It seems like almost everyone believes in the concept of “free will.” You may be one of them, but you wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t have some doubts about the concept or the definition of it.
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What is “Free Will?”
Nearly everyone thinks of “free will” as the ability to make choices as a separate individual, as one wishes.
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Some Effects of Believing We Are Separate Individuals and Make Our Own Choices
The First Effect is that…
1 IT ADDS ONGOING PRESSURE
Believing in “free will” adds enormous amounts of stress that we are in charge of absolutely everything in our lives, such as decisions we make, where we go, what we do, who we interact with, how much money we have, what experiences we have, and when we have them. What a load!
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Another Effect of Believing We are Separate and Make Our Own Choices is that…
2 IT MAKES US THINK WE ARE INDEPENDENT
That means we want to do things all on our own. This makes us think we are self-sufficient and free from anyone’s help. It’s understandable since most of us have been raised in cultures that train us to build our self-worth through individual accomplishments.
But, do we do anything independent of others? Everywhere we turn there are people who support us when we are in doubt, give us money when we need it, teach us shortcuts, provide supplies and equipment to make it easier for us, and the list goes on.
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Another Effect of Believing We are Separate and Make Our Own Choices is that…
3 IT CAN CAUSE US TO BE EXCESSIVELY FOCUSED ON OURSELVES
The belief in “free will” tends to make us go in the direction that is more self-serving—centering ourselves around our own importance, preferences, and what we can individually attain. That might explain why the term narcissistic is so common now.
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Another Effect is that…
4 IT MAKES US THINK WE HAVE SUPREME AUTHORITY
Believing we are separate individuals and make our own decisions tends to make us feel we are in power. There’s really no need to buy into the idea that there is a higher source when we believe we are at the top.
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Another Effect is that…
5 WE CAN EASILY BE CONFUSED
When we believe in “free will” it often causes us to get overwhelmed, and sometimes paralyzed over the many choices we think we have. We sure don’t want to make any wrong decisions.
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Another Effect is that…
6 WE CONCENTRATE ON “GETTING”
Believing we are separate individuals and make our own decisions tends to make us try to “get” something that we think will be perfect for us, or at least better.
This keeps us thinking that we will feel good when we get what we want, but not until then.
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Another Effect is that…
7 WE USE RELATIONSHIPS
It tends to make us try to control others to “get something” from them by giving them hardly anything of value in return.
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Another Effect is that…
8 IT CAN KEEP US WANTING TO “GET” MORE
When we do “get” something we chose, it can often be ho-hum, not that satisfying, and not provide what we thought it would. That causes us to try to “get something” else or go for a higher goal. Wanting different spouses or wanting more money can be good examples of both of these.
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Another Effect is that…
9 IT OFTEN DISPROVES THE CONCEPT OF FREE WILL
When we DON’T “get” our choice, it challenges our belief in “free will.” Maybe we don’t have total control over our decisions and preferences.
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Another Effect is…
10 THE NEED TO EXPLAIN WHY WE DIDN’T “GET” IT
Because our belief in “free will” has been questioned, we could justify it by thinking we did something wrong to prevent ourselves from “getting” it.
The problem is that once we believe we have done something wrong, we will punish ourselves somehow. Guilt and punishment go together. You can’t have one without the other.
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Another Effect of Believing We are Separate and Make Our Own Choices is that…
11 WE COULD BLAME OTHERS FOR NOT “GETTING” IT
Another way we can justify not “getting” what we want is to blame others. The only problem with this is that it contradicts our belief that we are independent individuals and can do as we wish.
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Another Effect is that…
12 IT PROMOTES SUPERIORITY
The more we “get” what we want, believing we are separate individuals and make our own decisions, tends to make us think we are better than people who don’t “get” what they want.
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Another Effect is that…
13 IT KEEPS US ON A CONTINUOUS CYCLE
Not questioning the concept of “free will” keeps us in a repetitive cycle of trying to “get” something else with very little attention paid to trying to “give” something.
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Another Effect is that…
14 IT MAKES IT HARD TO FORGIVE OURSELVES
Believing in “free will” makes it nearly impossible to forgive ourselves. This is a huge effect! It affects our perspective of the past, what we think of ourselves now, and whether we will keep punishing ourselves in the future.
An indication we haven’t forgiven ourselves is if we have regrets, thinking anything we did or did not do in the past should have been different from what it was.
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Another Effect is that…
15 IT CAUSES SOME FORM OF ANGER
When we do “get” our choices and they are not satisfying, or if we don’t “get” our choices, it can easily cause us to be upset, jealous, resentful, or disappointed.
Anger is when we expect ourselves, someone else, or anything else to be different than it is.
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Another Effect is that…
16 IT DOWNPLAYS THE CONCEPT OF HINDSIGHT
Hindsight is the ability to understand why things happened the way they did and why we didn’t get the results we wanted from our choices. Hindsight puts several people’s individual actions together so we can see the whole picture.
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Another Effect is that…
17 IT MAKES US DISREGARD SIGNS FROM THE UNIVERSE
Believing in “free will” tends to cause us to poo-poo signs from the universe, synchronicities, or coincidences, which are there to help us avoid obstacles, and make our lives easier and more rewarding.
A sign from the universe is an external message from the higher source that orchestrates events, trying to tell us something. Signs usually come from someone or some group that does something to trigger an emotional response in us.
Everyone having “free will” and choosing only as they wish would make this extremely difficult, if not impossible, to occur.
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Another Effect is that…
18 IT CAUSES US TO BLOW OFF PREMONITIONS
Believing in “free will” tends to make us skeptical of psychics or anyone else who can forecast our future. If someone can predict someone else’s future, that takes away our autonomy and the belief that we are separate from others.
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Another Effect of Believing We are Separate and Make Our Own Choices is that…
19 IT PUSHES EXTENDING LOVE ASIDE
When we are busy making choices, extending loving thoughts and feeling gratitude tends not to be a high priority.
The problem with staying preoccupied with numerous day-to-day choices, whether we “get” them or not, is that it isn’t very satisfying. They are mostly made up of unimportant matters. What’s very satisfying though, is positive emotions and feelings.
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A Simpler Choice
Don’t get me wrong, WE DO MAKE CHOICES!!! But it’s simpler than you think. Instead of deciding between multiple options that are constantly changing, there can be one choice to make over and over, a thousand times a day.
In any situation or with anyone, do we want to choose LOVE or NOT?
When we pick LOVE, our intuition takes over and orchestrates the unimportant matter for us in the most miraculous way.
We cannot always choose what happens, but we can choose how we want to experience it.
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I have two QUIZZES that may help you…
Is the Changing World Stressing You Out?
How Often Do You Listen to Your Intuition?
Also, check out the Inner Work and Intuition sections on my website.
And, if you need an advisor to help you on your quest, contact Vickie Champion for a coaching and consulting session at a discounted price.