Free Will?

Is there such a thing as free will?

This is a question that has been floating through my head for the past several weeks, and it has really started bugging me. Let me start by saying that this whole thought process of if we really do have free will was sparked by my psychology professor. I am having a hard time liking the class, but life goes on... Ok, back to free will!

Ok, so my professor flat our said he does not believe in free will, that it all comes down to a behavioral instinct. What happened in your past, and how you behaved or reacted to that instance, determines and will determine what you do with your life in day to day decisions. The theory is that something happens to you, significantly, and you react to that "something." Now that you have reacted, what do you do? You adapt and learn, using critical, and analytical reasoning, rationalizing, and theorizing. (ex: If I get a cookie for pushing the red button instead of the green one every time, I am going to keep pushing the red button.)
In this sense... This theory is true, behavioraly. It makes sense that what we do, or how we react, we learn and adapt. But when does spirituality come into play? This theory is strictly based on a bevioral reaction and not a spiritual.

I decided to look at my own spirituality, and see what I come up with. I began to question whether or not God has given us free will. Does He? I mean, for God to know everything we do, and every decision we make, there must be something there... Something in that first instance that we cannot rely on previous experiences that makes us realize, "oh yeah, that happened, so i am going to make this decision." There has to be a higher calling as to why we made that choice.

God is all-knowing, and forsees everything, every single person does. We believe this to be true, but does that mean we truly have free will??? Do we have a choice if it is already predestined?

I have come to this understanding that God, whether or not you believe in Him, is always there. He is seeing us at every angle; past present, and future. So yeah, He knows what we have done, are doing, and will do, but at the same time, He loves us so much that He will never force His hand on us. What decisions we make... He is not saying "you WILL make this decision because of me." He knows what path we will take, good or bad, and regardless of the choice we make, He is right there, standing next to us. Loving us nonetheless.

I also thought about Satan, and how his temptation is persistant in every aspect that is evil. I thought about his hatred towards God, and why it still exists. I came to the conclusion that Satan has not chosen to ask God for forgiveness, and that is why temptation still exists in our world. BUT! We do have the choice to accept or decline that temptation. We can say no, and live without temptation from Satan. But it is a choice, therefore Free Will exists!!!

New Semester.... Here we go!

Hello again,

So last week Wednesday marked the official day of my second semester as a sophomore. It is weird, but it feels like I never left the campus. Like I was trapped in a fantasy world, and when I woke from this dream, I was still on campus, walking around as if nothing new has happened, nothing has changed, nothing at all... I guess there is one thing that has changed that proves I actually had a break, and that is the fact that I have new classes. Ha! My class schedule this semester will be both adventurous, and academically difficult. I am taking a Learning Community Psychology, and Literature class. What this means is both classes are somehow linked together. We will discover the differences and similarities in Literature and Psychology. This also means, I will not be writing creative papers, but papers more along the lines of straight fact, giving the reader more of a historical or critical viewpoint. This will be difficult for me to write about this because, well, for one; I love writing creatively and two; It is writing about Psychology... I mean, what could be worse than that??? Anyway, gotta get ready for my next class, until next time my dear friends, take care

Nico Miller

Does this sound like me?

Hello my fellow people. Today I decided to try an online personality test to see how exact it is. Personally, I think it was pretty dang close, but I will leave it up to you. Please feel free to comment, thanks and see ya soon!

Trait Explanations

In order to interpret your raw percentages, they were compared to the first 350,000 people to complete the full MyPersonality Big Five questionnaire. This allows the way that you described yourself to be put in the context of how other people respond to the questionnaire. You should remember that there are no fundamentally good or bad personalities, as each trait description has potential advantages and disadvantages. To help you reflect on these, you have also been given some questions which ask you to consider the implications of your trait descriptions. Other people viewing your personality profile will not be able to see these.

Openness

This trait refers to the extent to which you prefer novelty versus convention. Approximately 72.6% of respondents have a lower openness raw percentage than yours. From the way you answered the questions, you seem to describe yourself as someone who is intellectually curious and appreciative of what you consider beautiful, no matter what others think. You might say that your imagination is vivid and makes you more creative than many others.

Reflective question: How important are your emotions in determining how you behave?

Conscientiousness

This trait refers to the extent to which you prefer an organized, or a flexible, approach in life. Approximately 54% of respondents have a lower conscientiousness raw percentage than yours. From the way you answered the questions, you seem to describe yourself as someone who is random and fun to be around but that you can plan and persist when life requires it. From your responses it appears that depending on the situation, you can make quick decisions or deliberate for longer if necessary.

Reflective question: How do you go about organising your workload?

Extraversion

This trait refers to the extent to which you enjoy company, and seek excitement and stimulation. Approximately 61.8% of respondents have a lower extraversion raw percentage than yours. From the way you answered the questions, you seem to describe yourself as someone who is energetic and active. Your answers describe you as someone who enjoys and actively seeks out social occasions, and that you especially enjoy talking with a big group of people.

Reflective question: Do you prefer to be busy all the time? Why?

Agreeableness

This trait refers to the way you express your opinions and manage relationships. Approximately 97.7% of respondents have a lower agreeableness raw percentage than yours. From the way you answered the questions, you seem to describe yourself as someone who is extremely easy to get along with. Your responses suggest that you would say you are considerate, friendly, generous and helpful and you consider most other people to be thoroughly decent and trustworthy.

Reflective question: Is your co-operative preference ever taken advantage of by others?

Neuroticism (Emotional stability)

This trait refers to the way you cope with, and respond to, life's demands. Approximately 65.5% of respondents have a lower neuroticism raw percentage than yours. From the way you answered the questions, you seem to describe yourself as someone who is generally calm. Based on your responses, you come across as someone who can feel emotional or stressed out by some experiences, however your feelings tend to be warranted by the situation.

Reflective question: Which situations make you feel under pressure and which situations do not?