Do human beings really have free will?

Question

Do we really choose what to do or do we do whatever it is that seems to be the best decision at any given moment?

Don't we always follow our immediate desires or no?

Answer 1

Not really. We are pretty much pushed by our expressed genes. However, we are free to think (or believe) that we have free will, and thus to fool ourselves. ;-)

Answer 2

You ask: Do human beings really have free will?

No we do not have free will. Do you think that you belong fully to yourself? We do not even own the vessels that we wear during our stay here. Internally, we are co-inhabited by other entities that have their own inscribed program, thus the internal war. Further, our minds and spirits are subject to manipulation. "We are all walking electromagnetic fields, much like radios, and have frequencies that are able to be tapped into"-- self.
How much of what you feel and hear internally is really your own inner voice speaking? Your immediate desires may not always be your own. There is most definitely a war for the Soul and Spirit of man, and desire, which is a natural function of man, is one way by which man is manipulated.

We DO have the freedom to consider and pontificate all the pseudo-truths that we are fed and conditioned to act on, but there IS a price to pay for each and every decision we make. The laws, both seen and unseen, both explicit and implicit, change like the wind. If something within you does not allow your SELF to evolve according to the dynamic and everchanging societal and spiritual laws, then you feel "left behind". This experience as human has been a series of choose-your-own-adventure episodes with the main goal to choose the lesser of two evils, both of which will somehow lead to the demise of one's light inside, but the lesser one being that which causes the slower, less conspicuous death, thereby prolonging the agony of living one untruth after the other. Then you know at that point, there are all sorts of bandaids available to cover the wounds that the physio-spiritual body suffers; we've got the medications for the diseases of the mind; we've got the drugs; the alcohol; the addictions to sex; the mindless entertainment. But there is never anything to heal the real wound-- the void created by the schism of SOUL from SPIRIT. Someone knew that one would be "lost" without the other and that Man would be "blind" without both, so the stage was set for a perpetual cycle of man's blindness and spiritual enslavement, while living under the spell of guilt and shame for being the supposed cause of his own downfall. Eternal enslavement here on Earth is a hell of a price to pay for haven eaten from the tree of knowledge. I ask myself if this experience was necessary for Adam and Eve to evolve from programmed machine to man with free will? If so, then why, if man's free will only leads to his destruction and then the reconstruction of the Garden once again with yet another pair of cloned machines called Adam and Eve. People wake up! Do you not feel that someone has tried to rewrite your program more than once before but your hard drive has memory and won't let you forget the Truth?

The "freedom" was lost the moment Spirit man was given a physical vessel to wear. The price we pay for satisfying physical desires is the slow death of the spirit. There is no such thing as true free will. The moment that we accept the untruth that we have free will is the very moment we unknowingly decide to become a pawn in this game.

Answer 3

Yes humans do have freedom of choice. It is only when the mind gets to a place of being overwhelmed does it go into automatic pilot. It then becomes adapt to following the easiest flow, good or bad. When we loose control of our free will then something else is the driving force. In general we have the choice to follow what is the exact right path that is ours alone, or we follow whatever path seems to be right at the time. It takes knowing yourself before you can know your path. Some like to believe that genitic play a role in the path you are taking. This can be true if you are a clone, but humans are programed to do a certain thing on this journey. If you don't know what that is it is because that information comes from the manufacture and it comes with instructions. If you have not met or have not found out who you are, and what it is all about, then you must get in touch with the manufacture, and find the directions. There is no 800 number you can call, you must search inside of yourself for the instructions. Way deep down, at the very middle of yourself is a reflection and in that reflection is all of the answers.

Answer 4

Not everyone follows their immediate desires, but a good majority of people do. And we do have free will and our decisions are usually good for us in that if something bad results from that decision, we have learned not to make that same decision again. Maybe not the best thing, but can still be viewed as a good thing, most of the time. Exceptions are drunk driving, murder, etc.

Answer 5

I don't believe we do, I doubt that we are even able to make a conscious decision because we can never be fully aware of the consequences of our actions. What happens if your "freely made" decision conflicts with someone Else's? Our will to make choices is not free from the will, the judgements and decisions of other people, which will influence the kind of choices available to us in ways we could not even come to imagine.

Answer 6

Well, we always have free will.
We just don't have the time to pay attention to every decision we make, because we're so busy exercising our free will in situations we consider important.
That's why it's so easy for those other factors to sneak in and rob us of our self-direction.
There just isn't enough time!
And if we have organized religion and "good" upbringing that leads to "proper" habits, however those are culturally defined,
then we don't have to think so diligently about every move we make, or suffer the consequences.
In a sense, it is a good thing that social influences and hard-wired habits make up our minds for us.
Free will is something that should indeed be exercised, when and where those other controls are failing.
I think we should use it before we lose it, but use it sparingly so that we can handle the many tasks of Life.

Answer 7

No We do not have free will. We are pushed and prodded from within and without. Every choice we make is an illusion that we choose freely, but in truth we make the only choice we could. it is dictated by what we are, who we are and the circumstances in which we exist. The complusion goes down to the nuclear level and spans all of prehistory back to the beginning of time as every sequence of events plays out thoughout time. We are compelled to make the choices we make because no choice really existed to begin with.

Answer 8

Being able to do what one wants is more limiting than most people realize. How many things do you really want to do at any given moment, compared to the universe of things you could potentially choose from? You may be theoritically free to flick boogers into all your drinking glasses, but do you really want to? Is that *really* a possibility?

As far as will can be free, though, yes we do have free will. As long as you're willing to live with the consequences you can do as you will.

Answer 9

No your a Robot of your Government ,Commercials ,common man and the true meaning of what is fake and what is real.Until you can decipher what your influenced by, that is and what is necessary for survival and to judge as to what is true and what is not,then you may never have free-will.Free-will is sometimes distorted from the truth,and is indulged with with false information.Be able to have a mind of your own,and judge with without a outside influence,of thing that are not true.

Answer 10

Either was, a choice is being made. The only way choice can be eliminated is if you assume some all powerful being is influencing/making the choices for us. Even an impulsive choice is still a choice.

And no, we don't always follow our immediate desires; our ability to reason helps us to preven that.

Answer 11

Every being has free will. Freedom to believe, freedom to choose, freedom to decide, freedom to be, freedom to do, etc. There are many factors that have to be taken into account.

The problem is that while you can decide whatever you want, your decisions are sometimes clouded up by irrational past moments which act contrary towards the greatest good.