In my previous post, The Stories We Tell, I drew out the connecting thread that runs through the different books I was reading, the importance of imagination, and the fact that stories capture and shape our imagination, regardless of whether the stories are factually true or not. We inherit them, disparately, and carry them with us as we engage with one another, for better or for worse. And although they are distinct, they also overlap—all our imaginaries overlap and impact one another.
Our political system makes us witnesses to this in an explicit way. Each party and their respective candidates present us with the social imaginary they are trying to draw us into in the present and for the future, and no matter what, we will be impacted by both for they will each continue to be at work in our intersecting world no matter the result of the election. This was part of what struck me so clearly in reading these three books—one about the history of slavery in the U.S., one about social change and activism, and one about science and our human brain. We are all tied to one another, and no matter the genre, all my books are echoing the same message.
Sapolsky, the author of Determined, in his 528-page book (I’m not quite finished reading it yet, but I skipped ahead and read the concluding chapter in order to write this post), throws a curve ball to how I have been thinking about imagination. I think about imagination and its importance in terms of how it shapes us, and how social imaginaries move us into action or inaction or toward different and varying value systems, practices, habits, and relationality. But, in Determined, Sapolsky proposes what one reviewer calls “A neuroscientific takedown of the notion that free will guides us.” Sapolsky’s “takedown” involved over 500 pages of very detailed description of the workings of our brains, our cells, our neurons, our dendrites, etc., and how it makes decisions.
Ultimately, what the most recent brain research shows is that as humans we do not actually deliberate before making a decision but instead rely “on a record of past behavior determined by neural responses and learned actions”—our brain does it for us before we are even aware of it. There are a million and one factors, external, social, and biological, that effectively determine the way our brains will respond to a given stimulus, effectively taking the choice out of our hands.
The author acknowledges the heaviness of this science, making reference to the malaise it often causes those who come to terms with this for the first time. He also argues in the book against scientific writers who put forth the “compatibilist” view the science on the brain is indeed compatible with the idea of human free will. But, interestingly—and this is where I go back to imagination in a still constructive way—the author’s intent is not to say, “Toughen up, there’s no free will,” but actually to increase compassion. He writes that “you are no more entitled to have your needs and desires met than is any other human. That there is no human who is less worthy than you to have their well-being considered.” The challenge to us individually of course is when thinking of the terrible people who cause great harm.
We are not used to thinking about everybody’s choices as each being a result of “the threads of causality,” that run beneath us and make us “us” at any given moment. Or, in other words, that for any given person’s choice (for our choices), “there’s no answer to the “Why?” beyond ‘This happened because of what came just before, which happened because of what came just before that,’” and so on, and so on.
Where does this leave us with, then—and me in particular when thinking about imagination? In my previous post, I started by reflecting on the fact of the multiple imaginaries we contend with every day, visions and frameworks for organizing humanity and society; and I still believe this to be key for us, even if our choices are ultimately determined and not as much in our hands as we would like to think. Because what is also ultimately true is that we are all, still and ever, intimately and inextricably interrelated.
Sara Wright’s recent post introduced me to Bioneers, a nonprofit “inspiring and realizing a shift to live on Earth in ways that honor the web of life, each other and future generations.” We are indeed a web of life and the well-being of us all, of all living and sentient beings, is interrelated and depends on us all. Let us have that truth be the imagination that moves us.
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Wow, what a post Xochitl.. There are so many points I could address here. I’ll begin with how ‘conditioning’ determines what we think, see, feel, experience… The more self aware we become the more this conditioning becomes obvious – the good news is that with awareness we can interrupt that cycle or at least question it…With those parameters free will becomes a possibility. Recently, ( since the man thinkers said so) we have been conditioned to believe that free will determines choices. This idea in my experience is simply not true. I have spent the second part of life thinking about this issue because of my own past ‘history’ that left me feeling powerless and invisible. Choicemaking wasn’t even a reality early in my life – since I was forced to give up myself to survive – later when I realized this I blamed myself for not even being aware of choice – typical conditioned response – Most folks base their so called choices on their history and resulting conditioning unless they are awakened in some way – and this is where imagination plays an important role – imagination, determination and what I would call Grace can help us overcome conditioning and biases. There’s no blame here – Humans do what human do – just like the rest of nature. It’s not that we can’t think, we can – but we need to examine those thought processes very very carefully – and use our imagination to conjure up another way of being human in the world we have created – the goddess can help here! As a naturalist I see a catastrophe in slow motion overcoming us all if we continue along this trajectory – so beginning with self reflection, creating a kinder more compassionate world with our imaginations and our individual actions is a path that I would like to see us all taking even though just now, we are broken. There are other ways and anything that can help us reconnect with people animals, trees and fungi on this planet will help… the eventual outcome may not be in our hands but aligning ourselves with interrelatedness on any level is in my opinion the direction we need to take. Thanks Xochitl for this most thought provoking essay.
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My comment:
Wow, what a post Xochitl.. There are so many points I could address here. I’ll begin with how ‘conditioning’ determines what we think, see, feel, experience… The more self aware we become the more this conditioning becomes obvious – the good news is that with awareness we can interrupt that cycle or at least question it…With those parameters free will becomes a possibility. Recently, ( since the man thinkers said so) we have been conditioned to believe that free will determines choices. This idea in my experience is simply not true. I have spent the second part of life thinking about this issue because of my own past ‘history’ that left me feeling powerless and invisible. Choicemaking wasn’t even a reality early in my life – since I was forced to give up myself to survive – later when I realized this I blamed myself for not even being aware of choice – typical conditioned response – Most folks base their so called choices on their history and resulting conditioning unless they are awakened in some way – and this is where imagination plays an important role – imagination, determination and what I would call Grace can help us overcome conditioning and biases. There’s no blame here – Humans do what human do – just like the rest of nature. It’s not that we can’t think, we can – but we need to examine those thought processes very very carefully – and use our imagination to conjure up another way of being human in the world we have created – the goddess can help here! As a naturalist I see a catastrophe in slow motion overcoming us all if we continue along this trajectory – so beginning with self reflection, creating a kinder more compassionate world with our imaginations and our individual actions is a path that I would like to see us all taking even though just now, we are broken. There are other ways and anything that can help us reconnect with people animals, trees and fungi on this planet will help… the eventual outcome may not be in our hands but aligning ourselves with interrelatedness on any level is in my opinion the direction we need to take. Thanks Xochitl for this most thought provoking essay.
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A fascinating post! I wonder how the idea of a lack of free will fits in with the concept of co-creation, in which humans are co-creating an ever-changing universe along with Divinity and which Carol Christ wrote about often. It does remind me of how often I would hear people’s life stories as part of my work in human services and, from an outsider’s perspective, I could see the through line from events or circumstances in childhood or young adulthood to decisions made late in life. Knowing there is that connection can actually help free us as we think about our decisions, to be aware of the influence of past decisions. And, as you say, to realize the importance of compassion and interrelatedness. As long as we have both of those, we can find the right path and make the best decisions, I think. I would love to know the titles of the other books you are reading!
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I guess my question is are we really co -creators or a creative aspect of the whole – every creature on this planet has creative impulses – i think we are one of many who have specific qualities intrinsic to who we are as a species – but if we are co – creators then what about the rest of nature?
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I don’t know that any theologians have addressed this interesting question, but I definitely believe that all beings are co-creators. Why would I be any more a co-creator than a tree or a bear or a mountain? But I do think it is interesting that I have never seen this question addressed in the reading I have done about co-creation. Thanks for raising it!
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To me it’s obvious – we don’t attribute sentience to the rest of nature so why would theologians address it?
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Thank you Sara and Xochitl for furthering our understanding and imagination.
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Not sure how I did this Elizabeth – Xochtl certainly did but I’m glad that you thought my comment had merit
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Dear women, I could not agree more about the beneficial effects of understanding the diverse factors which interplay to determine our ‘choices” (though I use the word preference now, rather than choice). It is a glorious thing that Xochitl and all the younger generations have access to these ideas , insights, and global perspectives in the form of factual texts that can affirm and validate their own wise selves as they grow. Even having this forum adds to the new/old direction in consciousness we pray the world adapts.
I think understanding the complexity of the forces acting upon us lifts a great deal of unwarranted guilt and shame and thus results in true response-ability. When there’s space to let compassion and understanding inform reason, we are more free to respond rather than react on impulse.
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