Free Will, Making Decisions And The Brain

A ten-minute talk on free will and philosophy, and on making decisions and the brain. This is followed by a meditation commentary on this theme. Recorded live with some background noise. This talk refers to previous talks on Mindfulness and Metaphysics.

Transcript

So I thought I'd use a theme to,

And see what these different philosophies and the different ways the brain approaches things relate to that theme.

And the theme I thought I would use would be free will.

That's quite a popular theme.

Do we have free will?

Is there free will or is everything determined?

And so I'm gonna talk a little bit about that.

So I'm gonna start with the philosophy,

I think,

And then the brain and then meditation.

So addressing the topic of free will with those three areas.

So when materialism,

Then it's quite straightforward.

Nobody has free will.

Everything's determined and it's determined by atoms and molecules and electrons and the laws of physics.

Any experience of consciousness,

Which we may have,

Is just an epiphenomena of matter moving in certain ways.

And so our consciousness doesn't cause anything.

We have no free will at all.

So that is actually quite a common held belief and theory of materialists.

I think it's worth just pausing.

Does that fit my experience?

Is that my reality?

Do I have a sense that I do have a will,

A free will?

And by free will,

I should say,

It doesn't mean that you can do anything because there's always limitations.

I can't just start flying.

If I can't fly now or become invisible,

That doesn't mean that I've not got any free will.

It just means like,

Do I have the choice to raise my arm or not to think about one thing or another?

So it's not just practical everyday sense.

And I don't know,

If you're like me,

Then to say I've got no free will whatsoever goes very contrary to my lived experience moment to moment.

So that's an issue.

That's a problem there.

If a theory doesn't match experience,

Then it's got some explaining to do.

So what about idealism?

How does free will,

How is that seen under idealism?

So for those who haven't been to the other metaphysics and mindfulness sessions,

Idealism,

Instead of assuming everything originates in physical matter it assumes that experience,

Consciousness,

Awareness is the foundation of reality and everything comes from that.

So for idealism,

Consciousness and experience are your starting point.

That's what pre-exists and what everything else arises from.

So under idealism,

There is only free will,

Not just yes,

You have free will,

But actually free will is what reality is.

And everything comes from that because consciousness has will.

Schopenhauer,

The philosopher,

Actually used the word will to describe the original consciousness from which everything arrives.

And because there is only consciousness,

There's nothing outside of consciousness.

It has to be free.

There's no external pressures or limitations.

So free will is fundamental in idealism.

So free will isn't a problem and that matches our experience.

We feel like we have free will and that matches very much with idealism.

There isn't that contradiction that there is with materialism.

So there isn't a problem to resolve there.

However,

Of course,

Our free will is very limited.

If there is only consciousness and I'm consciousness,

Why do I find it so difficult to do things that I want to do?

Why is there such a thing as addiction?

Why do I have thoughts I don't want to have?

You know,

Every day we experience not just that we have will,

But we experience the limitations to that free will.

There's so many subconscious,

Emotional,

Physical,

And external environmental factors that make us doing what we want to do actually quite difficult.

So that fits with idealism because under idealism,

You start off with one consciousness but then you have to explain why we feel like we're all separate consciousnesses.

So there's this idea which I've described before of disassociation.

So a fragmentation of consciousness.

So I'm just one tiny little bit of consciousness in this ocean of consciousness and other consciousnesses.

So it fits perfectly well that I have a sense of free will,

But that is very limited.

It's not limited by deterministic,

Physicalist,

Materialist factors.

It's limited because there's a lot of other free will out there,

My separate free will can be in opposition to other people's free will and it can be in opposition to the one consciousness,

The one will from which we all originate from.

So I think idealism doesn't have a problem with free will,

It makes absolute sense of our experience.

So I think it's a better philosophy for understanding that and for understanding our own experience.

So let's move on to the brain and then meditation and then I'll do a commentary.

So I've talked quite a lot about the different approaches,

The two halves of the brain,

The two hemispheres take towards everything,

Including meditation and how materialism for me seems like a very left brain philosophy because it's about abstraction,

Concepts,

Certainty,

Fixed,

Non-living.

The right brain feels much more aligned with an idealist philosophy because it's about relationship,

Completeness,

Wholeness and open awareness,

Complexity,

Ambiguity,

These sorts of things and the embodied experience.

The left brain,

When it comes to making decisions,

Wants to be absolute and it wants to be certain and it wants to be fixed.

So it wants abstract rules that it can follow and it can stick to them.

It doesn't wanna get involved in the complexities and the ambiguities of actual reality in life,

Whereas the right brain is a lot more happier dealing with those things.

And the brain studies have shown that people who either have the connection between the hemispheres is split or they have some right hemisphere damage,

They become very certain of things when it's just the left hemisphere in control and even if they're showing direct evidence to the contrary,

Then the left brain will engage in all sorts of acrobatic rationalisations to maintain the fact that it's right and certain still and will come out with obviously absurd things to justify its position.

So the left brain on its own isn't very good at making decisions because it will want to come to a theoretical solution and decision and then it will stick to it no matter what the evidence is.

So that's where the right brain comes in and is the place where things like intuition as well in feeling and emotion and looking at the whole picture,

The whole story.

So if you're making decisions,

You really want the right brain involved with that.

The other thing about the left brain as well is it likes to deny the right brain and think it's the only source of truth and importance and significance.

Whereas the right brain is,

Because it is the holistic part of the brain,

It will include the left brain.

It doesn't ignore.

The left brain is quite happy to use it.

So the right brain can be aware of the whole picture,

Look at all sides when it's making a decision,

And then can happily use the left brain to do a bit of the analysis and the modelling and the abstract stuff.

And then it can go back to the right brain and the right brain can make the final decision and can also rely on intuition and spontaneity.

So it can be the best of both worlds if the right brain is in charge.

Okay,

So I've talked a bit about the philosophical side and the brain side.

So how does this apply to meditation?

And then we can get into a meditation commentary.

You could do meditation in a left brain way or a right brain way,

A materialist way,

Or an idealist way.

A materialist meditation would be,

Well,

The brain is deciding to sit still for a bit and the brain will make itself change its brain waves a bit and then you'll experience something different.

Whereas from the idealist point of view,

You as awareness are making the choice to connect more with your awareness and connect more with reality.

The left brain is about focusing and concentrating,

Focusing down on things and excluding other things.

The right brain is about being really open and having a really open awareness and allowing everything to be as it is within that awareness.

The left brain wants to manipulate and change and control.

So in terms of decision-making,

If you sat down to meditate on making a decision with the left brain,

You'd be thinking,

Thinking,

Thinking,

Trying to work it out,

Come to the logical answer.

Now,

A lot of our life decisions,

There isn't a simple answer.

There isn't really a right answer.

There's just doing the best we can given the complexity of the situation.

The left brain's gonna really struggle with that.

It wants a maths question to answer,

One plus two equals three Yeah,

It's abstract,

It's absolute,

And it's certain.

Our decisions in life aren't like that,

They're complex.

So the right brain is much better equipped to deal with that.

And so for the meditation,

So for this commentary,

What I'd like to do is look at mindfulness of our thoughts.

So being aware of our mind and our thoughts and looking at how the right brain can have the left brain activity,

The left brain kind of thoughts,

Quite happily within its holistic awareness.

And it can then also be open to inspiration,

Intuition,

These kinds of things as well.

So I'm gonna do a mindfulness meditation,

Guide us into being more present and doing that in a right brain way,

This idea of an open awareness rather than concentrating or focusing on one thing,

And then see if we can guide ourselves into a state of receptivity,

Of openness mentally as well.

So for this meditation,

You may want to have a decision in mind or a situation in mind,

But yeah,

That's an option.

Or something may come to mind as we meditate.

Okay,

So if you want to maybe take a few longer,

Deeper breaths in just to mark the beginning.

And if we start off by becoming aware of the breath,

The breath is a good example of how we can distinguish between a left brain and a right brain approach and how we can distinguish this idea of free will as well.

So the left brain may want to focus on the breath to the exclusion of everything else.

It may want to count the breath to bring in some abstract notion with the breathing.

It may want to think about the breath.

But a right brain approach to a breath meditation would be about really feeling the breath in the body.

So the embodied experience of breathing.

So as you take your next in breaths,

Really feel the breath in the body.

And the left brain would probably want to control and change the breath in some way to follow some method,

Some procedure,

But the right brain just perfectly happy to allow the breath to be as it is.

So just explore the sensations of the breath as they occur to you in the body without trying to change them in any way.

So really feel the breath in the body with every in breath,

Just allowing the breath to be as it is.

And just release,

Let go of the out breath,

Just allowing the out breath to just flow freely.

So the in breath can be a reminder to be really present with and in the body,

To be present in this moment,

To connect with the reality of our situation,

Not abstracting or theorizing,

But experiencing and living the breath in this moment in the body.

Let's introduce that other aspect of the right brain approach of not focusing,

But being aware of the whole picture.

So I'd invite you to just invite and allow the breath to be in the center or the foreground of your awareness,

But keep that awareness nice and open,

Wide and broad.

So we're not gonna cut off or avoid or ignore everything else that's happening in this moment.

So just allowing the breath to continue as it is in the center,

The foreground of your open awareness and surrounding the breath just slightly in the background,

All the sound you can hear,

The awareness of the space around the body,

And aware of your own thoughts and feelings,

Emotions and any other sensations in the body.

So welcoming everything of the present moment or your experiences to be here with you,

With the breath within your open awareness.

As you breathe in,

Releasing a loud and airy sound.

So you're completely Doubting,

Releasing,

Allowing the breath to flow freely as you breathe out.

And being aware of what's around the breath,

The space,

The sounds,

The thoughts,

The feelings,

The wholeness of this present moment of which the breath is a part.

So before we move on to the idea of thoughts and inspiration and intuition,

Let's have a little direct experience of free will in action with the breath.

So first of all just to continue to allow your breath to be just as it is.

Being aware of the breath.

So noticing and experiencing how the breath is one of the many automatic functions of the body.

We don't actually have to remember to breathe or make a conscious choice to breathe,

The breath just continues automatically.

The body does the breathing without our conscious will having to decide or choose to breathe.

And obviously the environment,

The world around us,

Where the air,

The oxygen is,

Is essential to this process as well.

And we don't have to have any control over that.

So experiencing the breath just happening,

The body being breathed.

And then at any moment,

If you choose,

You can decide to take in a deeper full breath.

So if you want to do that at the point of your choosing,

Exercise that free will to take in a deeper full breath.

Maybe choose to continue that for a few breaths.

And choose if you want to continue breathing more deeply and fully or just to allow the breath to return to how it was breathing before.

Very simple,

Very true,

Very immediate experience of your free will in action.

Without that thought,

That choice,

Your breath would have just carried on as it was.

Remember under idealism,

Your experience is reality.

Any other explanations about what happened from a materialist point of view or just conceptions of mind,

Theoretical abstractions?

OK,

So let's turn to our thoughts now.

If we can apply the same sort of principles to our thoughts as we have with the breath.

So firstly,

Simply become aware of your thoughts just as they are,

Just as we were aware of the breath in the body,

Be aware of the thoughts in the mind.

This can feel a little strange sometimes if you're not used to doing this because normally we identify so much with our thoughts much more than we would with the breath.

We can just be aware of that experience of thinking in the same way.

The other difference with the breath is awareness of your thoughts can sometimes bring about an immediate change to the thoughts whereas awareness of the breath,

Any change can take a bit more time to manifest.

So again,

Let's see if we can adopt this right brain approach of experience,

Feeling,

Embodied,

Actual rather than theoretical.

What does it feel like right now to be aware of your thoughts as you think them?

What's that experience like?

It feels different to think while you're watching yourself think,

Just like it feels different to walk and be self-conscious of yourself walking.

So what would be a left brain approach to meditating on our thoughts?

It would be perhaps to label your thoughts,

To categorize them,

To think about your thoughts,

Maybe to try and control your thoughts to stop them or slow them down.

Maybe it would be about trying to create positive thoughts.

So these ways of grasping,

Controlling,

Manipulating these left brain approaches.

So let's instead do a right brain approach to our thoughts.

So we've started that by feeling what it's like to be aware of our thoughts.

Let's see if we can not focus on the thoughts in a narrow way,

But see if we can keep that awareness still nice and open like we did with the breath.

So just allowing this flow of thoughts to be in the center foreground of your open awareness.

Still aware of the body,

The breath,

The sounds,

The space around you,

Feelings,

Emotions,

All the experiences you're having right now in this present moment.

We welcome them and we just allow them to happen around our thoughts,

Inviting the thoughts for a time to be in the center,

The foreground of our open awareness.

So how does that feel?

And not trying to change your thoughts in any way at all,

Completely accepting your thoughts exactly as they are.

Allowing your thoughts,

Allowing them to flow.

Just as we allow the breath to flow in the body,

Allowing the thoughts to flow through the mind.

Your thoughts are just one of the many experiences that you can have,

Many experiences within this present moment,

Many of the things happening within your awareness,

But you are not your thoughts.

So under idealism,

Everything is awareness,

Consciousness.

You are the thinker,

The experiencer,

The one that is conscious and aware of your thoughts,

But you are not your thoughts.

So you can just experience them and allow them to come and go.

I'm going to leave a few minutes now without commentary and this is a space,

A time where we can just stay with this feeling of this open awareness.

So being aware of the space around you,

Mental space,

Physical space,

Keeping that awareness open,

Wide and broad and just allowing everything to flow,

All your experiences just to flow moment by moment within this open space of your awareness.

And particularly your thoughts,

Allowing your thoughts to flow without trying to change them in any way at all,

Giving your thoughts all the time and space to do whatever they want to do.

And for these few minutes,

For these few minutes without commentary,

The idea is just to see if anything does arise,

Anything intuitive,

Inspirational,

Creative,

Any insight,

Intuition or inspiration.

So any thoughts popping into the mind,

Into your awareness without making any effort or having any expectation for that,

We're just going to allow our current thoughts to be exactly as they are and just keep the awareness open and welcoming and just see what happens in the next few minutes.

We're doing it for the next two minutes.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Reviews

Materialism vs Idealism is a topic that is making me delve deeper into learning more about it. The talk kept me listening and I learnt that the left brain is not as creative as the right brain. The right brain behaves more intuitively and inspirational whilst the left brain thinks in a theoretical manner - abstract, formulae and the like! I prefer the right brain characteristics as it is happy to use the left brain too if necessary. The left brain is too proud to make use of the right brain’s qualities! A very captivating subject to learn and understand🧠.

The meditation was equally captivating as the Free Will was tested and it does exist in Idealism which is contrary to what materialism believes in / dictates! The conscious state was so relaxing and I felt so close to myself as the breathing techniques made me feel emotions, sensations which I let go of them when I exhaled. Excellent was my experience and so was Stephen’s commentary. Thank you 🙏🏻♥️✨