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Let’s talk about
revitalizing religion through
transcending the illusion of free
will. Before we do that, I just
want to go briefly through what we
generally mean when we say that we
have a free will, why that’s
impossible, and why this question of
human will matters.
The belief in
free will means that we would be
free to choose whatever we would
want to think, feel, do, and say
completely of our own accord,
without any kind of influence from
any factor that we do not have
control over. Naturally, when you
consider that we have an unconscious
where all of our thoughts, words,
concepts and other memories are
stored, and that the unconscious is
also the part of our brain where the
processing of all of that
information for decisions occurs,
it’s easy to understand how free
will must be an illusion. Remember
that, by definition, the unconscious
is a part of our mind we’re not
aware of in real time.
The reason this
is so important is that our very
civilization is founded on an
illusion of free will that creates
so many problems. We blame each
other and ourselves for things we
have no choice but to do. We do
what nature, God, or whatever,
compels us to do. My hope and
prediction is that to the extent we
understand that free will is an
illusion, and that our human will is
really causal and unconscious, we
can create a much more intelligent,
compassionate, and understanding
world based on an accurate
understanding of that nature of our
human will.
With religion, at
least in America and probably
throughout the world, as each decade
goes by there are fewer and fewer
people who gravitate to it – that
have it as a part of their everyday
life. That’s somewhat unfortunate
because while some religions
continue to propound certain beliefs
that are outdated, divisive or
otherwise harmful, there is one
aspect of religion that is actually
very beneficial to society and to us
as individuals. Modern cities,
suburbs and metropolitan areas are a
relatively new aspect of
civilization. Before that, there
were mainly small towns, and before
that, tribal, or other, small
groups, that created a true
community. One could see and relate
to the same people each day, whereas
in many of our cities one can walk
for hours seeing no one but
strangers.
As our
civilization evolved from small
towns to the cities and their
suburbs, we lost a great part of
that cohesion. Television and other
media do help bring us together in a
different way, but churches and
synagogues, and other religious
institutions, have traditionally
done a good job of creating
communities. From that perspective,
it’s unfortunate that religion is
waning as it has been during recent
decades.
The problem is
dire for many congregations. For
example, the cost of maintaining
their property has become so
burdensome that many congregations
are now forced to share their
building with one or more other
congregations. That’s a nice idea
in a sense, but the salient point
here is that because of their
dwindling membership, these
religious institutions are
threatened, and the vehicle for
community they create is
threatened.
There are various
reasons why so many people have
moved away from religion. In
Christianity, and much less so in
Judaism, there is the idea that if
you do certain things wrong, you’re
going to be punished for the rest of
eternity. As we evolve as a
species, and become more intelligent
and considerate of our world, we
think to ourselves “why would an
all-loving God do this?” or “if
we’re here on Earth for about eighty
years, how can one justify being
condemned to suffer an eternity –
trillions of years, at least – for
an act done in a day?”
Sometimes
churches are seen as hypocritical in
the sense that they profess to
champion the rights of the poor,
but, when it comes to politics, many
churches and other religious
institutions will support policies
and legislation that oppose the
interests of the poor. And it’s not
just about poverty. It’s also about
children’s rights, women’s rights,
and various other kinds of issues.
Another reason
for this exodus from religion is
that the traditional mythology
doesn’t seem to work anymore. It’s
actually counter productive in many
ways. Consider, for example, the
creation story of Adam and Eve. The
standard account is that Eve, the
first woman, was formed from the rib
of Adam, the first man. That
account is derogatory to women.
Lastly, relatively speaking, very
little in religion has changed over
the last two thousand years. So
much of it does not make sense to
people, and that may account, in
part, for why so many of us have
left religious congregations and
communities.
My hope and
prediction is that a major change in
theology – in what churches and
synagogues believe and teach – might
actually help bring people back to
the flock, and to a religious
community that is based on doing
good, and being good, and improving
the world. That’s, to a great
extent, what religion is about.
Before going
through how the idea that we don’t
have a free will can help
congregations bring people back, I
just want to go briefly through what
this idea of free will means in
religion. In Christianity, most
people take free will to be a
premise, but when you look through
the Bible, you’ll find that the
issue is far from clear. For
example, the first Christian
documented to have questioned and
challenged free will was Saint Paul
in his letter to the Romans, which
is dated about 58 A.D. At 7:15,
Paul writes, “I don’t understand
myself at all, for I really want to
do what is right, but I can’t. I do
what I don’t want to do – what I
hate.”
Here Paul is
explaining that If he had a free
will, if he could exercise his will
freely, and be good all of the
time. He knows that with a free
will he would do the good that he
wanted to do, and not do that evil
that he doesn’t want to do. Paul
had this understanding in 58 A.D.!
What many people don’t realize is
that the term “free will” is
actually not in the Bible.
It doesn’t appear
in Christian theology until about
380-90 A.D. when Saint Augustine
grappled with the question of human
will. It was in relation to God’s
qualities. Augustine was trying to
reconcile evil and justice with the
premise that God is all-good, and
wrote a book titled De Libero
Arbitrio, which is translated as
“on free will.” He actually coined
the term free will. He writes,
“Evil deeds are punished by the
justice of God. They would not be
punished justly if they had not been
performed voluntarily.”
This conclusion
is based on a misunderstanding – or
one interpretation – of God. One
conception of God is that S/He is
omni-benevolent, or all-good. The
reality is that God Her/Himself in
Isaiah said that he creates both
good and evil. From that
contradicting evidence, you can see
how Saint Augustine’s premise, upon
which he based his need for a free
will, is actually false, at least
according to Isaiah.
The notion of
free will is not central to the
Bible. It’s something that is not
even mentioned as a term, and is
alluded to very infrequently. Many
religious congregations could very
realistically and authoritatively
look at the question of human will,
and reach a new conclusion. Many
congregations now understand that
the world was not created about
6,000 years ago, as the Bible would
have us believe. Most
congregations, I would imagine,
accept the standard scientific
understanding that the universe is,
as far as we know, about 13.7
billion years old.
It’s not uncommon
for churches, denominations and
congregations to look at the world
through the eyes of modern science,
and amend or change certain beliefs
that seemed reasonable back when
they were created, but no longer
seem justifiable. Let’s say
churches began to promote the idea
that free will is an illusion. They
would begin to say that the truth is
that we human beings do not have a
free will, and free will is nothing
more than an illusion. But at the
same time they would say, very
rightly, that knowing this does not
give us license to do as we please.
Just because
we’re not the authors of our acts –
of our thoughts and decisions –
doesn’t mean that we can shirk
responsibility. What we do has
consequences and we have to maintain
order and civilization. When we are
judging others and ourselves, we
should remember that we were all
born with faults, and that we all
sin. Sin, incidentally, in the
original Aramaic, literally and
simply means “missing the mark,” as
when one is shooting an arrow at a
target.
Religions very
rightly teach that because we’re all
flawed in various ways, it is wise
to forgive each other and ourselves
for the invariable mistakes that we
will make. But to the extent that
we understand that we are not the
authors of our thoughts, what
churches and synagogues could say is
that we’re instruments of God. That
would certainly fit within their
theology. Because we are not the
authors of what we do, we now have
every rationale to be more
understanding toward each other and
ourselves, and hold each other and
ourselves innocent. That’s major.
If we’re
innocent, what we do is not really
up to us. If we’re just basically
manifesting the will of God or fate,
then when we do wrong there is not
even a need to “forgive” others or
ourselves. We might want to forgive
God, or the universe, for compelling
us to do wrong. That’s certainly a
question to be explored. But, there
is no longer any justification or
rationale for blaming others or
ourselves, and wanting us to be
punished retributively.
A new causal will
perspective would be epochal for
religion. It would revitalize
religion for many who long ago left
the flock. When Jesus came around
about 2,000 years ago, that was a
major change from the very
legalistic tradition of the Jewish
Pharisees. Christianity was
supposed to be more about acts of
compassion and mercy than scrupulous
adherence to a multitude of laws.
Since that time, there was Mohammad
with Islam, and others with other
religions changing regions of the
world. But within the
Judeo-Christian context, nothing as
major as our collectively overcoming
the illusion of free will has
happened over the last two thousand
years, or perhaps ever.
Overcoming the
illusion of free will would
represent that sea change people
need, and want, if they are to
return to religion. Many have moved
away from conventional religion
because, in too many ways, it
doesn’t make sense to their lives
any more. It’s unfortunate. Much
of religion is ennobling; it helps
people to understand the difference
between right and wrong. Much of
religion is very good, and very
useful.
The communities
that religions create through the
world are an invaluable service to
humanity. It’s a shame that
congregations are dwindling, and
it’s a shame that some very
important ideas that these
congregations hold are so
out-dated. Considering that the
notion of free will is not central –
remember that a term for free will
is not even found in the Bible – to
any biblical teaching, and it was
simply Saint Augustine’s answer to
his conclusion that God can’t be
blamed for anything, it is something
we all could perhaps fare much
better without. Often in religion,
when we humans do something that is
really good, we’re taught to be
modest, and humble, and thank God.
We’re taught that we could not have
done the good we did without God’s
allowing us to do it. We praise God
for the good that we do, and feel
gratitude for his help.
But, when it
comes to our doing wrong, we’re
taught by religions that we
shouldn’t blame God; it has to be
our fault. You’ll, of course,
notice the inconsistent logic in
praising God when things go right,
but blaming humans when they don’t.
Religions teach us to blame each
other and ourselves. It’s not just
religion. Our legal system and our
educational system – actually our
whole civilization -- is based on
this myth, this illusion, of free
will.
To overcome the
free will illusion would be a
complete paradigm shift in what
churches, synagogues, mosques and
temples teach. This could be a
global movement. It no longer makes
sense to believe that human beings
have a free will. The belief in
free will leads to so much
unnecessary conflict and
aggression. If overcoming this
belief and adopting a new
understanding of our causal will –
that we are basically instruments of
God – would help revitalize
religion, and help bring people back
to congregations so that we can
restore our lost sense of community,
that would be wonderful.
Challenging the
notion of free will is an essential
challenge to a belief we’ve held for
as long as we can remember, such a
challenge could not but attract a
huge amount of attention among
congregations and people who have
left churches and synagogues, and
may now wish to come back, if for no
other reason but to explore this
brand new perspective on reality –
to see how their lives could change
as a result of their not blaming the
people in it for what they do wrong,
and not feeling the pain of guilt
for what we do wrong.
This certainly
does not mean that we will abandon
morality, because we are hard-wired
to seek what we believe is good, and
we’re hard-wired to seek pleasure
and avoid pain. We’re not going to
abandon these values and our
morality. But, we no longer have to
blame people, and when we no longer
blame people for what they do wrong,
we feel closer to them. When we
don’t blame ourselves for what we do
wrong, we feel better about
ourselves, and self-esteem is one of
the four personality traits most
closely correlated with happiness.
Considering how
science, logic, and experience so
completely refute it, the notion of
free will is ripe for overcoming and
transcending. As religious
institutions recognize that they can
overcome the illusion of free will,
and still promote morality, the
existence of God, and the rest of
their theology, religions can help
create a new world.
Our world has a
lot of problems. Climate change,
the global economic crisis,
overpopulation and much more is
going on, and we need new answers.
The answers that have been coming
out of politics and religion for
centuries are just not suited to the
reality we now face. With climate
change, for example, as the world
becomes very challenged in various
ways, the last thing we want to do
is be at odds with each other, not
doing what we need to do because we
are so busy blaming ourselves and
each other for what went wrong.
I hope that
ministers, pastors, rabbis and other
clerics throughout the various
religions and denominations will
understand the importance of this
issue of human will, and how rightly
addressing it can bring people back
to their congregations.
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