In preparing to party, Big J and I frequently engage in philistine argument, which keeps the mind flexible. Underneath the party sheen, Big J, like most party-misfits, is an introspective human pushing the boundaries of the mind by whatever means necessary. His religion is atheism, yet his outlook reveals a fundamental faith in the universe. Challenge him to a debate on faith, and you may find that his eclipses yours. This is a unifying theme of party-goers globally, that the universe conspires in your favor to bring you before amazing places, people and parties…
The conversation now focuses on free will. Big J claims that free will is just an illusion. As an agnostic, my immediate response is bull shit.
Experientially, free will is witnessed as real through our perceptions, what makes us paranoid, and what we choose to believe in: conspiracies, extra-terrestrials, Jesus, environmental degradation, pre-marital sex, prohibition, the corporate capture of American Democrazy, and, most importantly, the creation and appreciation of art and music.
“Look, I decide to move my arm, I move my arm. It moves, because my brain tells it to move.” “Yeah, but where does that impulse to tell your brain to move it come from?” “What are you talking about? I did.” “Haha,” he laughs at my ignorance.
“No, what causes that synapse to fire? We’ll agree, in the end, that your bran is just chemistry.” I nod my head. “Now, the chemistry that causes your movements, your thoughts – they are merely electricity moving in your head, as set in motion by the Big Bang.” “Agreed.” “Thus, in order to truly control your thoughts, you’d have to control electricity.”
“What are you talking about? I control which synapses to fire.”
“Exactly, then you would have to control chemistry.” Hmm… “Either that, or it’s just the science in your brain playing out as set in motion by the creation of the universe. Scientists are now at a point where they’re not sure if they agree whether humans can control the science in their brain, or if it’s all just chemistry.”
“Surely you don’t believe that. Humans placed in boxes deteriorate, and they do not evolve into advanced minds.”
“Let me show you something.”
Big J, big beer in hand, plays this YouTube Video for an example of Libet’s experiment, which examines the brain activity of a subject directed to do something randomly, such as pressing a button without pattern. The results indicate that the subject’s brain is activated up to six seconds before the moment he or she randomly presses the button, i.e. before the subject “decides” to spontaneously damper the trigger. The origin of this impulse unclear.
Yeah, well, that’s to be expected – the part of his brain that moves his finger is stimulated prior to pressing the button.
"You’re missing the point. The decision to press enters his brain prior to what he perceives is the conscious decision of when to press. Thus, the decision to press and when enters his brain well before he actually presses the button, and we don’t know where this decision comes from or what triggers it. The decision is made for him, and the conscious mind is merely perceiving that decision after it takes place, believing it is making that decision, when in fact, there appears to be no freedom as to when the decision to press the button occurs.
“So there’s no freedom of thought?”
Big J -- The existential problem presents two seemingly unacceptable realities. I do not claim to know which of the two is correct. Matter reacts to other matter. There are only so many elements. Carbon reacts with water given the same conditions every time. There is no secondary way carbon interacts with water. It is always the same. And it has been since the big bang. Your thoughts are grounded in this principle. Whether that actually matters is another discussion. Matter controls thoughts. That is option one. If this is true, there is no free will.
Another equally interesting possibility exists. Thought controls matter. If that is the case, then we are all God…
Taking it one step further, we are all matter. There is nothing special about our bodies. It is just carbon, water, elements. And the decisions we think we perceive are automated. Water always boils at 212 degrees. Always. Unless you change it and add salt. Then is boils slightly higher. Every time. It’s always the same. And if thought is an illusion, and thought is as automatic as the boiling degree of water, then there is a much bigger problem we still have not addressed.
There is no I. The system which makes every decision you think you make is so much larger than you. There is no you. It’s all the Big Bang. Boom! You are the big bang. So is every piece of all matter. The very fabric of existence is all the same. You are not part of it. You are it. There is no individual I. There is no differentiation between “living” and “inanimate” It is all matter. Matter is one. We are all one. “
Partyboygeezy -- You’re freaking me out. Of course I exist as an individual and can make my own decisions.”
Can you, or is that just an illusion? Do you really think you are making those decisions, or it’s dictated by the big bang and the system naturally created by it?
Partyboygeezy -- I think I’m starting to understand. The heart beats naturally, and we don’t think that we are controlling our heart – even though it is controlled by the synapses in our brain. Why do we think that we can consciously control the synapses that don’t fire uniformly? But then what about laws? If you can’t change people’s actions with laws, if they’re all purely reactionary, then what’s the point to laws?”
Big J -- Look, this creates many problems with the way humans have created society, if everything is merely reactive to the natural course of events. But you’re forgetting that decision-making is situational, therefore situations seem to dictate how events unfold, but put yourself in a given situation at a given time, and you will react with the same reaction in every circumstance.
Partyboygeezy -- So then let’s just do away with everything – all social rules and laws that is. Let’s just go crazy! Those who are programmed to follow the laws would do it anyway, based upon moral reflection, and those that are programmed not to follow the laws, won’t follow them anyway – so what’s the point?”
Big J shrugs, “There is none.”
Then it all started to unravel, perceived reality. A sense of panic crept into my being, and I clung for control. “Hold on, you’re an atheist. You’re promoting predestination, the most rigid of all theistic philosophies, one that promotes hierarchy and denounces social justice. How can you believe in predestination, if you don’t believe in God?”
Big J -- I put my faith in science, the science that was set into motion during the big bang. Ironic, isn’t it, that atheists and the most fundamental of religious thinkers essentially believe the same thing?”
“Well, then you just believe in God, don’t you? If Creation made everything happen, and it’s all happening just as it’s supposed to, you believe in the same order that fundamentalists are talking about when they talk about God.”
“I don’t really believe that there is a puppet master pulling strings. It’s all put into order, and the order is undeniable. As a single human do you believe that you can alter that order in any way? Then you yourself are a god.”
"But really, we’re all God in the end, right, because we’re all part of the same fabric we’re talking about. I would also go to say that you believe in god because you’re part of that order."
“Well, if that’s what you think God is, if that’s what you’re describing, then yes, I suppose I believe in God.”
“Snap! I got you to believe in God, you dirty hell-worshipping atheist. I’m sick of this conversation. Let’s get drunk. You will believe in God and feel like God when you see all these women shoving themselves at you to steal those worthless Chinese beads I gave you.”
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