Beyond Karma

[Gregory Goode]

At 11:36 AM 3/18/98 -0800, Jonathan Bricklin wrote:

>The non-existence of free will applies to every level of reality including
>the one members of this list server are on.  Thoughts arise.  You cannot
>make a thought.  Free will is not some state you exist on at the
>vyavaharika level, it is a misinterpretation--communicated through such
>emotions as pride, guilt, anxiety--of  the feeling of choice.

Even if the notions mentioned by Jonathan arise, even the concept of free
will itself, these arise spontaneously.  I myself have tried for years to
find the agent that pushes these into awareness and have never found it.
The notions that Jonathan mentions, as well as all appearances whatsoever.
They rise and fall.  They are not there.  Then they are.  Then they are
not.  Any pushing factor or free agent would itself have to be one of these
appearances.

I agree with Jonathan also that the notion of free will is one of the
biggest (if not THE biggest) reasons that the notion of a real personal
identity, a sense of do-ership, is so strong.

--Greg