Dear Hari!
People in general including myself do not always know all consequences of their's actions or choices, at least consciously.
Moreover people often or even most time stay under the pressure of external circumstances as they make theirs decisions, such as different kinds necessities of life in relation to body, association etc.
Considering all this I would suppose, that people do not really have a free will. But I definitive know, that they have.
Where I've made a mistake in my conclusions?
If we do not know the consequences, why should we take the responsibilities?
It seems, that the free will directly depends of our awareness about the possible consequences.
Making Choices
We know for certain that no one can be absolutely sure about the consequences of their actions. Considering this, the best course of action is to do the absolute best you can for the greatest good of all concerned. If you do the best you can, no one can accuse you of fault, if there is any, since any fault that occurred would be beyond your capacity to prevent. However, one should not attempt to do something one lacks the capacity to do when one does not have to do it and there is significant risk involved. In this case, even doing the best one can is not enough since one should not have acted in the first place.
That we are under pressure to make a decision infers that others assume we are qualified to decide. If we see that avoiding to decide would be contrary to the best interests of ourselves, our family, or others, then we have to act and do the best we can.
I would not conclude that being forced to make a decision negates free will. I would conclude that being in the position where a decision has to be made proves the existence of free will. After all, "to decide" means there are choices. How you decide depends on you. Even if there are factors to consider that are beyond your control or against your desire (after all, if you had the possibility to change these circumstances you would) it is clear that being in the position to decide one way or the other means you have choice and this is free will.
There are many factors and conditions arising prior to the event requiring a decision, and how all the actors arrived together in this scenario is often extraordinarily complex. We all know that life often throws together people and circumstances in a manner that cooks us! How such situations play out is often a complex combination of multiple persons' free will and desire. When we are in a group, our singular free will and desire has to conform according to our desire and requirement to cooperate with other's decisions. Perhaps our free will manifested at the moment we decided to join a group? Perhaps we made the choice to be a member of a particular family?
Long ago we might have made the choice to smoke cigarettes and are now faced with the unpalatable options of choosing either chemotherapy or radical surgery. We might consider both these choices as terrible alternatives, but we might see death as even worse. We might say this means there really is no free choice, but that is not true. Some time ago we made a choice out of our free will and desire and now the consequences are upon us. You might argue that you lived in a home where your parents and family smoked, you played or grew up with friends who all smoked, smoking was considered the thing to do, or other situations forced you to do it and therefore you did not have the free choice to say no to the original offer to smoke. Perhaps it was like that; however, you still made the choice. You had the option to not do it.
Some choices seem to be created for us either by the devil or a saint. We might think the devil created the situation where we had to rob a bank, get captured on tape by the surveillance cameras, and subsequently get arrested when he arranged for you to be born in a poor family and have bad association. I do not know if you believe you were born into a particular circumstance accidentally or by choice, but depending on this belief you can understand the different ways in which you would look at all subsequent events. If you think you were born into a family and circumstances accidentally; there is no overriding intelligence or choice in these events; we are all thrown into the chaos of this world and battered around while fending for ourselves, you might think all events are the product of chaotic force. But then you would not have asked this question!
If you believe our present life is primarily a continuation from our last; meaning, we carry into this life our etheric bodies with memory, desire, and characteristic personality, then you would consider it quite possible that your previous situation, created by your free will and choice, has created the potential into which you are born in this life.
One might complain that it is quite hard to find the root of all of this. You would certainly be correct. Which event at which point in time created the original cause that created the character of all events to come? What was that significant thing that colored the path I was to take from then on? This is an interesting question that I cannot answer. If I had to find out my root cause, I would look within for my most powerful characteristic desire and try to extrapolate this to the start of my time. I could not depend on the answer, but it would assist me to better understand myself.
Your question mainly seeks to find out why we should be responsible for the consequences of our actions when we cannot predict what they shall be when we initiate such acts. But do we know the full consequences of any act? When I pour water on the floor, do I know how it will fall or exactly what it will wet when it splashes? All I can be sure of is that water will be on the floor. If I am mopping the floor, that is good enough for me for all I care about is moving the wet mop here and there to clean the floor. Spilling water is a simple act ordinarily done for a simple purpose. We have done it many times and we are sufficiently aware of what we are doing. We have decided that a complete knowledge of the random waves of the splash is not required and therefore we do not worry about it.
As acts increase in complexity, the possibilities of what can occur increase proportionately. Complex acts create complex consequences. In the real world, those who have a greater awareness of these consequences can predict what will take place and use it to their advantage, whereas those who are less aware will have a reduced capacity to exploit future events.
Let us, for fun, take the example of a government that decides to create an event they feel will transform their country and therefore the world. Great minds will sit together and create a plan, consider each and every situation that can arise, and plug all the holes that may exist. They create feasibility studies to determine if it will work and then update the plan until success is highly probable or certain. The event is then set into action and initially it seems to create the predicted pattern of results. This makes them happy and causes them to nourish these patterns with appropriate responses and legislation.
But is it always so? One can see that although for some time or in some way manipulation does indeed create situations that others can exploit to further their wealth, power, or gains, at one point these gains may be reversed, wiped out by severe, unforeseen reactions, crushed by disloyalty amongst the initial plan-makers, or any of a hundred other reasons why the best made plans of mice and men are often laid to waste. After all, who but God can predict events? Humans are prone to error and one of their most glaring errors is miscalculation. If even the best amongst us, the most intelligent amongst us, or even those within the celestial realm can miscalculate, why should one think we have the option of foresight?
I would conclude that we are therefore limited in what we can see and our challenge is to find our way with the perception we have. Considering this, we are naturally bound to accept consequences of decisions made without complete knowledge. This seems to simply be the way it is. And further, it seems only God has the perfect capacity to understand all consequences of all acts everywhere at all times as this is one of the reasons God is God and no one else is. Again, this understanding would only apply to you if you believed in God and God's capacity, otherwise you would think that all things are random events ruled by physical laws and a human's responsibility is to know these laws the best he can and work with them to make life as best as it can be. Even so, you would agree with the analysis that no one in this world can know everything and our task is to make the best of what we have.
None of these points negate free will. Free will is active in all circumstances, although our choices may be severely limited due to past forgotten actions that created the fertile ground for our present situations.
But why do we have to suffer the consequences of acts when we could not have predicted what will occur? After all, we did what we did with good intentions. Regardless, it seems to me that without acts creating consequences there would be no world. That an act creates a consequence is the basic factor of all existence and is the real definition of karma.
Consider a world where you could do anything you wanted and there would be no consequence? This is like saying, my acts will bring no results. So my eating would not fill my belly, drinking would not quench my thirst, or sex would not satisfy my desire or even feel good! When we separate an act from its result, we strip the world of all potential and create a realm ruled by the void. Naturally you would not accept this, neither could it ever happen.
Therefore consequences follow acts. Responsibility for these consequences must be linked to the performer of acts otherwise no one could eat or drink. You are aware of the consequence of eating ice cream. You like how it tastes and feels and therefore you eat it. Such pleasure often rules the decision making process which stops further questioning about future consequences because one considers them irrelevant to the enjoyment at hand. Ice cream is mainly fat and fat is not very good for you. Sometime down the road, you can develop problems that can severely curtail your health. In other words, there is good and bad in all things and how we decide to own these possibilities before we embark on an action will demonstrate our character and intelligence.
Learning to do things better for our own sake and for the sake of others is a challenge that fosters the evolution of our intelligence, strength, character, fortitude, determination, and a host of other good qualities. It is the means by which we grow. Without such a challenge, there would be no growth. Here is a brief answer your question as to why we have to receive the reactions to the consequences of our acts even though we cannot predict them: without this, there would be no evolution.
That we are under pressure to make a decision infers that others assume we are qualified to decide. If we see that avoiding to decide would be contrary to the best interests of ourselves, our family, or others, then we have to act and do the best we can.
I would not conclude that being forced to make a decision negates free will. I would conclude that being in the position where a decision has to be made proves the existence of free will. After all, "to decide" means there are choices. How you decide depends on you. Even if there are factors to consider that are beyond your control or against your desire (after all, if you had the possibility to change these circumstances you would) it is clear that being in the position to decide one way or the other means you have choice and this is free will.
There are many factors and conditions arising prior to the event requiring a decision, and how all the actors arrived together in this scenario is often extraordinarily complex. We all know that life often throws together people and circumstances in a manner that cooks us! How such situations play out is often a complex combination of multiple persons' free will and desire. When we are in a group, our singular free will and desire has to conform according to our desire and requirement to cooperate with other's decisions. Perhaps our free will manifested at the moment we decided to join a group? Perhaps we made the choice to be a member of a particular family?
Long ago we might have made the choice to smoke cigarettes and are now faced with the unpalatable options of choosing either chemotherapy or radical surgery. We might consider both these choices as terrible alternatives, but we might see death as even worse. We might say this means there really is no free choice, but that is not true. Some time ago we made a choice out of our free will and desire and now the consequences are upon us. You might argue that you lived in a home where your parents and family smoked, you played or grew up with friends who all smoked, smoking was considered the thing to do, or other situations forced you to do it and therefore you did not have the free choice to say no to the original offer to smoke. Perhaps it was like that; however, you still made the choice. You had the option to not do it.
Some choices seem to be created for us either by the devil or a saint. We might think the devil created the situation where we had to rob a bank, get captured on tape by the surveillance cameras, and subsequently get arrested when he arranged for you to be born in a poor family and have bad association. I do not know if you believe you were born into a particular circumstance accidentally or by choice, but depending on this belief you can understand the different ways in which you would look at all subsequent events. If you think you were born into a family and circumstances accidentally; there is no overriding intelligence or choice in these events; we are all thrown into the chaos of this world and battered around while fending for ourselves, you might think all events are the product of chaotic force. But then you would not have asked this question!
If you believe our present life is primarily a continuation from our last; meaning, we carry into this life our etheric bodies with memory, desire, and characteristic personality, then you would consider it quite possible that your previous situation, created by your free will and choice, has created the potential into which you are born in this life.
One might complain that it is quite hard to find the root of all of this. You would certainly be correct. Which event at which point in time created the original cause that created the character of all events to come? What was that significant thing that colored the path I was to take from then on? This is an interesting question that I cannot answer. If I had to find out my root cause, I would look within for my most powerful characteristic desire and try to extrapolate this to the start of my time. I could not depend on the answer, but it would assist me to better understand myself.
Your question mainly seeks to find out why we should be responsible for the consequences of our actions when we cannot predict what they shall be when we initiate such acts. But do we know the full consequences of any act? When I pour water on the floor, do I know how it will fall or exactly what it will wet when it splashes? All I can be sure of is that water will be on the floor. If I am mopping the floor, that is good enough for me for all I care about is moving the wet mop here and there to clean the floor. Spilling water is a simple act ordinarily done for a simple purpose. We have done it many times and we are sufficiently aware of what we are doing. We have decided that a complete knowledge of the random waves of the splash is not required and therefore we do not worry about it.
As acts increase in complexity, the possibilities of what can occur increase proportionately. Complex acts create complex consequences. In the real world, those who have a greater awareness of these consequences can predict what will take place and use it to their advantage, whereas those who are less aware will have a reduced capacity to exploit future events.
Let us, for fun, take the example of a government that decides to create an event they feel will transform their country and therefore the world. Great minds will sit together and create a plan, consider each and every situation that can arise, and plug all the holes that may exist. They create feasibility studies to determine if it will work and then update the plan until success is highly probable or certain. The event is then set into action and initially it seems to create the predicted pattern of results. This makes them happy and causes them to nourish these patterns with appropriate responses and legislation.
But is it always so? One can see that although for some time or in some way manipulation does indeed create situations that others can exploit to further their wealth, power, or gains, at one point these gains may be reversed, wiped out by severe, unforeseen reactions, crushed by disloyalty amongst the initial plan-makers, or any of a hundred other reasons why the best made plans of mice and men are often laid to waste. After all, who but God can predict events? Humans are prone to error and one of their most glaring errors is miscalculation. If even the best amongst us, the most intelligent amongst us, or even those within the celestial realm can miscalculate, why should one think we have the option of foresight?
I would conclude that we are therefore limited in what we can see and our challenge is to find our way with the perception we have. Considering this, we are naturally bound to accept consequences of decisions made without complete knowledge. This seems to simply be the way it is. And further, it seems only God has the perfect capacity to understand all consequences of all acts everywhere at all times as this is one of the reasons God is God and no one else is. Again, this understanding would only apply to you if you believed in God and God's capacity, otherwise you would think that all things are random events ruled by physical laws and a human's responsibility is to know these laws the best he can and work with them to make life as best as it can be. Even so, you would agree with the analysis that no one in this world can know everything and our task is to make the best of what we have.
None of these points negate free will. Free will is active in all circumstances, although our choices may be severely limited due to past forgotten actions that created the fertile ground for our present situations.
But why do we have to suffer the consequences of acts when we could not have predicted what will occur? After all, we did what we did with good intentions. Regardless, it seems to me that without acts creating consequences there would be no world. That an act creates a consequence is the basic factor of all existence and is the real definition of karma.
Consider a world where you could do anything you wanted and there would be no consequence? This is like saying, my acts will bring no results. So my eating would not fill my belly, drinking would not quench my thirst, or sex would not satisfy my desire or even feel good! When we separate an act from its result, we strip the world of all potential and create a realm ruled by the void. Naturally you would not accept this, neither could it ever happen.
Therefore consequences follow acts. Responsibility for these consequences must be linked to the performer of acts otherwise no one could eat or drink. You are aware of the consequence of eating ice cream. You like how it tastes and feels and therefore you eat it. Such pleasure often rules the decision making process which stops further questioning about future consequences because one considers them irrelevant to the enjoyment at hand. Ice cream is mainly fat and fat is not very good for you. Sometime down the road, you can develop problems that can severely curtail your health. In other words, there is good and bad in all things and how we decide to own these possibilities before we embark on an action will demonstrate our character and intelligence.
Learning to do things better for our own sake and for the sake of others is a challenge that fosters the evolution of our intelligence, strength, character, fortitude, determination, and a host of other good qualities. It is the means by which we grow. Without such a challenge, there would be no growth. Here is a brief answer your question as to why we have to receive the reactions to the consequences of our acts even though we cannot predict them: without this, there would be no evolution.
Sometimes we have to choose only from very few possibilities and most time we "eat ice cream" only because we like how it tastes and feels.
I want to thank you for your detailed answer.
It was alike as you wrote. I've started to smoke three times because of association with smokers.You might argue that you lived in a home where your parents and family smoked, you played or grew up with friends who all smoked, smoking was considered the thing to do, or other situations forced you to do it and therefore you did not have the free choice to say no to the original offer to smoke.
I want to thank you for your detailed answer.