Free Will, a human strategy, aphorism 419

419

It could be argued that we do not really have a belief in our near future; we have simply adapted to the repetition of past events.  We translate what was into that which will come around again.  What we call our future is nothing other than the sum total of our past.  We fit into this repetition just as a needle of a phonograph fits into the groove of a record.  In time we gain an extraordinary and blind confidence in the repetition of events.  When this blindness is comfortable and convenient, we call it Free Will.  

Of course, it follows then that if a man has not accepted the repetition in his life, he must necessarily deny what has just been said here and with proof, for it is only obvious to him that he does in fact have Free Will.  Everything he wishes to happen, happens!

It is not however obvious to me at all.  My Free Will is only the acknowledgment of one more cog in the machine: How did I wish precisely this?  ... and most importantly, can I manipulate what repeats in such a way that I elevate my wishes?


Those with the greatest control over “choice” are those who see the extent to which their choices have already been limited.  Not seeing these limits, they are the least free who proclaim in the loudest voices the broadest range of freedoms.

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