Floating

The man on the screen

With his beard

And his credentials 

Said that there is no such thing as free will 

Everything is just chemical reactions in the brain

Every present moment is just the accumulation of the past

That our biology 

And genealogy

Contribute to the majority of our behavior 

That our hormones impact how we will engage with each other 

With a straight face

He talked about being ‘hangry’

And how people act and judge and decide differently 

When they are hungry 

He said we are only products of our environment

And we can’t control our environments

And that profound individual change happens spontaneously 

Profound change can’t be anticipated 

Apparently he wrote a book about all of this

And people felt like there was still wiggle room for some free will in his argument

So 

He wrote another book about it

Stanford

That’s where he taught 

And he needed to elaborate 

There is no wiggle room

He thinks it is impossible for free will to have ever emerged

I used to be scared of this

But there is something so freeing

About the idea

Of being a leaf in the wind

Of being a stick floating down a river 

The world is beautiful to look at 

When you can just float 

When you know that every moment fades away

And every second is uniquely configured 

Is it random?

Or is it beautiful?

Or is it beautiful because it is random?

Is it predetermined? 

Or is it a choice?

. . .

He made some good points 

The man with the beard

And the credentials 

It was silly

But fun 

It is always good to listen to opposite opinions 

From experts 

And now

It is time for sleep

Good night

Sweet dreams

Remember to listen to your dreams

And to trust the deep 

CH 5/27/24