MF Free Will, Self, Good

From: Joćo Correia da Silva (joao.silva@optimus.pt)
Date: Wed May 23 2001 - 12:12:52 BST


Hi all,

Confused about the existence and nature of the SELF and the FREE WILL, I
decided to collect different perspectives in order to bring light to this
subject...

Started by asking myself..

MYSELF - What?! My doubts are about the existence of something independent
from myself.. My WILL is FREE, of course.

Then, I called Descartes..

DESCARTES - Cogito, ergo sum. Everyone's WILL is determined. All future
events can be predicted by extrapolation of the present.

Well.. maybe Planck can help me here..

PLANCK - From the point of view of the subject, WILL is FREE. From the
outside, WILL is DETERMINED.

So, my WILL is FREE, other's WILLs are DETERMINED!?* I'm more confused
,now.. I guess the GOOD will decide, not the TRUTH..

"What is good, Phaedrus, and what is not good.. do we need anyone to tell us
these things?"

GOOD - When the decision/behavior matches the one of a GOOD GOD, its a good
decision/behavior
                When the subject decides/behaves in the same way that he
would if all mankind imitated him, its a good decision/behavior
                When the subject decides/behaves in a way that maximises his
reward/well being, its a good decision/behavior
                ........
                ........
                Even Intellectually, we have many competing GOODs. Probably,
the best way to do good comes from outside all rationales.. its an
infinitely complex problem to solve.. If you think you can, you can. You do
GOOD.
                
As we decide, one of the major influences to the decision is the good/bad
perception patterns of each option. One tries to behave in a way that he can
see/feel as the BEST way (as GOOD as one can, rather than BAD). Continuing
with this good/bad knife, we could then say that all actions/behaviors
(WILLs?) are equally GOOD in its nature.. This is the Individualistic
perspective. But, for sure, not all actions/behaviors are equally GOOD in a
Social perspective. We're Hitler's actions/wills as good as MLKing's?

Being common to all human beings (at least), this good/bad feeling (my
belief is that it begins with a feeling, that is intellectualised
afterwards) that results from doing or perceiving something good/bad, must
have associated biological patterns (hormones?)**.

Therefore, my belief is that THE GOOD EXISTS (intellectually, socially and
biologically)... IN YOURSELF.

STAY GOOD,
                      Joćo

*That could lead to a universe where one present (t) comes from one
immediate past (t-dt) but leads to an infinite number of immediate futures
(t+dt). Yet, one's self follows/perceives only one t+dt (which one? - the
nagual decides?). This is getting confusing..
After I act one way, there's another me that followed the other way (I'm
simplifying here, actions happen every instant and there is an infinite
number of different ones) and will live his life aswell (well, his present
(t) will lead to infinite immediate futures (t+dt)).. So, are we multiplying
ourselves every moment?
Can this JUMP from a linear universe to a tree of parallel universes resolve
the free will/determinism question? Of course this is merely an unverifiable
abstraction.. There could be a GOOD here, to follow the BEST life of all.
Does this make sense?

**since the mind's physical basis extends to the whole body - the brain/body
split is not abrupt, the nerves cover all the body as extensions of the
brain.

MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org



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