Determinism in the Exercise of Free Will — Free Will in the Carrying Out of Determinism

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We generally jump to extremes in
our way of looking at things

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from our normal mental
viewpoint.

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Thus we either want to accept
that everything is absolutely

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determined and thus every move
we make, every action, every

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reaction is choreographed down
to the slightest detail, or else

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we want to believe that we are
totally free and independent and

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we are basically self-made in
our decisions and actions.

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The reality, however, is
somewhat more complicated than

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this view.
The Bible claims that God

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attends to the fate of each bird
in the field, which implies some

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kind of micromanagement of all
activities.

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This is an example of a belief
in absolute determinism.

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There are others who say that
either there is no God or that

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God is dead, implying that we
are totally free and unhindered

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in making whatever free decision
we like.

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Even those who do not
acknowledge the existence of

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some overarching attendant
power, working out each detail

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of our lives may still accept
the idea of a chain of cause and

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effect, karma or dependent
origination.

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That said, the science of
mathematics, and in particular

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statistical analysis and the
development of the fields of

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psychology, sociology, and
social psychology, can lead us

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to a more nuanced understanding
of how things occur.

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These disciplines show that
individuals exercising what they

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believe to be their free will
actually wind up creating

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patterns that are able to be
both predicted and mapped when

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there is a large enough sample
to capture a suitably large

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population of decision makers.
This is the famous bell shaped

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curve that plots the results in
such a way that one can see that

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the big picture direction is
carried out while there are

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still outliers both below and
above the primary distribution

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of results, all of which remains
predictable as to the big

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picture while each individual is
essentially left free.

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Of course, this freedom is also
conditioned by the chain of

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cause and effect, so the actual
implementation of free will is a

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minor aspect of the larger
picture.

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Yet the aspect of free will
remains a possibility.

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The higher one climbs in the
ladder of consciousness, the

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more flexibility and free will
is evidenced eventually at the

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realms of the cosmic spirit that
controls and directs the

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conscious development of the
universal manifestation.

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The exercise of free will comes
to its true fruition,

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Shriorobindo observes, quote.
The universal forces move by

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their own force and the
consciousness within them.

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But there is also the cosmic
spirit who supports them, and

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determines by his outlook and
disposing will their play.

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Although the direct action is
left to the forces, it is the

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play of universal procrity, with
the universal Purusha watching

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behind it in the individual.
Also there is the individual

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Purusha, who can, if he wills,
not merely assent to the play of

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procrity, but accept or reject
or will for its change.

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All that is in the play itself.
As we see it here, there is

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something above, but the action
of that is an intervention

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rather than a moment to moment
control.

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It can become a constant direct
control only when one replaces

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the play of the forces by the
government of the Divine End.

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Quote Reference Sri Aurobindo
and the Mother, The Hidden

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Forces of Life, Chapter One,
Life Through the Eyes of the

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Yogin, pages 24 to 25.