Has anybody else picked this up yet? It’s really done a number on me. Prior to reading it I would consider myself a Stoic. One of my central philosophies being that “The choices I make define who I am”.
So obviously being told that my choices were never even mine to begin with was kind of a slap in the face.
It rings true though. The choices we make at any given time are a result of our genetics, or environment, the media we’ve consumed, how tired we are…
I’m not a stranger to the concept of Ego death but it had been a hot minute since I thought about it.
Honestly, I get why this stuff triggers people so hard. From a biblical sense, choice is almost the sole defining characteristic of what makes us human.
One of the big reasons I don’t believe anymore.
But, idk. It’s true in the factual sense, but not “true” at the level of our experience. Knowing this literally can’t change the course of your life, because you don’t have free will and the universe is a giant multi-dimensional block. We still gotta hope we’re good and go through all the motions.
Who would we blame for our troubles and burn at the stake if we couldn’t point fingers at each other?