"So if you think your life is complete confusion'Cause you never win the gameJust remember that it's a grand illusionAnd deep inside, we're all the sameAll the same.. "
- Styx - The Grand Illusion
"A planet of playthings, we dance on the strings of powers we cannot perceive. The stars aren't aligned or the Gods are malign, blame is better to give than receive". These lyrics by the Progressive Rock band 'Rush' tout the virtues, not only of choice, but of Free Will. In my later years as a Christian, I too used to preach 'Free Will', to the disdain of most of my family, most of whom were strict Calvinists. Now, as a Pagan, my main mantra is, "It's all about choice!" Of course, this is merely from a humanistic point of view! The subject of this short treatise is to look at the question of 'Free Will' from a more spiritual perspective!
Previously, I had toyed with the notion that, as spiritual beings having a human experience, rather than the other way around; We do not actually have 'Free Will'! From a merely human perspective of course, like I said, we do, but with that said, I must remind my readers that we are NOT 'merely human'; "We are More than human!" Our Humanity is an integral ( though not necessary ) part of our Being, yes, but our humanness does not define Who we are. As a human being, I have been given the name 'Charles Haddon Shank', but as a spiritual being, I am known by other means. I mean, we can make up names, like 'God', for instance, or even 'Allah', but do names even apply to the One?! I call It 'the Source'; you may call It 'Energy', or even just 'the Universe', but are not all these just monikers; names given by human beings striving to understand & name the Nameless?
To get back though, to the question of 'Free Will'; being that We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but rather are spiritual in nature; would it be correct to say that We have free will? To answer this question, we must go back to the Source! What then, is this Source? "What does he mean by 'Source'?!" I guess you could say that 'Creator' might be a more familiar term, except that, rather than being merely creatures of some creator, albeit with a 'Spark of Divinity', we actually ARE Divinity, Part & Parcel with the Source ( 'Energy'? )! As Part & Parcel with this 'Source', then, "as above, so below: "would it be correct to say that We have free will?" As individuals, we absolutely have 'Free Will'; everybody has a choice, right?! "Right', everyBODY has a choice! As spiritual beings, can we rightly say we have a choice? Here's where we might enter some choppy waters though: are we possessed of individual spirits, or are We, as Spirits, simply part of of the Collective? Some might wonder about the so-called 'evil spirits' that play havoc in the physical realm; "Are they individual spirits, or is the Collective itself 'evil'?" Such an argument might sound familiar to some Christians; "If God is truly Good, why does He allow evil to exist? "If God is truly Omnipotent..........................."
Most of us, to whatever extent, have "been there, done that" ( either that, or we're choosing to remain blissfully ignorant ), but I'm not intending to start a religious argument here ( ? ), merely to define the term 'Free Will'. As a former Christian myself, I'm more than a little familiar with the biblical concept of the 'Satan', who with the other 'fallen angels', fell from Heaven. "If that doesn't prove 'Free Will', I don't know..................." Of course then, you have A & E, who were created "good", but Satan tempted them & they fell from Grace. So, if 'Satan' had 'Free Will' & Adam & Eve had 'Free Will'.................. According to the Bible; it would seem that Individual Spirits do exist & that We are not part of the Collective ( i.e. 'Glory Cloud' ) unless we so choose: this sounds kinda like, "Even though God is Omnipotent, He cannot save us unless we let Him"! For this blogger, the question is not even begged, but for the sake of those who are still mired in 'B.S.' ( Belief Systems ), I revisit these scenarios. As far as I'm concerned, the question of 'Free Will' is settled; it is a merely human concept!
The question of 'evil spirits' still remains: "if indeed there IS such a thing ( which I will NOT deny ), then would not that prove the existence of Individual Spirits?" ( Either that, or the Collective is Itself evil ) This may open up a can of worms, but "What if I told you the Collective is neither 'good' nor 'evil', that these are themselves merely human inventions?" Since then, the Collective is neither 'good' nor 'evil', then it would seem to follow that, as Part & Parcel with the Collective, We are neither 'good' nor 'evil'. "But what about 'evil spirits?" some may say; "Surely with all the bad things happening in the world today, there can be no doubt as to their existence?!" I would reply thusly; "Yes, bad things HAPPEN!" The reason that bad things happen in the world is that human beings have 'Free Will'; they often CHOOSE to do 'evil' rather than 'good'. "Is there such a thing as disembodied spirits then? " It's hard to say no to that question, but here's something to think about ( maybe a subject for a future blogpost too ); "keeping in mind the ( largely ) untapped Power of the Mind; might it be possible that what we observe as the work of 'evil spirits' is simply the manifestation of 'evil' human beings using their minds, whether knowingly or unknowingly, for nefarious purposes?!"
On the subject of the Power of the Mind, one might note that we have come full circle, back to our discussion of Free Will, for it is in the Mind that we make our Choices! One might note as well that I have used the terms 'good' & 'evil' rather loosely; the reason for this is that both terms are relative. What to one is 'good' may be 'evil' to another! For example, if one happens to kill another in self defense, it is justified in that one's mind & therefore relatively 'good', but to the relatives ( father, mother, sister brother, etc. ) this act ( of self defense ) might be seen as 'evil'. This can be applied as well to foreign wars: we go into other nation's territory, for whatever reason, commit genocide, again, for whatever reason, but we see this as 'Just War', as 'good', because these are known terrorist strongholds. The people of these nations, on the other hand, in defense of their lives & land, retaliate! To us, this is 'evil', but to them, it is 'good'. We, speaking collectively of course, in our finite wisdom, have chosen to live in Fear, rather than Faith in our fellow human beings!
Coming back around again, to the subject of 'Free Will': Although it is well nigh impossible to discuss this concept without getting into religious territory, the term itself need not carry a religious connotation. 'Free Will' plainly states just that; "the will is free!" Before we go too far though, down that rocky road, it must be acknowledged that there are some who would vehemently disagree with that statement! For instance, when one is addicted to something, some would say that the Will is NOT free, that such a person really has no choice in the matter. However, as far as this blogger is concerned, there is ALWAYS a choice. It may not be much of a choice ( "the lesser of two evils", for example ), even, as in Rush's 'Free Will', "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice". Now, can one's brain/mind become so utterly befuddled/befogged by this addiction, whatever it may be, that the person cannot control their actions?! Some would say "yes", while others might just as non-reservedly say "no"! Again, this blogger would lean fairly heavily toward "no", but maybe that's just me. People have gotten away with murder employing this argument & guess what? It's all about money! But, I digress...........
The Will is Free! As a wise man once said, "If you wanna be free, be free!" It's as simple as that! But........................it ain't easy......not by any means! The chemistry in the Brain is not as mysterious as it used to be, but there is still much there that cannot be fully explained. I really do not know if it's possible for one's brain to become fucked over to the point that the person looses the freedom of their will. "Is it possible that, through the overuse of drugs, or severe mental, or even physical trauma, one's ability to choose could be lost?" Whatever ones judgement may be on this matter, the position of this blogger is that, "no, of their own volition, they have allowed their brain to become so addled that they have lost the ability to make a RATIONAL decision, a viable choice, but even if that's the case, they still have made a choice, for 'good' OR 'evil'!
This, however, is humanly speaking. "As above, so below"; We are More than human! Whether one wants to use the term familiar to every Christian, 'Glory Cloud', or whether one freely acknowledges that We all, spiritually speaking, are part of 'the Collective ( 'Mind'? )'; we are all, in Essence, One! The Bible even speaks of us as being of one mind, that of the Christ! Now, again, this is by no means to say that we ARE ACTUALLY of one mind, at least not humanly speaking; we HAVE our own individual thoughts, but as spiritual beings & part of the Collective; we ARE, in Essence, the same Mind that hung the Stars!
It really is ALL about choice! However long ago, maybe a certain person makes the choice ( ignorantly ) to dive into a sea of drugs, whatever their drug of choice may be: even though they may loose the ability to make a rational decision, they still made their choice & they must live with their decision ( or die, as the case may be )! This is not to say that we should not strive to rescue them if we can, but we must also tread very carefully lest they bring us down with them. ( "Take care lest you partake in another person's karma!" ) However, this must be YOUR choice; YOUR judgment!
Namaste' & Blessed Be!
Sage Charles
