Free Will versus Causality

As Satanist I believe in certain kind of meritocracy. Stratification takes care that all of us drop or rise to certain level in the hierarchy of nature. Still we have to accept the fact, that there is no one point where all the men would be equal or have the same changes in life.

There is two factors which ensures this, and those two are the genes in our body and environment which grew us. There is of course also the problem of free will, but that I will hook later on this essay.

Genes. Man has 99% of the same genes than Chimpanzees, but yet the 1% makes us unique and separates us from other primate species. We all have also certain amount of genes we inherit from our parents, and these very much modify us as individual.

What then is the part of the genes in our success?

First, individual may be born as beautiful or ugly. Individual may be born as stubborn or genius. Also one may be born as healthy or with genetic anomaly or disease. This natural diversity between human beings is one of the biggest separating things in life.

If you have been born beautiful princess or natural prom queen, it is quite more possible to make a career as model, actress or even as prostitute than to those who have been born with cross-eyes or visible anomaly. Here the selection of nature does not necessarily prove that success would be meritocratic by it´s nature. It´s just good luck.

Secondly, environment. Environment very much takes care of how human being grows up and sees the reality. If you born in Hollywood as a child of millionaire actor it´s more probable to get everything you wish than those who born as poor black on South Central area only few blocks away. Here only way to see how stratification works in life is not just to follow what somebody owns or how beautiful house they got, but how one manages his or her life in the environment they live, no matter is it ghetto, rich suburbia or even the status of worker in North Korean factory.

Only the way how man grows from the environment he lives can show anything about his character and will.

Now, here´s the main problem of the whole discussion. What is the meaning of will in reaching one´s goal. In philosophy the freedom of will has been under the discussion over centuries, and though I don´t personally take a stance between free will and not free will, I´m still going to point some views about the free will. Nietzsche, well known German philosopher, once said that human beings enjoy to think that everything good they reach comes by their own virtues, but the negative one´s doesn´t. This kind of logic in my eyes shows itself little retard, cause it denies the causality between things. There is always the cause and there is always condition to the cause.

One point of this contradiction between the free will and causality is that accepting the causality would same time demand us to accept that free will is not always the ruling factor in one´s success. Like, if you born as biafran child on Ethiopia and your best change in life is to live two months before you die in diseases and hunger, the free will can do little or nothing to save you. Environment just puts your way too much limitations that you could exist.

Socialdarwinian perspective which is very big part of todays new liberal thinking of economy, basis to idea that we all have the same changes to success in society. This of course is total nonsense which is based more to emotional sentiments than logical conclusion. Fact is, that men rarely are equal in their changes nor either will they start from the same line. Environment, genetic inheritance and will are always in little contradiction which each other, and thus the idea that man can reach everything with purely will, doesn´t count.

Of course, like I earlier mentioned, there is certain stratification in life. Man naturally rises to certain level and stays there. In this sense individual have possibilities to success in his or her life by the frame. By working hard and using all the possible opportunities one can rise very much from nowhere to almost top of the social hierarchy. It´s just how much the free will or freedom of will helps you to reach your level. For all these possibilities just does not exist because of the causality which would propound that will may not cross over the causality and thus free will is only limited amount of freedom by the natural frame.

Now, I am not PhD. Nor Biologist. I am still interested about this dilemma. All the ideas and views are just my five pennies to this discussion which many famous philosopher have definitely been describing more logically than me. To me the problem of causality and free will is the most eventual question in philosophy. Can you make everything happen by the will and forget your genes and environment, or can you leave all to causality and live believing to destiny or karma?

I think neither of these things are complete answer to my question. Reality is not in any extremity, but rather in between them. We Satanists have concept called “Third side perspective” which means that dualist extremities are very often quite limited views so person who want to be free of them may reach more clear view by simply going thorough them and watching things from perspective which is not limited to certain view.

In my case this means going thorough the causality and free will and between the view that environment and genes are so strong we cannot fight against them versus the idea that individual can reach everything one wants simply by believing in oneself.

We of course are ourself responsible of our lives and choices we make. We cannot totally just claim that all the failures in life would be because of causality. Same time we still have to accept that there is no starting line in life which would be same to each and everyone of us, so there is certain causal frame which limits our life. We can still reach a lot and grow over our own limitations. There is always people like Stephen Hawking who have grown over all the limiting physical factors by one´s intelligence and courage.

All in all I would say that by will you can reach much and by working hard get more opportunities to prove your ability than you reach simply with talent and no will. The frame exists, but in one´s own life one can reach the level they are definitely evolved from some point to some point. North Korean factory worker and son of Texan oil millionaire can never reach same level in social hierarchy and outer status, but they can master their own life best they can in the environment they live.

Same time we still have to remember the causality between things and the effect of our personal genes and environment. Handicap child who lives in Russian orphanage thigh to limb restraint and suburbia kid from American middle class neighborhood are never going to get same amount of money, wealth and care in their life, no matter how much will or work one does.

The probable solution to my question is that both free will and causality exists, but neither of them rules completely over each other.

There is an old saying that “we are, what we make our life”, which means that attitude toward the life is the ruling factor in personal grow. Perhaps it´s just that, with right attitude you can take out of your life as much as possible when you don´t compare yourself to someone else or their achievements.

Just live your life fullest and do it for yourself.

Wrote by: Janina