Can there be free will as long as it works from the conditioned mind?

The human mind is conditioned by various factors, some overt and some covert. In general, there are three main conditioning influences: (1) genetics, (2) environmental, and (3) due to the impact of past lives. The mental structure of a human being is a complex product of experiential residuals influenced by the previous three. Let’s call this as the Mental Content of a person. Decisions are actually made by this content, although the apparent evaluation, based on the superficial thought process, is too superficial to recognize this. Because we knowingly or unknowingly perceive mental content in others, we can predict a person’s reactions after observing their behavior for some time. If that person can function entirely from his free will, without the influence of a background, it will be difficult for us to do so. This implies that the past plays an important role in determining a person’s reactions. One of Jesus’ statements is relevant here: Forgive them for they know not what they do.

That begs the question: Where does free will come into all of this? The only free and intact psychological state of the past is simple self-awareness. It is like a witness that does not interfere. That is the only thing free from being influenced by a person’s Mental Content. When that vitality is there, the reaction of the content is modified and one’s response is imbued with compassion rather than simply controlled by the past. To think that free will implies that one can make any decision one wishes, without the influence of one’s Mental Content, is to ignore the hidden forces of the residue of the past. Those who have perceived the power of content know that it is a giant. As J. Krishnamurti says: “It’s too fast for you to control.” Thus, the only thing that can dissolve its power is an action in the present that is calm self-awareness that is free from all emotions and therefore free from all the past. The joy of self-awareness clears away the obstacles for a more intense awareness to intervene.

The general human tendency is to let the mind rule the root through its inherited and acquired conditioning. Without knowing it, we all get caught up in this urge and lose our lives in the rut that catches us early in our lives. At some point, some of us become reflective and realize with surprise the damage done to our psychophysical system as a result of unknowingly falling prey to Mental Content. Can we do something to get out of the routine? The answer is not to conform to some system, religious or anti-religious, but to stand alone, free from all conditioning. That is like shining like a single star in a clear sky.

In Sanskrit, the phrase ‘Gunas of Prakriti’ is often used. This phrase means ‘characteristics of the flow of cause and effect in nature’. Krishna says in the Bhagawad Gita: “Actions are performed in all cases by the Gunas of Prakriti, but one whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks: ‘I am the doer'”. We see that this delusion is the same when one thinks “I am the one who is making the decisions.”

There was an interesting neurobiology article by Christof Koch in Scientific American/Mind (May/June 2012) titled “Finding Free Will.” It establishes the myth behind conventional ideas of free will. The following lines appear at the beginning of the article. :

“In a remote corner of the universe, on a small blue planet gravitating around a drab sun in the outer reaches of the Milky Way, organisms arose from the primordial ooze and ooze out in an epic struggle for survival that spanned eons. Despite From all the evidence to the contrary, these bipedal creatures considered themselves extraordinarily privileged, occupying a unique place in a cosmos of a trillion trillion stars, and as conceited as they were, they believed that they, and only they, could escape extinction. iron law of cause and effect that governs everything.

When we see all of this, we move into a region of deeper perspectives on our lives. Related topics are covered on this spirituality website.