Do we have free will?
The crucial clarification to elucidate here is what we mean by 'I' or 'we', for our investigation hinges upon that. Do we refer to our self as a separate entity or as the totality of Reality? It is really a question of one or the other. Either our self is a separate entity or the totality of Reality. Those are the only two possibilities to investigate, and the only two possibilities of what we could be.
So let's take a look. Is there evidence of a separate entity, here, now?
We may imagine we have a plethora of evidence that validates the belief in the truth of a separate entity. However, if we take a closer look we will inevitably discover such evidence is only apparent and hypothetical. That is, it will be seen to be solely mental, and not to have any basis in our actual experience.
Is it possible to experience separation?
To verify the existence of a separate entity is actually impossible. The instant a separation between two entities is apparently defined or perceived, all that is really presented to us is the experience of connection between those two entities. They could not co-exist in our observation, as two things apparently separate, if they were not simultaneously present together. It is their togetherness which reveals their implicit unity.
We cannot experience something separate. If we are experiencing something it implies that we are connected to that thing, and as such, that we share a common, essential substance.
So then, are we experiencing Reality right now?
Yes. If we were not, we would not be. That which is, is Reality, the only presence really being.
There is only one Reality, only one essential, irreducible substance out of which all existence is made. To be experiencing this Reality is to be connected to this Reality is to BE this Reality, and to be 'one with' the totality of what Reality is.
However, it is not quite accurate to say that we are 'one with' Reality, for there are not two presences present here 'with' each other. Only one presence of Reality is. The 'I' that is reading this right now is, in truth, the totality of Reality. There is no other possibility. Reality is the only real possibility. There is only Reality.
A separate entity has never been and never will be verified to be real. Its truth and existence was merely imagined by thought. The separate self we believe our self to be is merely a thought with which we exclusively identify. There is nothing more to it than that; a belief in a concept.
Now, to the question of free will. We can see that there is no free will for a separate entity for no such entity actually exists.
This separate entity has nothing, for this entity is nothing. 'Nothing', in this context, is synonymous with 'non-existent.' A non-existent thing can only have non-existent things, that is, it can have nothing! And it cannot even 'have' nothing for 'having' is still something. It simply is nothing, non-existent, not-here, nowhere to be found, ever.
So, having understood that no separate entity really exists, that we are not a separate self, but are, in truth, the totality of Reality itself, we might ask at this point; why do I, as Reality, still feel that I have free will?
Free will feels real for the simple reason that it is real. The freedom to manifest a form of experience, such as a thought, sensation, perception, action, interaction and so on, is real, and that freedom belongs to the only one that is really here; Reality.
Reality is free to create anything and everything. Looking around and within, all we perceive is the creative display of Reality. Creativity is all that is going on here as everything.
When we feel 'I have free will' or 'I create' we are really intuiting the freedom of Reality, our Reality, to modulate its infinitely dynamic substance into all the forms that we perceive. That's what we feel when thoughts arise, actions pour forth and speech floods the air; Reality spontaneously creating an appearance of itself.
When we believe our self to be a separate entity, it is Reality itself believing or pretending to be a fictitious separate entity, and hence, in this case the feeling 'I have free will' only belongs to the totality of Reality. There is no one else to whom it could belong. Reality is all that is here.
The feeling 'I have free will' is an affirmation of the sense of freedom that is an intrinsic attribute of what Reality essentially is. Reality is the experience of freedom itself. Being infinite, Reality is the only one who is truly free, and therefore, the only one who can feel a genuine sense of freedom.
There is no presence outside of Reality to limit its presence, to limit its infinity, to limit its freedom. Reality is absolute freedom.
Reality is freely creating these words right now, the reading of them and all presently apparent movements of experience.
Now, the question comes; do we, as Reality, have the ability to control what specific forms of experience arise? That is, am I, as Reality, predicting with absolute precision the exact words that will be written here before they are written? Are you, as Reality, predicting with absolute precision, the exact words that will be read here?
No! We have no way of telling for certain what is going to happen next. Experience spontaneously and unpredictably appears the way it does.
Try to see what is going to happen next, finely look with a microscopic style of contemplation, and see if the tiniest nuance of the next moment is absolutely predictable. The exact muscular tensions of the arms, the legs, the precise volume of the diaphragm, the rhythmic flow of breath, the slight gestures of the fingers, the wiggling of the toes, the dancing articulations of thoughts that float by. Are any of these really choreographed by you prior to their arising? Really look.
We have to admit that no one is driving this stream of experience. It's just flowing on all by itself. The unpredictability of the next moment shows us that we, as Reality, are not in control of the next moment of experience. We create the next moment, for sure, for we are the source of everything, but we don't have the ability to choose, beforehand, what form this next moment will become.
In the morning, do we choose for the world to wake up in us? Did we choose to perceive this movie of a human being? Did we choose for the big bang to occur? For the beginning of manifestation to occur? No! A choosing process does not exist prior to the beginning of manifestation, for a choosing process is limited to manifestation, an inescapable element appearing within manifestation. Before manifestation, there is no manifestation.
Every moment the totality of manifestation is created anew. Therefore, to see whether we're in control of how manifestation appears, we can look at how one aspect of this creation appears, for all aspects are interconnected as a seamless whole, and thus, what is true for one aspect is true for all the others. So, let's take the appearance of thought. Do we really know what thought is going to appear next?
We might say, "yes I do, I’m going to think about bananas." But how did we come to that seeming certainty of what thought would be next? That thought of apparent prediction just arose unpredictably. We didn't know in advance that such a thought would arise. It may be relatively true that a thought can approximately predict a following thought, but the prediction is never exact. The word 'bananas' may be predicted, however, the style, tone, rhythm, and ambience of this thought cannot ultimately be taken into account with absolute precision. As such, we are not really predicting what is going to happen next, for all of these elements are inextricably interconnected in and as the presentation of the next moment. It is one seamless moment manifesting in its wholeness.
Now to see how a thought, decision or action arises, whether its form and timing is controlled or chosen, we simply look to our Self, that which is present prior to its appearance, to discern if we are wielding some kind of joystick that has the capacity to manipulate things. What is present prior to the arising of a thought, decision or action? Is that presence maintaining a force of control, or holding a mechanism in place that affects what is going to appear next?
Prior to the appearance of thought, decision or action, the presence of Reality is simply aware of itself as I. And in that presence, as that presence, there is no thought, decision or action present, for no thought, decision or action has arisen yet. There is only silence, stillness, changeless awareness of awareness, completely devoid of thought, decision or action.
Can a presence that is completely thoughtless, decisionless and inactive be in control of what arises?
No! 'Control' is precisely a concept that is defined by thought, a concept does not experientially exist prior to its conceptualisation.
Where does our idea of control come from other than a thought that imagines such control exists?
If thought is absent, we have no sense of being in control, and that is simply because whilst thought is absent, the Reality of our Self, which is present, is completely uncontrolled and uncontrollable.
How could that which is indivisibly itself have the ability to control itself? It cannot separate from itself in order to control itself. It cannot become an entity outside itself to interact with itself in a relationship between a controller-entity and controlled-entity. There is no relationship between Reality and itself. Reality, our Self, is that which is indivisibly, seamlessly, inseparably itself. Control is impossible for itself.
We are not in control of what happens next. Yet we are the creative source from which the entire cosmos arises from moment to moment, and as such, we are absolute freedom. There is nothing outside or beyond our self to bind or limit us. We are free to be and to manifest everything and anything within our self.
And thank the heavenliness of Reality that we have no clue what is going to happen next! We love surprises. Life would be boring if we could predict every nuance of the next moment. Let life continue to be what it is; a magic show.
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