Free will or God's will

 

Are we free to do whatever we want? Do we have free will? It appears so. The entire structure of our society is based on people having free will. Judiciary works on the belief that people commit crimes willfully and hence deserve punishment. Companies can sell their products on the premise that people are free to buy what they want. We make plans assuming our free will.

Robert Sapolsky in his thought-provoking book “Determined” starts with a humorous story: A Professor was teaching a class the science of planetary movement around the sun. A girl student objected, “Professor, it is not so. The earth is resting on a turtle.” The Professor asked, “And, on what the turtle is resting?” The girl replied, “on another turtle.” The Professor again asked, “And, on what the other turtle resting?” The girl snapped, “No use Professor, it is turtle all the way down.”

Robert Sapolsky argues that free will is an illusion – all human behavior stems from nuero-biological, environment and cultural factors which we don’t control. The entire universe is governed by the Law of Causation. Everything that happens is caused by something before it. And, what we do today becomes the cause of future happenings. What we think of doing as our free will is indeed caused by an unending series of causes preceding that action (turtles all the way). We can investigate this in our own day-to-day living.

We first get a thought and then do the action. Can we know our next thought before it occurs? Scientific experiments have proven that we become aware of a thought a few seconds after it has occurred. So, we don’t know what thought will occur to us in the next moment. In his book, Robert has proved through a number of experiments and case studies that a thought results from our deep-rooted nuero-biological makeup and cultural influences, which dates back to millions of years – perhaps the beginning of mankind.

We may argue that we do have free will because we may choose to do one thing or the other at any given moment. Here again, Robert refers to an experiment where a machine hooked on brain/neurons can very accurately predict which option we will choose a few seconds before we exercise the choice.

If all of this is true, are we living robots guided by the past? Is there any joy in living like this?

Robert suggests, “It is often helpful to act as if you have free will: consider all of your options and think deeply when you can, but do not be too hard on yourself because it really could not have been any other way.”

Indian scriptures declare that there is a great joy in living as a mere instrument in the unseen hands of God. This universe is the playground of God. Everything in this playground is temporary and ever changing. Swami Sarvapriyanand suggests, “Live your life assuming free will, while carrying the belief that you are indeed executing God’s will.” We receive God’s will through our thoughts and results of our actions (whatever they may be) are God’s blessings for our own long-term benefits. This will free us from all the worries and miseries that arise from taking ownership of our actions. Buddha has famously said, “Things happen, deeds are done, but there is no doer thereof.”