Gnostic Bishop wrote:
Absolutely; to a point governed by nature and physics.
We still have a free will as tests based on our ability to give it up show.
I E. If I asked you to begin a reply as I asked. IOWs, censor you.
Regards
DL
What tests? Please send me a link as I want to know more. As far as I know, all our choices are determined by our genes, environments, nutrients and experiences. We are not and cannot be free from causality. We do what we find rewarding and refrain from doing what we find punishing. For example, I am a vegan because I find it rewarding to know that I have refrained from causing suffering and death to sentient biological organisms. Others are omnivores because they find it rewarding to eat meat and they don't care about the suffering and death of sentient biological organisms. Different people find different things rewarding or punishing because they have different genes, environments, nutrients and experiences.
Things I want to do but can't do due to lack of ability:
1. Go back in time and prevent all suffering and death and injustice.
2. Make all living things equally omnibenevolent, omniscient and omnipotent and be the owner of an infinite number of universes each.
3. End all diseases, health problems, deaths, etc.
4. Prevent all natural disasters.
5. Prevent all accidents.
6. Prevent all violence, killings, rapes, kidnappings, tortures, crimes, persecutions, bullying, bigotry, hypocrisy, selfishness, cruelty, etc.
7. Prevent all malevolence, indifference and ignorance.
8. Give everyone the ability to teleport everywhere in an infinite number of universes across an infinite number of timelines.
9. Prevent all poverty.
Things I have done, still do (or will do) even though I don't want to do them:
1. Breathe
2. Eat
3. Drink
4. Sleep
5. Dream
7. Pee
8. Poo
9. Fart
10. Burp
11. Sneeze
12. Cough
13.Age
14. Get ill
15. Get injured
16. Sweat
17. Cry
18. Suffer
19. Have flashbacks
20. Have intrusive thoughts
21. Have delusions
22. Have hallucinations
23. Die
So, given the above two lists, how am I free? I am clearly not free. My will is not free, it is constrained by my genes, environments, nutrients and experiences. I am a prisoner causality from conception to death, as are you and every living thing. We are all doomed to be conceived, to suffer and to die.