Free will? | ||
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Modern culture
Modern people often have enough money to make decisions that are not
purely based on survival. We choose what to do with our free
time, what to eat, what to wear, how to spend money.
This is a luxury. It is also has shortcomings... Do we always choose
wisely? Yin/yang
requires us to explore 2 sides of every situation.
Freedom of choice
The danger with having the freedom to choose is that not everything we
choose is smart e.g. the average adult can
eat whatever they want... Chocolate,
sugar, donuts. Who is
stopping you?
People choose to drink enormous amount of alcohol, take recreational drugs,
they choose not to exercise, to
ignore their bodies, to become
unhealthy, obese and
sick.
Do you personally eat healthily,
rest, work your brain skilfully,
exercise your body in a
moderate, mindful way?
Learned helplessness
When someone becomes sick they tend
to look for a scapegoat. Having used their body and mind carelessly for
many years, the individual now turns to the
doctor in the hope of a miracle.
They cannot reconcile the fact that there is some possibility/chance that the
choices they made have led them down this road. But why not?
Cause and effect
If you save your wage, you'll have savings.
If you spend your wage on clothes, you'll most likely have no money but lots of
clothes. We are the architects of our fate. Not in all respects, but in many.
Consider this:
Most people live lives that are
not particularly physically challenging. They sit
at a desk, or if they move around, it's not a lot. They aren't performing
manoeuvres that require tremendous
balance and
coordination. Thus they settle into a low level of physical
capabilities - enough for day-to-day activities or
maybe even hiking or biking or
playing golf or tennis on the weekends, but far from the level of
physical capabilities that a highly
trained athlete possesses.
The reason that most people don't possess
extraordinary physical capabilities isn't because they don't have the
capacity for them, but rather because they're satisfied to live in the
comfortable rut of homeostasis and never do the work
that is required to get out of it.
The same thing is true for all the
mental activities we engage in. We learn enough
to get by but once we reach that point we seldom push to go beyond.
(Anders Ericsson)
This is free will
You may choose to spend tonight looking at social media, watching
TV, a movie, eating a meal in a restaurant, drinking alcohol, sat slouched on the
sofa, running the streets,
working out...
Everyone is different. We all choose what to do with our lives. The main
thing here is to acknowledge the truth/the
fact. Be honest. Take some
responsibility.
Own it
If you are significantly
overweight and spend all day stuffing junk
food in your mouth... own it. You are doing this. Not your thyroid. Just
you.
If you charge around all day and become exhausted, that's you. It's not
'chronic fatigue syndrome'. If you sit at a desk
all day long and then slouch on the couch all night, and your
back hurts, that's you.
If you stare at a screen all day, the TV all night and
sit in a bad way, you may have massive neck/shoulder
tension, maybe even headaches. That's you. You did this.
Procrastination
Procrastination is an insidious, ugly, convenient catch-all. It enables an
individual to postpone important activities, actions, responsibilities and
concerns indefinitely.
Rather than address things right now, you
discover
perfectly rational, reasonable alternatives...
Do you have free will?
How many of your decisions are the outcome
of clear-headed, conscious,
deliberate reasoning? How many are
impulsive? Reactionary?
Emotional?
What role does your upbringing/culture/education/peer
group have to play in the choices you make?
Influences
Imagine if someone came into your house right now and told you how to
decorate your residence, what to wear, how to eat, who to interact with...
How receptive would you be?
You'd probably experience a negative
reaction. You'd resist the imposition. After all, you've decorated the
house as you see fit, you wear what suits your own tastes?
Now, think carefully.
Hijacking your brain
What role does TV, news, mass media, fashion,
trends, politics, education, marketing and gossip
play in your life?
That's right: they dominate your mind. They control you. They
tell you how and what to do. Who to be. And you just let them.
(You may even believe that it isn't happening).
TV
How does TV affect you?
Does it change how you think?
Do you ever talk about what you have watched?
Are you influenced by the TV?
Politics
Politics is a good example of 'information culture'.
The mass media provides all manner of facts, figures, gossip and
speculation concerning politics.
By observing the state of world/national affairs, people can feel to be part of
what is 'going on' in the world.
They feel to be well informed.
There is a fear of looking ignorant.
TV and politics allow people to lose themselves in something.
It is far easier to talk about politics than to examine your own life.
Dealing with tangible,
concrete problems requires commitment, resolve and effort.
Gossip
How much time do you spend talking about other
people or about yourself?
It is easy and tempting to regard gossiping as worthwhile/conversation...
but is it really?
Instead of investing in a discussion that leads to
insight and life-changing decisions, most
conversations simply eat up time. Do you
really care what other people are doing? If so,
why?
Much of what takes place in the world has nothing to do with us and is quite
literally none of our business.
We like the feeling of being in charge of our thoughts and actions, and
abandoning our sense of free will feels rather uncomfortable. However,
magicians have developed powerful ways of manipulating your thoughts, and
they can influence many of the choices you make. For example, the magician
may ask you to choose a card from a deck of playing cards, and while you
feel you have an entirely free choice, the magician made you choose one
particular card. This is known as forcing and is a principle by which
magicians covertly guide you towards a predetermined choice.
(Gustav Kuhn)
Control?
There are many things in the world that we cannot
and do not have any control or influence over. Namely other people.
You may be the boss of your own company but at the supermarket you are just
another customer. Your significance has vanished. It is context-specific. Your
power has limits. And they are narrow indeed.
What can we control?
We can determine what to eat, drink and do with our bodies.
We can take responsibility for the things we put into our mind. We can be
mindful of our relationship(s) with the people around us.
We can also (to a large degree) organise
and plan how we spend
our days.
Diet
Controlling your diet is a thorny issue. There are
so many conflicting diet ideas available. It is easy to become confused and
disheartened. But this is also an excuse, a lie.
Whole food is quite easy to identify: it has no ingredients. Whole food tends to
be real food. No additives. No preservatives. No chemicals. Just food. Start
with this?
Exercise
Most people's idea of exercise is somewhat 'abusive'.
They treat their body like some sort of adversary and
dehumanise it. No pain, no
gain etc. Why? There are sensible
ways to exercise.
You are not at war with your own body.
Listen to your body.
Exercise in a manner that has a positive
effect on your entire life. Not just in
the gym. Set aside your pride and
vanity.
Research how the skeleton works, the
muscles. Balance.
Coordination. Mobility.
Consider how much energy is being used.
Do you feel energised from exercise or wiped out? Happy or miserable?
Mind
Many people are concerned about
dementia and
senility. They naively believe that talking about
politics or work is going to somehow work
the brain productively. Don't kid yourself here...
Try reading
The 5 Elements of Effective Thinking by Edward B Burger & Michael Starbird,
Smarter Faster Better by Charles Duhigg and Peak by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool.
You'll quickly discover that
opinions are worthless.
Rather than regurgitate what other people have said, or
your own conditioning and bias, why not step outside your
comfort zone and work on building a
comprehensive mental representation?
Study something truly
challenging...
Comfort zone
Because of free will, most people opt for the
easiest course of action, which may involve
no action at all. This is fine. It's human and
it's your choice to make. Meanwhile, life continues and you get
older.
Your body deteriorates. Your back, knee, neck ache
gets worse. Your mind gets fixed and stubborn.
Most people have never attained a
level of performance in any field that is sufficient to show them the true
power of mental representations to plan, execute and evaluate their
performance
in the way that experts do. And
thus they never really understand what it takes to reach this level - not
just the time it takes, but the high-quality practice.
(Anders Ericsson)
Tai chi
In order to get the most
out of qigong a student should practice every
day. It doesn't have to be a lot but it ought to be
every day.
Tai chi for health requires
the student to commit a little more
time.
Tai chi even more.
You may not want to commit the time.
That's OK. Don't opt for tai chi... Just stick to the
health training. It's your
choice.
You get to choose. The more time, study and
effort you invest, the greater the
rewards. But you don't need to
force yourself. Do it because it's fun. Because it feels good.
Page created
18 April 2005
Last updated
16 June 2023
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