Free will again (Humans)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Thursday, March 01, 2012, 23:24 (4648 days ago) @ BBella

BBella,-> >The fact that it is so difficult to obtain exclusive control of your thoughts is truly a frightening idea.
> 
> I believe it's not just difficult, it's impossible to control thought. But it is possible to control what you choose to observe/focus on. If you choose to focus on a thought and then follow it where ever it leads, that thought has exclusive control over you (which can be a truly frightening idea!) until you choose to focus on something else. I think of thought like a radio wave and your focus as a receiver. If you choose to focus on something else the thought continues on it's way, into the ether. 
> -The frightening part of the experience is exactly what I've highlighted in red. It is so easy to not realize that you're caught in the thought, and every time it happens its as if I'm "waking up" while awake. -Then I consider the fact that most people I don't think ever think about the fact that they do this, that most people are completely absorbed in their thoughts most of the time. -> For me, the trick is not to be busy trying to obtain control over the air space of the mindfield (which is where thoughts flow thru and which is impossible), but to practice "choosing" what to focus on or what to observe - like focusing on breathing, family life, school, etc. The more you control your choice of what to focus on, the less thought is attracted to your mindspace. 
> -I've seen this two different ways: Thich Nhat Hanh and other contemporaries have an approach similar to what you discuss here, but I've lately been working with a different book that is applying the "when you catch yourself thinking, stop, and go back to breathing." Most Zen is more like what you say--observe only, don't interfere. This technique is much more "hands on" if you will.-Perhaps the exercise is designed to make the practitioner realize the difficulty, but its certainly made me acutely aware of how often I derail. -> >We're less free than we think, definitely less free than we'd like to be... but I think its something very much like a muscle... you can exercise it and make it stronger.
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> Maybe the question to ask isnt "if" we have free will but "what" do we have free will of? We are not free to control thought or to control the space of the mindfield. But we do have free will to choose what to focus on.
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> Just lending a slightly different perspective.
> 
> bb-I agree: But its a severely limited free will when you take into consideration that it takes a great deal of exercise in order to 'master' the ability to be able to choose. No one has 'unfettered' free will...

--
\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"