In Common Light

I find it strange that we can be aware of our natural impulses (biology) and almost go against them (free will).

By learning about psychology, I can be aware of what is happening in my brain, such as the availability heuristic, certain biases, or how my mood fluctuates at different phases of my menstrual cycle.

For example, during my menstrual phase, my hormones set me up to be very inward. Because biologically, my body is preparing itself for a potential pregnancy, and thus my hormones set up a conscious mental disposition — one to reflect, one that is more prone to sadness, and one that is more sensitive (Cycle Syncing, 2023). And I know that that’s happening – in my brain, at each current moment. Even though these hormones are all working in my body, my free will can change this. I can go against it, or with it. On the flip side, it is still happening, regardless of what I willfully do or don’t do. 

The funny part is that I may call myself a very introspective, sensitive person, while I am in this phase. I may attribute my biological predisposition, or full-on disposition, to my willful choices – my conscious behavior, my personality, my individuality. But I am a creature, with not only a mind, but a body, too, that is engineered by my environment, by survival constraints and pressures — pressures to survive and reproduce. So I can think that I am so cool and special, a willful creature – but really, there are hormones shaping my behavior behind the scenes, without my control over them. There is more than my conscious, rational, free will at play.

I think there’s more to this – a prevalent cultural narrative that says reality is nothing but a result of our free will, individuality, conscious behavior, rationalism, and that we live in a vacuum free of the effects of societal forces beyond our control. 

Some think that their life – and life in general – is manifested and influenced merely from their own choices, behaviors, free will. But they don’t recognize that social rank and position – social forces and factors beyond their control – largely impacts their lives. 

The fact that factors are operating behind the scenes is not much of a surprise for some other groups of people. They may know that even if they do everything right – even if they express their free will in the right way – such as go to the right schools and get the right jobs, they will not experience all that they want, or all that that his supposed to yield, because there are factors working behind the scenes to create a certain outcome.

It is like domesticated dogs. They seem all happy and like they love humans, naturally. But you learn that they were bred by humans to be this way. So, it is not the cause of dogs themselves, but of humans, that dogs are great companions. We helped ourselves by curating the gene pool in a certain way. We still enjoy dogs and their friendliness. This is not bad, we should not appreciate their friendliness. But it would be silly to say that they’re this way because of their free will, from the source. Domesticated dogs, originating from wolves, wanted to be in the wild. Their nature was interrupted, and their free will is not naturally inclined to be human companions. 

But back to this universal theme. There is some system behind the scenes that influences how dogs act and behave – the human engineering of their ancestors. Their behavior is not a result of free will, but of manipulation. 

We need to recognize that the behind-the-scenes interworking of human society, as of right now, and throughout time, is and has been history. Since we did not willfully cause what is going on, we know that there are some behind the scenes underpinnings at play. 

Behind what we think of sometimes of free will is a system, compounded and shaped by history, forces outside of our control. We are not powerless to the behind-the-scenes forces. We do have free will. The key is to understand how the underpinning factors are influencing our free will.

A way to do this is to take a spiritual journey to clear blockages – both from our lifetime up until this point and past generations. This allows us to enter a place of wholeness and a place of attracting and creating things from only good intentions. 

References

Cycle syncing: Increasing emotional well being during your menstrual cycle | wildflower center for emotional health. Wildflower Center for Emotional Health. (2023, December 14). https://www.wildflowerllc.com/cycle-syncing-increasing-emotional-well-being-during-your-menstrual-cycle/

Cover Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash