Do you think that we are truly free to choose the direction of our own thoughts?

Question: Do you think that we are truly free to choose the direction of our own thoughts!?
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The degree of discipline you have over your own thoughts will determine how successful and happy you are!.!.!.!. Controlling your own mind is somewhat like disciplining a child!.!.!.!. You don't need to use excessive force!.!.!.!. You only have to lead firmly!.!.!. and you'll get cooperation!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

If you choose to explore one thought and follow the path of it, it'll conduct you somewhere for a long time, always from the same thought!. Of course you'll have thoughts around it which elaborate the main one!. As a simple example; you take the highway to go somewhere, you may stop to eat, later on to get to the bathroom, so on, see certain things that caught your attention, although you main thought is to reach your goal!.
It's called concentration and focus!.
Thanks,Www@QuestionHome@Com

Yes!.!.!. if it is a single thought!. But never is a thought single !. There is a cluster of thoughts all the time and like the fireworks diaplay they keep coming again and again and again!.!.
IF we are able to choose one thought , just one thought at a time then we are free to choose the direction!. But we are confused as all the time we seem to be at a junction where many roads part !. This is where our freewill is a curse!. Unlike the animals , who follow their programmed life we waver!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Well, it's like this, thoughts will flit through our minds, but we don't have to invite them in for tea!.!.!. Yes, we are truly free to choose the direction of our thoughts!. Further, we're expected to choose wisely, positively, lovingly!. It's our responsibility as adults (assuming we are) to do so!. Lack of impulse/thought control is a symptom of immaturity and/or addiction!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Yes and no, depending on what you mean by it!.

There's a great lump of footnote to Chapter 6 of "The End of Faith," by Sam Harris, arguing against the notion of free will and particularly against the notion of freedom to control one's own thought processes!. And that's all very well; I freely admit that thoughts do seem to arise with a certain spontaneity rather than in a controlled fashion!. Harris avoids (wisely, I think) being too specific about whether he thinks thoughts arise deterministically or randomly; the point is that either way, they're not strictly controlled!.

However, it is certainly the case that thoughts arise in response to context; we can cause the proportion of thoughts pertaining to a particular subject, and useful in our examination of that subject, to increase, by turning our attention to the thoughts of that subject!. If that were not the case, we could not write consistent, connected answers to questions, let alone books!.

The fact that I am writing this answer demonstrates that I am at least to some extent free to direct my own thoughts, at least in a sense of directed aggregate tendencies!. I don't claim total control, but I don't need total control; I need the practical capacity to achieve a result!.

I doubt that either determinism or randomicity is nearly as significant to thought production as the concept of emergent phenomena, and emergency seems to me to leave room for free will!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

We can't choose our thoughts, but we can choose the impact they have on us!. If we practice, we can quiet the mind from much of the incessant chatter we have filled it with!. I am thankful that I have been able to do this because my mind used to be a frantic manic whirlwind that nearly drove me nuts!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Good question!

I like the Spinozist idea that we are not free!. We are slaves to our passions!. It is determinism!. That is to say that we do not even have free will because nature controls every action and "choice" we make!.

Belief systems are even controlled by the human passions!. I am tired today, but would expand on that if I had the time!.

Maybe you could do a little research!. It was a good question though!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Our private thoughts are one of the very few things neither government, the church, controlling dictators nor those who would presume to dictate our thoughts, can control!.!.!.

unless we allow it!. I, for one, will never allow it!. I recommend this position for every free person!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

For the truly ceative mind, unaffected by the constraints of
society, I believe this is possible!. Creativity elevates us
beyond the ordinary world and lets us live in a parallell world
where all things are possible and restrictions unlimited!. It's
a wonderful place!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Yes, but it takes a lot of practice and a good deal of serenity!. Yoga aims at complete control of thought as well as complete control of the body!. Read the "Autobiography of a Yogi" to get some idea of what these people are capable of!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It depends on how you look at it, sometimes we let our Mind wander, to remember some of the things we had done during our Lifetime!. But I guess we are the ones who choose the Direction of where we want our thoughts to be!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It's quite difficult to determine what is real and what isn't!. We all see things differently, and if you believe your thoughts are being controlled by something or someone, no one could truly disprove you!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

We are free to choose but that direction of thought may not be where we should be thinking!.!.Its hard to make one's thoughts go another direction when it's hell bent on another way!.!. So no its not really free!.!.Its warped and cannot be reshaped!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Not really but while we are waiting for the bus we can already have an idea which one we are going to get on!. And if we start to travel the same old tiresome route we can always hop off and wait for another!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

no!. but we are free to pick or drop them, to identify or disidentify from this endless stream of thoughts that is hapening in us every day!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Well, if you're not free to choose the direction of your own thoughts, somebody else sure as hell will be!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

No!.we are compelled to think according to our tendencies!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Yes we are absolutely free to 'think' in any direction without any limitationsWww@QuestionHome@Com

Yea I ThiankWww@QuestionHome@Com

Only w/in the frame of our environment and experience!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

yes, we have many options but we chose the path even if sometimes we know we are chosing the wrong one!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Without freedom of thought, we are all just puppets,!.!.!.& I do NOT like the idea of being a complete puppet!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Not free from moral obligations !. If those thoughts tend to lead to breaking them !.Www@QuestionHome@Com

If we keep from being brainwashed!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Not always!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

yes
but not our behaviorsWww@QuestionHome@Com

false!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Did you read The Time Traveller's Wife!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

yesWww@QuestionHome@Com

Yes!.

So as a man thinketh, so is heWww@QuestionHome@Com

yes i beleive we are!.Www@QuestionHome@Com