It is said that we are born with free will, does this also equate to a freedom of choice? Some would argue that we have no choice and are obligated to live according to the word of god yet all we have in reality is a made up ideology written by man. Whether you agree or disagree with premise doesn't matter because it is a fact. If you have a direct line to god please provide the number-:). No insult intended towards anyone, just humor. We all have the right to our beliefs.
On a more serious note our free will as I see it within the context of our physical environment relates only to our thoughts and actions subject to the limits of this physical environment and social structure. Naturally actions have consequences yet our creative thoughts do not. Thoughts are only speculations as long as they remain with you until they are made manifest, at which point they come into the public domain of actions have consequences.
Do beliefs have consequences if they are just thoughts?
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http://www.ultimatehealthliving.com/mind-your-brain-do-it-yourself-brain-surgery/
The article you use as a reference is not news to me. It is little more than the basics of what I have understood for more than 30 years. It is yet to be understood that the brain and the mind although connected are totally different. The brain is a bio-genetic computer whereas the mind is comprised of energy "what we are", as are our thoughts.
Yes, thoughts are real but until we activate these thoughts using our will, thoughts are only unused and stored concepts awaiting activation.
This is one of the reasons I wrote my book.
Ability to do or not do
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"It is said that we are born with free will, does this also equate to a freedom of choice?"
Yes. It means that we are free to do or not do any act involving voluntary muscles (unless there's some interference going on). But it is not without limits. e.g. We can only hold our breath for so long. It also means we can choose to think or not think certain things. This is also limited. There are some things we can't think, and some things we can't not think. Coersion doesn't affect free will. It can, however, make one of the choices more unpleasant than the other.
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"actions have consequences yet our creative thoughts do not."
Maybe we understand creative thoughts differently. Some of what I call creative thoughts are able to make some people sick or crazy apart from any willful action.
http://www.ultimatehealthliving.com/mind-your-brain-do-it-yourself-brain-surgery/
"Some of what I call creative thoughts are able to make some people sick or crazy apart from any willful action."
Cary, an untrained mind without the ability to discipline ones characteristics (emotions, imagination ect...) and evaluate concepts in a logical context whether internal or external stimuli is a roller coaster ride going nowhere fast.
I just created this response (concept). Had I not posted it this would still be just an unused thought with no consequence.
"...if they are just thoughts." It would have to be a light or unbinding thought that has no consequences at all. What people meditate on, yearn for, increase in passions for due to their thoughts all come out eventually. Our thoughts create who we are & must, eventually affect all that we do.
I think I know what you were getting at, but as I thought it out I realized what we think is who we become :)
In most cases this would be quite correct although this perception leaves out an important factor, the degree of ones personal growth in understanding life and how the mind works. There are many more people today who are no longer fitering their understanding based on strictly held beliefs of the past. By this I mean that our mind is a thought body, a form of energy (what we are), comprised of different characteristics such as the imagination, emotions, will ect... which most people have yet to learn how to control or understand beyond todays basic concepts. Housed within our physical form that one uses to learn, experience and understand oneself within this environment. The primary deterent to understanding oneself is that we tend to filter our understanding only from a physical aspect life, which is at best a finite existence.
You may have heard the expression " you have to think outside the box", meaning to think outside your comfort zone and be able to judge cause and effect, action and consequence within the context of ones mind and environment "before", conciously accepting a specific understanding into ones thought process. This is the difference between becoming what you think and decding what you want to become by training and controling how one thinks-:). It's not as easy as I make it sound and this process does take years with a concious effort to develop.
Our thoughts can have consequences when we choose a specific belief as an example. That belief of understanding once activated will train ones mind to filter all of ones thoughts based on the principles of this belief whether correct or incorrect. You may have noted from my comments on other members posts that my beliefs are more spiritual in nature and somewhat flexable as my growth in understanding develops rather than following a preset religious doctrin. The reason for this departure is that religion for me is a box with boundaries and no potential for further growth in understanding. It becomes a locked mindset requiring no further understanding.
Thank you for your comment.