by Aisha Ansari

Created on: August 20, 2008

Free will is a perfectly lovely fantasy, but that's all it is. I believe that first we should define free will. Some people take it to mean nothing more than choice, in that we have the choice (however limited) to make the decisions we want in life. However, to me and many others, free will should be just that; the freedom to will anything we wish.

Which clearly is not possible. To begin with, we are obviously limited by physical laws. Then there are those of us who are limited by circumstance. Anybody believing in true free will should ask themselves, how many people living in poverty and abuse would continue to do so if they could will themselves out of it.

So now it's been established that we are limited not only by the laws of physics but also by our life situations. So within ourselves at least, do we have free will?

Again, I would have to argue that no, we don't. Examples against this theory can be simple things such as getting a song stuck in your head (did you "will" to put it there? Indeed, can you stop it by exercising free will?), or getting angry. How many times have you lost your temper and then realised that maybe you shouldn't have done so. If you had true free will, then wouldn't you have been able to stop the negative emotions from surging through your body?

As for predestination, I think that we are all connected in some synchronous way that for the most part goes unnoticed. Predestination seems to annoy people, just the very thought that our lives are mapped out for us is enough to make people balk. Could it be, perhaps, that we are being arrogant to assume we know the mind of the Universe, the mind of God? Only by assuming we know why we are here, can we come to conclusions about what is happening whilst we are here.

Of course, in reality, we have no idea why we are living on this planet and the idea of free will and predestination will always be subjective. If a child dying from cancer suddenly gets a reprieve and is found to be clear from the disease, it could be looked upon in two ways by two different people. The religious minded would probably claim that because they chose to pray, their child was saved. Those who go the other way would simply declare that it was fate.

In conclusion, there is only free will if we know ourselves. Most of us are too busy focusing on our daily lives and external influences to be able to exercise true freedom of will. Absolute predestination seems too harsh. Perhaps there is something in-between, something which our human minds simply cannot comprehend. Next time you notice a coincidence, it could be worthwhile considering that there are no coincidences.

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