Free Will

 “I have no choice but to continue to believe in free will.”  (William James,1842—1910)

In the seventeenth century the philosopher Baruch Spinoza concluded that we live enslaved, “in human bondage,” to our emotions and that there is no such thing as free will.  Today’s scientists tell us that our thoughts and behaviors are no more than the enactment of neurochemical processes occurring within our brains.  Freedom to choose and to act is an illusion.  There is no such thing as free will.  Yet, like William James, I can’t help but believe in free will.

Certainly, for some, there is no free will.  A newborn infant cannot choose and act freely. Someone with a severe intellectual deficit cannot do so, nor can someone with advanced dementia.  There are some individuals that our society says are not responsible for their behavior, because they do not have the capacity to choose otherwise.

I always found it ironic when defiant and misbehaving kids were labelled ‘willful’.  These kids don’t choose their actions.  They act impulsively, reflexively, responding emotionally with anger, fear, and frustration.  Their behavior is not from thought and reason.  They don’t choose, they react. These kids would be much more accurately called ‘will-less’.

In my life, there is much for which I had no choice.  I did not choose when and where I was born. I did not choose what genes I inherited nor how I was parented.  My early teachers were luck of the draw, I didn’t choose them.  Nor did I choose the circumstances that surround my life in these troubled times.  As for mortality, I have no choice.

What then is free will as I understand it to be?  It is not something we are born with.  It is a capacity that is acquired, to a greater or lesser degree.  We are freed from ‘human bondage’ when we learn to respond other than to the immediacy of our emotions.  Free will begins with the development of self-control.  It begins when we acquire the power to moderate and restrain our emotions.  In the course of healthy development, we progress from impulsive to reasoning, from reflexive to reflective.

Free will starts when we use self-control to stop . . .  and to think . . . and to reason . . . and to imagine possibilities . . . and to choose . . . and then to act in accord with our choice.  That is free will.

My son and I have had a few debates on this subject.  He strongly believes that there is no such thing as free will and I have not been able to convince him otherwise.  If he reads this, it’s not that he had any choice. He was determined to do so.

 

My Top-10

In an otherwise forgettable biography of Freud, I read that European intellectuals thought Top-10 Lists were “vulgar, predictable, and American.”  Who am I to argue? In no particular order, here’s my vulgar, predictable, and American Top-10 List: the ten books that, through the years, most influenced and guided my thinking.

1.      The Growth of Biological Thought, by Ernst Mayer – written by a renown evolutionary theorist, this book, which I read early in my residency, was my introduction to the interface of science and philosophy.

2.      Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas R. Hofstadter – written by a scholar of cognitive science, this book is an entertaining and challenging rollercoaster journey of thinking about thinking.

3.      Powers of Ten, by Philip Morrison and Phylis Morrison and the office of Charles and Ray Eames – the book took me through a visual journey of the universe from the smallest known particles to the vast reaches of space, as viewed from many perspectives, through many lenses.

4.      Existential Psychotherapy, by Irvin D. Yalom – written by a psychotherapist and novelist, this textbook reads like a novel, and from it I derived much of my approach to psychotherapy.

5.      The Writings of William James, edited by John J. McDermott – James’s approachable writings on the philosophic topics of Pragmatism and Pluralism continue to inform my journey into the worlds of both science and religion.

6.      Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl – written by a holocaust survivor and a psychotherapist, this book is a poignant affirmation of free will and the human capacity to rise above adversity.

7.      I and Thou, by Martin Buber – this short and difficult to read book distinguishes between the day to day indifference of the ‘it’ world and the authentic love, humanity, and dialogue that occurs when another becomes not an ‘it’, but a ‘Thou’.

8.      The Case for God, by Karen Armstrong – written by an ex-nun, with encyclopedic knowledge of the world’s religions, this book affirms my conviction that the quest to experience God is a worthy endeavor.

9.      The Blessing of a Skinned Knee:  Raising Self-Reliant Children, by Wendy Mogel – written by a child psychologist, this book articulates the importance of attending to children’s character and providing them with a moral compass. This book was often my guide when I taught parent guidance.

10.  Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman – written by a Nobel Prize winner, among many topics this book explores the tendency of humans use cognitive shortcuts to create explanations and narratives, while overlooking, denying, or forgetting facts and statistics that refute our explanations.

I just finished rereading Thinking Fast and Slow. I learned a lot, some of which I hope to write about soon.  I am excited by what I’ve learned and I’m glad to know that it’s still possible to teach an old (Boxer) dog new tricks!

God?

 “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.  It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science . . . It was the experience of mystery –even if mixed with fear—that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate . . . it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man.”  (Albert Einstein, 1879—1955) 

I am an agnostic. I seek to know God, but God is elusive. I distrust those who claim to know for sure, whether it be the certainty of the fundamentalist or the certainty of the atheist.  What I know definitively is that I don’t know. Fortunately, in the milieu in which I was raised, there was acceptance of question, debate, and doubt. 

My parents were not religious. Nevertheless, I attended a Conservative Jewish Sunday school.  I was taught history, holidays, and life cycles.  I was taught prayer, but I was not taught about God.  Maybe for my teachers, some who had numbers tattooed on their arms, it was just too soon and too painful to talk about God.  Still, I was curious. 

I remember the philosophical talks I had in grade school with my friend Paul.  We figured that there must be something in the universe that is as far beyond our comprehension as we humans are above an amoeba’s.  And that’s what we call God. 

As a young teenager, I often went to services hoping through prayer to have an experience of God, but it didn’t happen.  Then one Shabbat morning, a friend called asking if I wanted to play football.  With little second thought, I chose football over prayer, and that religiously observant phase of my life abruptly ended. 

Some years later I tried a new tactic, the lottery.  I bargained with God.  “God, if I win the lottery I will follow your commandments, AND I will give half of my winnings to charity.”  I was offering God the chance for a win-win-win.  I win. Charity wins. God wins. I didn’t win. 

In college I took Intro to Philosophy and learned what the philosophers had to say on the subject.  However, the god of the philosophers was so abstract that God ceased to be relevant.  What I was seeking was not an abstraction called "god," but a personal, caring god. 

My seeking, my questioning, and my un-answering has continued well into my adult years. So now what do I the agnostic say when my children ask if I believe in God? I say that I am open to the possibility that the world is more than just matter and energy.  I am open to the possibility of God. I am even open to the possibility that we experience “God moments.” fleeting glimpses of God’s presence in our lives. 

For me, God remains a mystery.  Perhaps God is Mystery. Despite a lifetime of doubting, I continue seeking. Like Einstein, I too am a deeply religious man.

Trump's Win

It is now been twelve books, nine jigsaw puzzles, and 4 ½ months since I first blogged about Covid.  The pandemic is worse than ever, no end in sight.  The election is less than 100 days away (maybe).  Here, friends and readers, is my prediction . . . the pandemic continues and so does Trump.

People are passionate about Trump.  You either love him or you hate him.  Joe Biden is as exciting as a glass of warm milk.  In the coming election, people will turn out to either vote for Trump or vote against Trump.  But how many will turn out, enthusiastic enough to risk their health, to vote for Biden?

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is not going to make it through another four years.  All the right-to-lifers, all the gun-rights advocates, and all the right-wing conservatives will vote Trump.  They don’t want to lose the opportunity to appoint more conservative federal judges and to get one more conservative judge onto the Supreme Court.

Law-and-order conservatives will vote Trump.  Right-wing nationalists will vote Trump.  The wealthy, seeking to protect their wealth from the left-wing progressives, will vote Trump.

Trump will do all he can to discourage mail-in ballots.  In contrast to Democrats, Republicans take the Covid epidemic far less seriously, observe less social distancing, wear masks less often, and are more willing to meet in large crowds.  This means that they will be more willing to come out in public, wait in lines, and vote on-site.  Advantage Trump.

The Democrats will inevitably shoot themselves in the foot.  The radical left-wing will do to the Democratic Party what the Tea Party did to the Republicans.  At a time when this country needs uniting, when we need politicians willing to work across aisles and to make compromises, ideology and polarization will prevail.

The media will contribute to Trump’s victory.  Moderation and compromise make for boring news and lower ratings.  The news media outlets, all of them, have a significant investment in Trump being President for four more years.  Love him or hate him, with Trump in office people watch the news.

Russia and China, to the extent that they will try to influence the election, know it is in their best interest to see Trump win.  No need for war or espionage.  They will be able to sit back and watch the U.S. implode.

Add it all up.  Trump wins.

(I hope I'm wrong.)

Mark Twain and the Jews

Mark Twain was a literary giant, a great American humorist, essayist, and novelist.  Some have called him a friend to the Jews.  But others have said he was an anti-Semite.  I’ve read and heard both sides.  I set out to form my own opinion.  What I discovered was not straightforward.

In 1897, Mark Twain observed the Austrian parliament in session.  In a magazine article he wrote that its members came from all walks of life, all classes of society.  He added, “They are religious men, they are devoted, and they hate the Jews.” Subsequently, Mark Twain received a letter of inquiry.  “Now will you kindly tell me why, in your judgment, the Jews have thus ever been, and are even now in these days of supposed intelligence, the butt of baseless, vicious animosities?”  Mark Twain answered in an essay “Concerning the Jews,” published in 1899.

It is clear to me that Mark Twain was not anti-Semitic, certainly not when judged in the context of his times.  However, it is less clear that he was a friend.  There are no Jewish characters in any of his fiction.  Except for a single essay, there is little evidence that he gave much thought to the Jews, one way or another.  Mark Twain’s essay about the Jews was filled with respect and praise, but it was also filled with the biases and stereotypes that pervaded gentile America.

Mark Twain admired the strong Jewish family.  He praised Jewish support of charitable institutions.  He acknowledged the disproportionate contribution of Jews to art, literature, science, music, and medicine.

Unfortunately, in offering praise, Mark Twain often resorted to conventional stereotypes.  “The  Jews have the best average brain of any people in the world.  The Jews are the only race in the world who work wholly with their brains and never with their hands.”  Twain urged Jews to unite politically, writing that if Jews organized, as Zionist leader Dr. Theodor Herzl proposed, they would become a “concentration of the cunningest brains in the world.”

In his criticism of the Jews, Twain resorted to unflattering stereotypes.  He saw Jews as disinclined to fight as soldiers, and he repeated an old charge, “you feed on a country but don’t like to fight for it.”  Twain later wrote a gracious apology when he learned of the large number of Jews who had served, fought, and died in the Civil War.

Why are Jews hated?  Mark Twain wrote that economics, not religion, was the source of anti-Semitism.  Jews were hated most in the marketplace.  “The Jew is a money-getter:  and in getting his money he is a very serious obstruction to less capable neighbors."  Twain seemed to be commenting on the relatively affluent and assimilated German and Austrian Jews.  He said nothing about the millions of Jews living persecuted within the impoverished shtetls of Eastern Europe.

Tragically, mistakenly, Mark Twain showed little understanding about anti-Semitism and the vulnerability of the Jewish people.  On the eve of the 20^th century, speculating about their future, he wrote, “I do not think that the Jew need now stand in any fear of being robbed and raided.  Among the high civilizations, he seems to be very comfortably situated indeed.”

Touching Spirit Bear

For several years I worked with a particularly angry and troubled teenager.  He spoke little and visits were mostly for medication management of severe mood swings and aggressive outbursts.  Then one day he entered my office and began a conversation.  He asked me if I’d ever heard of the book Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen.  When I said that I had not, he asked me if I would be willing to read it and I said that I would.

It was clear that my patient identified with the story’s main character Cole.  As the story begins, Cole is an angry and violent youth, a bully.  Cole had beaten up and seriously injured a boy named Peter.  As would any good sociopath, Cole blames Peter rationalizing that he deserved his beating.

Cole had been in and out of the system, a system he experienced as uncaring and hypocritical.  He had been sent from one facility to another, from one social worker to another.  This time, rather than return to jail, Cole is offered the option of going to an island where, under the supervision of two native Alaskans, he will remain isolated in a journey of self-discovery.

Initially, in a rage, Cole destroys his only food and shelter.  He attempts to escape the island by swimming but is swept back ashore by the tide.  Exhausted, cold and hungry he is approached by a great white bear.  In his continued rage he tries to kill the bear but winds up getting seriously mauled.  In a moment of near death, he has his epiphany.  He wants to live.

Cole is rescued, rehabilitated, and returns to the island for a second time.  Much more open to the experience of the island, he begins to come to terms with his anger.  He begins to feel remorse for the hurt he has caused.  He begins to feel forgiveness and understanding for those who, in the past, had hurt him. In the second part of the book Peter, traumatized and depressed, is brought to the island after two suicide attempts. The later part of the story is about the healing that occurs between these two scared and scarred youths.

Touching Spirit Bear holds out the hope of change but emphasizes that change is not easy.  The story makes clear that remorse alone is not enough.  Where there has been hurt and damage, there must be a process of repair.  When my patient read this story, he felt understood and he felt hope.  He felt that he too could change.

Does it take a near death experience in order to change, or is a good story enough to inspire and to transform? Over the years, I saw many angry youths.  I didn’t have an island where I could send them, and near death experiences are generally not recommended.  Instead, I recommended they read this book and I asked them to discuss. How were they like and unlike Cole? What would they have done if alone on the island?  With the book as a catalyst, I had many productive conversations with otherwise guarded and angry youths, who were willing to consider the possibility of change.

Sometimes it takes being alone on an island.  Sometimes it takes being mauled by a bear.  But sometimes it just takes a good story.

Stupidity

 “Think of how stupid the average person is and realize half of them are stupider than that.”  (George Carlin, 1937--2008)

While the country convulses through times of historic challenge and change, I remain shut in and socially distanced.  I read a lot, and I watch the news.  I’ve written nothing since mid-April. My ideas have felt like loose threads, scattered and unorganized, not worth putting down on paper.  It has not been for lack of thoughts.  I am flooded with thoughts, but thoughts that often seem trivial, inadequate given the circumstances in which we now live.  So, I’ve been silent.

I’ve been silent.  I’ve been angry.  And I’ve been dumbfounded by the pervasive stupidity that characterizes this country’s response to the pandemic.  Everybody wants the economy to reopen.  Everybody wants the kids to return safely to school.  The solution isn’t rocket science.  There should be no controversy, no politics involved.  Everybody needs to avoid crowds, socially distance, wash hands and wear masks.  If everybody would do these basic things, without griping, we could get through this mess and move on with our lives.  But no . . .

I’m sick of hearing about the “right” to not wear a mask.  Is there a right to blow cigarette smoke in someone’s face?  Is there a right to drive impaired by alcohol?  Is there a right to run a red light, if so inclined?  There are rules and behaviors that protect others.  Wear the damn mask and quit complaining. Quit whining about your rights and assume your responsibility to others.

Sadly, enabled by a minion of spineless politicians, supported by cult followers and egged on by ratings-driven media, there is this piece of work we call Mr. President,  He claims, on the one hand, that his response to the pandemic has saved millions of lives.  He also claims that 99% of all Covid infections are harmless.  Let me repeat, he claims that he has saved millions of lives from a 99% harmless virus.  Really?  Is it just me or does that make no sense?  And just in case you were wondering, neither assertion is true.  He has neither saved millions of lives nor is the virus 99% harmless.

Mr. President likes large rallies.  Mr. President doesn’t like to wear a mask.  Mr. President criticizes and marginalizes his top medical expert, while the pandemic rages on.  All this AND Mr. President calls himself a “very stable genius.” Mr. President is a moron, but he’s a powerful moron and he’s dangerous.

It’s clear that this pandemic will continue out of control for the foreseeable future.  My hope for better things to come depends on two happenings, neither of which is guaranteed.  First, I pray that by winter there will be an available and effective Covid vaccine.  Second, I pray that in November there will be a large voter turnout and an uncorrupted presidential election.