Is Everything Just Nature’s Propagation or Do We Have a Say in All This?

If we throw down a Basketball over a hill, that ball will bounce down the hill swaying left to right, up-down, and in various unexpected combinations until it reaches the ground. With precise calculations of “Projectiles” and “Chaotic Dynamics” one might be able to predict the course of the ball before it is even thrown downhill.

All the mathematician has to do is to take the precise factors affecting the ball (Air resistance, gravity, etc.) and he/she’ll be able to create this scenario before it even takes place in real life. Of course, gathering those “factors” might not be an easy feat, but it’s doable.

Now imagine the scenario where the hill is several million kilometers high and the ball having a consciousness. I know it’s too far fetched, but just hang on.

What if on its way down for millions of years the ball starts thinking on its own? Ball thinking that it’s ball’s own doing that’s swaying it left to right unaware of the phenomena that are happening outside its mental caliber. Unaware of the thousands of factors affecting its motion, the ball rolls downhill thinking it is “It” that is taking all the turns.

Much like the ball, are we oblivious to how outside factors affect our thoughts; To an extent where we think we have free will? Is it really you who takes the decision to sway left to right or is it because of the past experiences you had just like ball’s rough journey down the hill? Will there be a possibility in the future to predict someone’s actions after taking all the factors into consideration?

In this hypothetical scenario, on the way downhill, the ball grows its own ego. Much like what has happened to us in reality. Humans and animals have all succumbed to this fate after billions of years of “rolling downhill”. With thousands of factors feeding our egos, we’ve grown it tremendously.

Do we do anything outside our own ego? Do we decide anything that happens within our own ego? If you’ve already started asking these questions you might be on a very interesting journey; a journey better than just a ball rolling downhill.