our free wills.
By suggesting we don't have a free will you are basically saying people who rob others don't have a choice because they were in need of money?
What about men who rape little girls, do they not have a free will merely because they wanted to have sex with a kid?
Is it OK to abuse your kids if you were abused? Hell no. It is up to us and our free wills to decide which path of life we follow, not our parents, not society, not your siblings, no one but you.
If I sat around my house feeling sorry for myself because I have been abused by my parents, grew up in the ghetto, or because I lost my husband, or so many other hardships I have experienced I would have never been able to overcome all that I have and become the greater person that I am now.
Thanks to my free will, I have been shaped into a better person. My free will let me choose the wrong paths until I found the right one.
I'm 100% sure we have a free will!
2006-09-10 22:35:37 · answer #5 · answered by erinjanae 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond to it. For instance you have many people from the ghetto who go through many of the same circumstances. However some fall victim to their surroundings while others rise above. So I think it has more to do with the tools that a person has been endowed with by nature.
2006-09-10 22:22:57 · answer #6 · answered by theblessedknower 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have the choice of how to act on that attraction, how to use your upbringing to your advantage or disadvantage, and whether or not to open the book. Free will has nothing to do with your character. "Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him."- James Allen.
2006-09-10 22:18:23 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
To a certain extent yes. When a person becomes a Christian they change, Second Corinthians 5:17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.
2006-09-10 22:20:02 · answer #8 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You interpret your situation and are responsible for your own actions. While you may not choose to whom you are attracted, you do get to decide to pursue a relationship. While you cannot pick your upbringing, those experiences and your interpretation of those situations shape you. Situations and events may shape who you are, but you become who you want to be.
2006-09-10 22:32:07 · answer #9 · answered by Mrs. Pears 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there are no coincidence in this world. freewill does not exist as much as you hope it does. everything exists is only an illusion, there are no real permanent substances.
2006-09-10 22:20:28 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋