Free will again (Humans)

by dhw, Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 14:22 (4637 days ago) @ BBella

BBella and I have different views on what Susan Blackmore was trying to say in the article Romansh asked us to reconsider. I shan't go back over our different interpretations, except to say that your own comments make infinitely more sense to me than the original text. I do wish Romansh would tell us why he wanted us to read it.-The rest of your post clarifies the earlier misunderstandings between us, which I think can be summed up by the comments below:
 
Dhw: You wrote: "My focus was out of control and what was going on in my mindfield controlled me." Of course I don't know what exactly was in your "mindfield", but if it interfered with your focus, I suspect that it's what I call excessive self-awareness.-BBella: Maybe that is what it's called. I just called it being addicted to thinking. What was going on inside my mind was more real and had more influence on me and the decisions I made than anything else outside me. Objectivity was lost almost completely. Of course, for some, that could be a good thing. For me, it was destructive on many levels.-Excessive self-awareness is only my term for it. The whole discussion boils down to levels of awareness/consciousness, which in this context I use synonymously. (You have suggested "enlightenment", but for me that is too vague.) Your description of your earlier situation as "addicted to thinking", with a loss of objectivity, is really just one step away from mine. You say we should focus on the object or situation instead of on what you call mind chatter, and I say we can only do that by wilfully (carefully chosen adverb!) suppressing the level of consciousness that makes us watch ourselves instead of looking at the object or situation. Your response to my comments on animals and young children suggests the same idea. Theatre and sport were two vivid examples of the need to eliminate that extra layer of self-awareness. We may be using different terms, but I think we're moving along the same track.