A Living Will
<center><i>I<br>Universe<br>bequeath<br>through My galaxies<br>and their planets and<br>continents<br>...Henceforeth to All...<br>My Progeny<br>dwelling upon these<br>the sum of<br>My Infinite Idea<br>that We might<br>knowst a life<br>of consequence<br>and choices<br>...each...<br>to Our own<br>capacity</i></center>
<font face="Helvetica" size="4"><b>Free Will: Yes, No</b></font>
It seems to me, that we have a tendency to approach the question of Free Will rather one-sidedly. Perhaps because that is as much as is revealed to us at given moments... We all too frequently balk at what we can do... abhorring our limitations. We find time and again that no amount of "free will" allows us to do what we want to do, or have what we want to have; all of which we of course want to have without consequence.
The described attitude suggests that we certainly have Will, but hardly free...
If we are able to rise above our obstructed wants/demands, which come from who-knows-where, we might find ourselves subscribing to ideas of discipline, meditation, mindfulness, or other measures towards "self-control." But still, that trickle of self-awareness comes from a bottleneck of some source visible to us only from one side—our own! And on our receiving end there is sometimes but a teeny-tiny droplet; at other times a flood. We know not how, or why. There is no spigot to open or shut, and accordingly we feel hardly free at all.... except, Except!
There is the lesson that every child instinctively knows—ask any exasperated parent—of the profound power of "No."
(...you can bring a horse to the water, but you can't make him drink...)
At this point in my reflections on the matter, I would contend that this is the nature of the Freedom of our Will. We receive what we receive. We have options... as if on a menu. We can accept the offerings with an all-embracing "Yes!" ...We can do nothing and go along with a more or less grudging implicit "yes." ...Or stand in opposition by refusing all or rejecting parts. Meanwhile, being railroaded by the Consequences, regardless whichever path we choose. (The tendency to deem the first two options, and certainly the second, as having "softer" repercussions is faulty. Experience teaches otherwise! Consider, by way of example, how regrettably health-conscious individuals succumb to disease as much as those who have "not taken care" of themselves).
The third option (of Opposition) seems to be unique to Mankind. All of Nature says Yes. It cannot seem to do otherwise.
Where does Man's defiance come from? Truly an enigma... It would seem that this is that streak of Evil... the Opposite that must be overcome to return to "Paradise," towards which the rest of Nature is so affirmatively geared... But how to overcome it?! Why do we choose what we choose? I don't see a key to this insight... in the meantime, we are left struggling with what we No, or think we know...