My reluctance to get involved in Yet Another Discussion About Free Will is based on a belief in the value of some- thing that those trying to get me to become involved seem to lack: pragmatism.
One of my favorite quotes in recent years is, "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is." That kinda nails my pragmatic approach to life, to philosophy, and to the discussion of both. Many people try to lure others into arguments or discussions that are abstract and purely theoretical, as if such discussions had a value other than the mental masturbation I see them as having. Me, I like to limit myself to discussing things that seem to have an actual relationship to a concept I call "real life." Take the recent spate of CC on this forum. This acronym does not -- in this post at least -- stand for Cosmic Consciousness but "Corrector Consciousness." Recently, relative newbs like Richard Nelson and Dan Friedman have spent many hundreds of words trying to "correct" behavior in others that they see as "incorrect," or less than optimal, or even "bad." They preach at those they wish to "correct" with all the fervor (and all of the subtlety) of a Fundamentalist Christian preacher or Medieval Inquisitor, berating them for their "bad" behavior and imploring them to CHANGE that behavior, and to bring it more in line with what they think is "correct" or "good" behavior. My suspicion is that if we were to ask either of these "correctors" what they believe about the issue of Free Will, they would claim that it doesn't exist. Both of them -- not to mention several others who have taken the CC role unto themselves for years now -- would probably swing behind the "not the doer" notion and claim that essentially they have no Free Will, and that Free Will itself is an illusion. So here's what doesn't compute for me with this theory. The very people who claim to believe that there is no Free Will seem to spend an inordinate amount of their time preaching at others and trying to convince them to CHANGE behaviors they don't like. Isn't such preaching based on the idea that they *can* CHANGE, and thus have Free Will? In other words, it seems to me that many of the CC set (the ones who profess a belief in the non-existence of Free Will) are not capable of walking their own talk. In theory, they proclaim, there is no such thing as Free Will. Yet in practice, they consistently act as if there was, and nag at others they don't like to use *their* Free Will to CHANGE the behaviors that the CC set finds offensive or threatening. Just doesn't compute. In practice, it also doesn't seem to work out for them. I can think of almost no instance of the CC nags actually getting any of the people they preach at to CHANGE. Given the wonderful rationalization of confirmation bias, I'm sure a few of them might claim that their inability to CHANGE the people they preach at is "proof" of the lack of Free Will. "They do this <insert appropriate adjective here; e.g., evil, insulting, low-vibe, etc.) stuff because they are forced to do it by the Laws Of Nature. I'm not really as much of a failure as it appears because I can't get them to CHANGE even though I've been trying for years. They haven't changed because the Laws Of Nature don't want them to CHANGE." My particular confirmation bias, as a firm believer in Free Will, is that they are not only complete failures in their attempts to CHANGE the behavior of people they don't like, they're also complete failures at walking the talk of their own beliefs. They claim not to believe in Free Will, but spend hundreds of words trying to get those who they claim *have* no Free Will to use it, and CHANGE. I believe that I have Free Will and assume that everyone I am writing to on this forum has it as well. That allows me to be consistent with my beliefs when I occasionally suggest to them that their Corrector Consciousness is what it appears to be, an obsession based on arrogance, elitism, and hubris. I can suggest this because I believe they have the ability to actually CHANGE that behavior if they want to. The Corrector Consciousness set believe that no one they are addressing has any Free Will at all, and yet spend their time week after week, month after month, and year after year trying to get the people they preach at to *use* their Free Will, and thus CHANGE the behaviors they find offensive. Go figure.
