252- Shocking! Do You Think You Have Free Will?

What is free will? We are on a journey down a well-traveled path to answer the questions of whether we have free will or not and what it is. Let's see where this path takes us. The following are two definitions of Free Will from two different sources.
• “Voluntary choice or decision.” (www.merriam-we....
• “The power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion. (Google research - Definitions from Oxford Languages)
According to these authorities, we can draw some conclusions. Free will involves making a voluntary choice or decision, and it must be made without any constraints of any kind. Otherwise, it isn’t truly a free-will choice or decision. The crucial point here is that the choice must be unconstrained.
From the last video, 251- Remarkable! Did You Know Everything Is Interconnected? Everything is interconnected. It is as if we are part of an interactive living system or matrix; nothing is independent, and each part is an extension of the whole. In this understanding, each part of the system or matrix reflects the whole.
Let us move to the Hermetic 7 Ancient Principles for Self-Mastery. The Second Principle is that of Correspondence: “As above, so below; as below, so above. As within, so without; as without, so within.” ( / the-hermetic-revival-7... ) There is a close similarity, connection, or equivalence to all things, and at their fundamental level, the whole system seems to be of a fractal design of expansion.
You may think of a hologram here. The hologram is information imprinted on a film or disk in a particular way that looks 3-dimensional. If the disk is cut in half or broken into pieces, each piece of the disk will reflect the whole image. (en.wikipedia.o....
In the egoic world, we have broken the one interactive living system into pieces and have lost our wholeness. Our vision has shifted to separateness, and we cannot recognize the oneness of life.
The Wisdom in A Course in Miracles: “There is no one who does not feel that he is imprisoned in some way.” (acim.org/acim/... | T-3.VI.11:1)
When you believe you are imprisoned, you are not free to make a decision that is without some form of constraint. Therefore, since you feel imprisoned in some way, you can make no decision of your own free will. The constraints can be in the conscious mind, and you are aware of them, or in the subconscious, and you are not aware. In either case, they are there and will affect your decision-making. Hence, you can't make a Free will decision.
You are interconnected to everything in this “one interactive living system.” You are not independent. You are part of the whole. Because of the egoic belief system, you think you are separate, but you are not. You are in community with the whole living system. When you move, the Universe must move; when someone else moves, the whole living system must move, also, and notice that movement includes you.
On a conscious level, are you aware you support others as they make choices and decisions? No, not usually. It is all done in the silence of The All. Your conscious mind observes what has already passed because of its slow processing speed and small capacity, and you never experience the present moment.
You are the audience watching the play, and at the same time, you are the actor performing the play. The actor is performing, and the observer in the audience is interpreting the actor’s performance, and they are both part of the same system. You are an extension of the whole.
From the Tempest: Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits and Are melted into air, into thin air: And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.” ― William Shakespeare, The Tempest Act 4, Scene 1.
You have no free will, but you believe you do while here in the illusion.
Be good to yourself, and I will see you next time we get together right here in the illusion.
Peace.
Mike
#ACIM, #free will, #illusion,