‘SELF’, 'FREE WILL' & UG
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| Cartesian Theatre (Derivative work: Pbroks13 Original: Jennifer Garcia (Reverie) - Image:Cartesian Theater.jpg) |
A tiny person sits in a movie theater inside a human head, watching and hearing everything that is being experienced by the human being. An illustration of the Cartesian theater.
Self, Freewill and UG
Are events and results predetermined? Are they beyond human control?
Or
Is there a ‘free will’, can we influence events and results?
According to the dictionary, the word ‘will’ denotes determination,
insistence, persistence, or wilfulness.
Free will is one’s
ability to ‘consciously’ exercise choice, to influence a decision or an action,
so as to bring about a predictable outcome.
‘Free will’ cannot be
thought of in isolation. It presupposes a ‘self’ or agent that has the power to
consciously exercise choice! When we say consciously, we append yet another
important attribute to the ‘self’, namely, ‘consciousness’.
‘Free will’, ‘self’ and ‘consciousness’ constitute our rich
mental or psychological world. They share common traits and roots. To use a philosopher’s
expression, they have a common ‘ontological
basis.’
The idea of ‘self’
and ‘consciousness’ introduces the
mind-body problem. Philosophers and scientists consider this as one of the
toughest problems in understanding the nature of reality. Is our reality
physical or mental or both?
The mind-body problem
goes somewhat like this: How can the ‘self’, existing in a pure mental domain (or psychological domain), impact events in the physical domain? Does mind rule over
matter? How does the mind arise in the physical system, in the first place?
Science is prodding
on with this single most important question…
If you dare any
philosopher to prove mind over matter,
he will waste no time, “Mentally I decide
to raise my arm (intention) and the damn thing goes up (action)!”
Renowned philosophers
like John Searle from Berkeley advance formidable arguments for logically
proving the existence of ‘free will’, even ‘self’ and consciousness.
According to John Searle, “consciousness
has a first-person or subjective
ontology, and is thus not reducible
to anything that has a third-person, or objective
ontology.” [1]
This simply means that the phenomenon of consciousness is purely
subjective experience and cannot be further divided or reduced to simpler or
more fundamental units.
Reductionism is the typical approach of modern science. The
idea is to reduce or break down a complex system into simpler, more fundamental
units to understand its workings.
Unlike an atom that could be reduced to its constituents like protons,
neutrons or electrons, consciousness cannot be further divided into its simpler
units, say, ‘selftrons’ or ‘mentrons’!
Consciousness is a hard problem
for science, as the Australian philosopher David Chalmers put it. Because it is
irreducible!
****
Let us now find out what neuroscience has to say considering recent
discoveries in brain anatomy.
But before that, what does ‘self’ mean to you and me?
It is strange but
true that one may or may not believe in God, but all of us, without exception,
including theists, atheists, agnostics, philosophers and scientists (that is
pretty much everyone on the planet!) tend to believe in the existence of a conscious ‘self’ , a mental or
psychological being, or the first person ‘I’ that exhibits awareness, that experiences
pleasure and pain, that reasons out,
that chooses or exercises the free will.
Self dominates every
moment of our social existence.
Without ‘self’, there
is no name, there is no social identity, there is no degree, there is no social
security, there is no voter ID, there is no passport, there is no filing of tax
returns, there is no death certificate!
The entire edifice of
‘society’ seems to have been built upon the notion of the ‘self’. And the
‘self’ too gets its legitimacy through and from society.
This social ‘self’
could be appropriately labelled as autobiographical
self to borrow the words of the famous neuroscientist, Antonio Damasio.
Antonio Damasio has
proposed a thought provoking theory of
consciousness that is truly remarkable as it is thoroughly grounded in
neuroanatomy. According to him, consciousness is centred upon the ‘self.’
The ‘self’, says
Damasio, has evolved with the evolution of brain. He describes three distinct
stages in the development of the ‘self’ alongside the evolution of brain – Proto-self, core-self and the autobiographical
self.[2]
Proto-self is the most primitive form, a true biological entity,
‘it maintains its active model of the
body, the chief object of its concern, and has the basic foundations of
homeostasis (internal body) management.”
“On
top of the proto-self is the core self.
The core self is the momentary self.
It exists in “pulses.” It comes into existence when the proto-self perceives
objects and how those objects relate to the body. Is the object food? A
predator or some other kind of threat? Another body like ours? Something else?”
“On
top of the core self is the autobiographical
self. This is the self that comes into existence as the organism lives its
life. It is heavily dependent on memories, along with the projections it makes
for the future.”
****
The core-self spoken of
by Damasio comes closest to the observations of Eastern thinkers like UG or
Nisargadutta.
UG’s description of
how he operated in his Natural State completely resonates with the ‘core-self’
description of Damasio as that ‘pulses’ or ‘comes and goes’ momentarily.
UG explains, “What
you call ‘I’ is just a first person singular pronoun. The ‘I’ or UG comes into
operation here only when there is a demand. Otherwise there is no one here…”
He adds further, "Every
time a thought is born, you are born. When the thought is
gone, you are gone.”[3]
Also, interestingly, the concept of core-self finds resonance with the
Buddhist Doctrine of Momentariness or ‘Kshanika Vada.’
‘Autobiographical self’ on
the other hand could be thought of as the ‘social self’ or ‘ego’ (with all its social
trappings), a pure creation of society, a finished product of culture.
Autobiographical self is
resurrected or reborn in every thought, during every social transaction or
interaction. It shall be maintained at all costs for the sake of its own continuity
(everyone craves immortality) as well as that of its very creator – the society.
****
Is the ‘self’ then a
product of environment?
Animals and humans
are subject to natural conditioning
to be able to adapt, survive and function in the natural environment. This conditioning or adaptation ensures that
the biological entity is not only capable of handling its function and
operation, but fully capable of detecting and avoiding natural threats in the
environment, and to survive on its own.
Perhaps natural
conditioning could be the trigger for the evolution of Damasio’s proto-self.
On the other hand,
humans are subject to a different form of conditioning. This apart from the natural
conditioning. This is social conditioning
imposed by life in the social
environment and layered on top of natural conditioning.
Social conditioning
largely happens through societal interactions, starting with mother, father,
siblings, schoolmates, teachers, friends, groups and gatherings.
Language, learning,
experience or socio-cultural interactions are some ways that ensure that one
becomes socially conditioned and
becomes acceptable to society.
Social conditioning
has its roots in tribal communities in the distant past and over the centuries,
has gradually developed into its most complex and sophisticated form of today.
It is crucial to understand
that conditioning is essential in all
its forms for adaptation, survival and operation in the environment.
Conditioning helps one to ‘function sanely and intelligently in the
world.’
Certain pathological
conditions could lead to certain brain disorders like ‘autism’ with the loss of
identity or the loss of ‘self’ characterised by serious difficulties in social-interaction.
It is important to note that
thought or memory plays a tremendous role in conditioning. UG offered a simple but powerful definition of thought that
describes its role or function, especially related to conditioning:
“Thought is the translation of a sensory
perception within the framework of YOUR experiencing structure.”[4]
It is the thought that makes it
possible for us to experience the world. Thought perhaps is the very instrument
of conditioning.
****
This is what UG has to say about ‘free will’ or ‘freedom of action’:
“There is no way you can
say that you have freedom of action or free will! Metaphysically you can
explain, logically you can establish a point of view, but actually there is no
freedom of action, because all
the actions are born out of our thinking. And thinking is born out of
the thoughts that are put in there, and I question the very, very thoughts and
thinking you see. I say there are no thoughts and there is no thinking there at
all! Thought is nothing but memory.” [5]
Free will or ‘freedom of
action’ implies the ability to make a choice. Choice means deliberation, choice
means thinking, choice means reasoning.
Scenario One: I get
slapped, I hit back, there is no thinking. There is no ‘gap’ between stimulus
and response. This is what UG calls the ‘unitary movement’. This is simple
action.
Scenario Two: I get
slapped, I stop, I deliberate,
“Should I hit back, or should
I hold back’, Is it the right thing to do? Is it ethical? What about turning
the other cheek?......”
This is thinking. Now there is a ‘gap’ between stimulus and response.
Thought has created the gap, thought has brought about this division between
stimulus and response.
These are conscious choices. Every choice is based on my previous
experience or my learning or my cultural background. Every one of my choices
(reasons) is coloured by environment, cultural or social. There is no choice
that I can call my own.
UG often reiterated, “There is nothing original. Nobody is
original. Every thought comes from outside (environment), everything is put in
there by culture. They tell you what to do, what to wear, what to eat, what to
think…there is not a single thought that you can call your own!”
Cradle-to-grave, every experience of ours, everything we know of, every
thought of ours is externally acquired, borrowed from the social environment.
There is nothing that we can call our own.
UG reiterates that free will or freedom of action doesn’t really exist at
all, as there is nothing to really choose from, except what is offered to us by
society or culture!
Also, there can be nothing original. Originality lies in expression, in ‘how’
something is said or done, and not in ‘what’ is being said or done.
We all are imprisoned and restrained in our thoughts and actions by the invisible
golden chains of culture. UG could clearly see it, as his Calamity on his 49th
birthday flushed out every trace, every remnant of culture from his system,
putting him back into primordial Natural State or Sahaja Stithi.
****
Here is UG’s last word
on the ‘self’.
UG’s explanation of ‘self’
is much closer to the ‘pulsing self’ or the ‘core-self’ alluded to by Antonio
Damasio earlier. It is that of a ‘self’ responding to the continuous stream of stimuli
or perceptions pouring in from the environment.
Here UG explains in very
clear terms the real nature of ‘self’ as well as the real place of thought (or
conditioning) in the scheme of things:
“You may not accept what
I am saying, so what you call ‘UG’ (or self) in one frame is the microphone, in
another frame- tape recorder, another frame - cassette – audio cassette or the
video cassette as the case may be! In another frame, it is a remote-control
instrument. There is an illusion or impression that there is a person, or that
there is one who is saying all these things, (but) each one is an independent
frame. So, the identity (or self) can be maintained only by assuming that it is
the same thing (UG) that is saying all these things….[6]
****
" I do not see that there are any individuals at all...there is no free will at all. "
Metaphorically, the raindrop falling into the ocean does not lose its 'essence' (as water) but has no 'sense' (of being the drop).
UG used to convey this powerful message sometimes through his sounding board, Mahesh Bhatt:
Mahesh, " Mahesh Bhatt, sir "
UG, " You call yourself that?! They (parents, society) put in the name 'Mahesh' there! Actually, I don't see anyone there."
Sages, over the ages, have emphasised that the self- the psychological buildup is purely an artificial construct ( just like the VR & AR - Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality), society being its lead programmer.
Society tirelessly builds and maintains the psychological identity ( Family ID, Passport ID, Tax ID, Voter ID), (like the 'Object' in Object Oriented Programming (OOP)).
It defines, supplies everyone with a unique IDENTITY and FUNCTIONALITY in creating and maintaining an artificial reality.
Society or the transactional world will collapse in the absence of identity or agency.
Without identity (self), there is no agency (purpose), without agency, there is no 'free will'!
This is the real world where sages live and breathe, (where they do not initiate anything but only respond).
We in Facebook with email IDs & DPs certainly have no clue about its inner workings!
****
[1] Searle,
John. Freedom and Neurobiology: Reflections on Free Will, Language, and
Political Power (Columbia Themes in Philosophy), Columbia University Press.
Kindle Edition.
[4] Courtesy:
UG in conversation with Dr. Sreedhav, Chennai, India
[5]
Transcribed from the
video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs4C91-_eqQ
Dedication:
Am neither a philosopher nor a scientist, only a student of life. I am grateful to Dr. Narayana Moorty, Retd. Prof of Philosophy, Montery, California. He has been my mentor and guide having introduced me to Western philosophy. He has been of great help in streamlining my presentations as well as in the development of structured writing. A tough task master but a kind heart. This is my humble and respectful dedication to him.
Affectionate Regards,
Suresh
