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Question: If we came into this world NOT by our Choice, then what makes you think we have Free-Will!?
also, we are given our individual physical appearances, intelligence, interests, personality, and gender!. So with that being said, Bill Gates is who he is suppose to be and Michael Jordan is who is suppose to be also!. There is no way in Zillions years Gates can play like Jordan and Jordan can be successful in computers! So isn't it obvious that our free will is just an illusion!? Our choices are based on our given personality by some higher power who placed us here to be individual!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I agree and disagree with you!
My disagreement is that we don't know, don't remember what happened before we came here !.!.!.!. there for anything said about it is a theory!.
As to the rest!. Yes, I agree!. Humans are limited by what they are born as, the culture and parents they are born to!. There are simply certain things that can not be changed!. And most of our choices are based on what you refer to as Ego!.
Ego is shaped by what we are innately, and our cultural family programing!.
That is, a Christian will believe, act and do as a Christian!. We are not born Christian, Buddhist, Atheist or anything else !.!.!.!.!. we are indoctrinated!. (This is neither right nor wrong !.!.!. it is!. If this didn't exist the world would be filled with more primitive forms of interacting)
I have three children and each one of them is different!. Because they are uniquely, bio-chemically, themselves!. Yet, because they grew up in this country, with me as their mother they will develop certain characteristic that will be similar even though they are each different!.
cheersWww@QuestionHome@Com
For thousands of years, religion had the power to kill you as a heretic if you didn't believe in what they said!. For some, that pressure has never vanished!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
i don't know about your examples, and i have some of my own!. I agree with you about us not having free will!. We do have at least a little though, thats enough for me!. I usually do what i want!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
I choose to immerse my self in the ultimate illusion of free will!.
Complete free will may not exist, but certainly we experience more of it than other creatures!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
because you have the choice to either stay in this life or notWww@QuestionHome@Com
it is the choices you make that reveal who you truly areWww@QuestionHome@Com
it was our parents choice that we were born into this world, and they give us gradual free will, so i think we do have free will!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Ahhh!.!.!.!. But what if, as some believe, you're spirit CHOSE the vessel to inhabit in this life in order to fulfill a part of your own personal evolution and by doing so help to evolve the Universe a little bit further!?
Even if you don't believe that!.!.!.!. Consider that perhaps you have just become so emeshed in the illusion of personality (the preconceived idea of who you are) that you have stopped exercising your free-will!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
You have a few cogent points in your argument, but I think that they can all be refuted!.
We didn't choose to be born- well, is that really so!? There is a young genius who was featured on an episode of UNSOLVED MYSTERIES who had explained that he chose his mother before he was actually conceived!. Perhaps it was merely a dream, or peradventure it was just an embellished fantasy or prevarication- but what if it really happened!?
How do you truly know that Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, and anyone else for that matter is who they were 'supposed' to be!? How can we verify this!?
We all have predilections that are predetermined, or would appear to be predetermined, by genetics, environment, needs, appetites, perceptions, peer groups, education level, etc ad infinitum!. Be that as it may, we still have choice!. We will have leanings, and maybe that will ultimately play a part in the afterlife or in Karma- it is said that what comes around goes around!. But at the end of the day, we have to be held accountable for our actions in this life!.
Those observations you brought up are valid and clever, but those aspects notwithstanding, these things do not nullify our status as free agents!. These things can cloud our minds and can give the appearance of controlling us, but we still must make selections, and we must deal with the consequences of those choices!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Because for every choice you make, their are different directions that the choice may lead you!. Then you have to make a decision as to which choice you will make!. We make millions of decisions every day, and the choices are our own!. It is our free will to learn or be stupid!. It is our choice!.
To know that there is a better way to live than being in a bad situation is, and not doing anything about it, is free will!. Not very intelligent, nonetheless, it is a personal choice!.
Being successful, is being ready when opportunity shows itself and recognizing what it is!.
It is possible that we choose our birthright, although not very likely!. Then to most, it would have been bad decision making wouldn't it!?
peace!.Www@QuestionHome@Com