The speed you’ll drive is the product of innumerable in-born and external influences (which include past experience). Laws would be useless if people had free will, actually. They work because of a deterrent effect; getting pulled over paying fines, and maybe going to jail feels bad. It’s the threat of feeling bad that makes laws an effective incentive, and we can’t change that emotional response.
If humans had free will, though, we could decide how we emotionally react to anything. We could decide to flip a switch in our minds so that jail is emotionally fulfilling and preferable to freedom. Then there’d be no way to punish anybody, and thus we could have no laws.
If humans had free will, though, we could decide how we emotionally react to anything. We could decide to flip a switch in our minds
Exactly! ❤️ That’s the trap that sadly keeps a person locked in his mind. The slave’s curse. And I’m sorry it’s happening to you. I’ve been there before, as well.
Know that you are more than the sum of your environment and history, good or bad. You can decide to do something, just because you like doing it. You might not even remember what you like doing. It can take a while to find out, but you’ll find it. And from there it will grow.
I’m not telling you to do anything, it’s all hypothetical: Could you decide that punching yourself in the face—hard—is enjoyable? It seems like if you could decide that right here and now, that’d be a real easy way to make life (as good as it may be) even better.
Cards on the table, I’m pretty sure we all know the answer. No, we cannot decide to improve our lives by cutting off digits or socking ourselves in the nose, because those things are damaging, and we cant simply decide to make them feel good. I feel very confident that I can’t convince you to to it. (Thank goodness!)
The things that we can change our emotional reaction to are things that we were conditioned by an external stimulus (tradition or trauma or whatever) to have a certain reaction to. The decision to change is always driven by discomfort with that emotional reaction, another stimulus. Nobody is going to decide that they need to stop enjoying social affirmation, for instance, unless there’s some powerful, outside factor driving that decision.
In short, if we all react to the same stimulus in predictable ways, where’s the free will?
Could you decide that punching yourself in the face—hard—is enjoyable?
In the past, I have participated in auto mutilation, yes. At a certain point you want to feel anything.
The decision to change is always driven by discomfort with that emotional reaction, another stimulus.
You’re right! And it’s very scary, facing the thing that’s causing the discomfort.
That’s why I spend so much time trying to occupy my mind with puzzles, code, games, alcohol. Anything to distract me! Anything to direct that racing mind towards. But in the end I had to face the discomfort, walk inwards, towards it, to find where it came from.
It wasn’t my body, it wasn’t the calculating part of my mind.
In short, if we all react to the same stimulus in predictable ways, where’s the free will?
Luckily we don’t all react to the same stimulus in the same way. We can look back and learn from past mistakes.
The speed you’ll drive is the product of innumerable in-born and external influences (which include past experience). Laws would be useless if people had free will, actually. They work because of a deterrent effect; getting pulled over paying fines, and maybe going to jail feels bad. It’s the threat of feeling bad that makes laws an effective incentive, and we can’t change that emotional response.
If humans had free will, though, we could decide how we emotionally react to anything. We could decide to flip a switch in our minds so that jail is emotionally fulfilling and preferable to freedom. Then there’d be no way to punish anybody, and thus we could have no laws.
Exactly! ❤️ That’s the trap that sadly keeps a person locked in his mind. The slave’s curse. And I’m sorry it’s happening to you. I’ve been there before, as well.
Know that you are more than the sum of your environment and history, good or bad. You can decide to do something, just because you like doing it. You might not even remember what you like doing. It can take a while to find out, but you’ll find it. And from there it will grow.
You’re not trapped, just hurt. 🌸
Can you decide that you’ll enjoy cutting off one of your fingers? If so, it seems silly not to, since you’ll enjoy it!
Sadly you can, and it happens. What also happens is harming others because of one’s own pain :( . I know as both victim and perpetrator.
Luckily you can try other things first! 🎵
No, I mean you, right now, with your free will.
Luckily I have free will. I don’t need to do what you tell me to do! I get to decide myself.
And so do you: you can decide what you want to do ❤️
I’m not telling you to do anything, it’s all hypothetical: Could you decide that punching yourself in the face—hard—is enjoyable? It seems like if you could decide that right here and now, that’d be a real easy way to make life (as good as it may be) even better.
Cards on the table, I’m pretty sure we all know the answer. No, we cannot decide to improve our lives by cutting off digits or socking ourselves in the nose, because those things are damaging, and we cant simply decide to make them feel good. I feel very confident that I can’t convince you to to it. (Thank goodness!)
The things that we can change our emotional reaction to are things that we were conditioned by an external stimulus (tradition or trauma or whatever) to have a certain reaction to. The decision to change is always driven by discomfort with that emotional reaction, another stimulus. Nobody is going to decide that they need to stop enjoying social affirmation, for instance, unless there’s some powerful, outside factor driving that decision.
In short, if we all react to the same stimulus in predictable ways, where’s the free will?
In the past, I have participated in auto mutilation, yes. At a certain point you want to feel anything.
You’re right! And it’s very scary, facing the thing that’s causing the discomfort.
That’s why I spend so much time trying to occupy my mind with puzzles, code, games, alcohol. Anything to distract me! Anything to direct that racing mind towards. But in the end I had to face the discomfort, walk inwards, towards it, to find where it came from.
It wasn’t my body, it wasn’t the calculating part of my mind.
Luckily we don’t all react to the same stimulus in the same way. We can look back and learn from past mistakes.
We can share experiences, learn from eachother.
We can look eachother in the eyes.
I’m sorry that you’ve had such troubles in the past. Learning from past mistakes isn’t an example of free will, though.