Free Will : Understanding Our Limitations, Freedom,Choices And Responsibilities
Free will can be defined as the ability for an individual or persons to make decisions without external control or obvious restrictions.
Geralt
Imagine living in a world where it is allowed to talk to people anyhow, enter anywhere anyhow, and behave anyhow. That place will be filled with chaos and confusion versus a society that is guided by policies, laws, and regulations that create a roadmap and paths through which individuals relate with each other and achieve their aims in life without necessarily stepping on each other’s toes. I believe that such society will stand the test of time.
However, this does not mean that laws, policies, and rules are meant to box people into a corner, no, it is a laid down mechanism through which people can freely relate and do things within certain confines. The main question is: How free are we even with those policies and laws?
So many times, I have found myself in certain situations where I have wished that talk were free or that I could challenge certain decisions without minding whose ox is gored. One day, we went to a corporate organisation to complain about the supply of an equipment that was not giving the agreed output as specified in the contractual terms. While there with some law enforcement agents, the matter escalated and became confrontational, at that point, I excused myself and walked away from that scenario because of my reputation. Not because of weakness.
Again, there was this landlord that will always hold the community from meeting deadlines. Each time, the individual kept defaulting and delaying activities. One day, the person had a fracas with my family relative. I wanted to confront the individual but couldn’t go to the extent I wanted because of my family's reputation. I swallowed my pride and left the scene to save my family from embarrassing moment and street gossip. I sacrificed my freedom of speech and free will because of my family.
In the two scenarios, I would have sold shame and confronted those challenges face to face, but when I considered the possible outcome, I reneged and looked away. Likewise, in my organisations, there are periods employees would want to go haywire; I will remind them that they are still under the control of someone who can order that they are diplomatically shown the way out, hence, they should watch their conduct even in the face of provocation. Except they have gotten another job to move on with. Lol.
Geralt
Apparently, we can confirm from the above scenarios that we can’t do anyhow, knowing fully well that the consequences will be greater than the reason for that behaviour. However, this does not mean that we are not free, just that the freedom is limited. It is controlled by the perceived outcome of our decisions and options.
These controls assist us in making informed and streamlined decisions that will protect us from falling prey to offense and the arms of law that guide the choices we make.
Therefore, our free will is regulated and conditional. Knowing when to act and say no when the urge to act beyond the confines of our free will is maturity and great wisdom.