Jessica Sun 孙道言
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thread 1/9
"Yet the truth of the matter -- not always grasped, by any means -- is that free will is not something we possess automatically, like having two arms and two legs. It is something we have to work at, something we have to earn."

- Cyprian Smith, "Way of Paradox"
05:41 PM - Apr 24, 2024
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Jessica Sun 孙道言
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thread 2/9
"In most of us, most of the time, it exists only as a potential, not often realized in concrete fact."
05:41 PM - Apr 24, 2024
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Jessica Sun 孙道言
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thread 3/9
"I go about my daily occupations, working, talking, eating, sleeping, imagining that I choose to do all these things, that I 'will' them. As a rule, however, I do nothing of the sort."
05:41 PM - Apr 24, 2024
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Jessica Sun 孙道言
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thread 4/9
"Most of these so-called 'actions' of mine are in fact reactions, conditioned by my physical and mental makeup, my past history, by the social and cultural environment in which I have grown up, and by the various stimuli, pleasant or otherwise, which I may be experiencing at the present moment."
05:41 PM - Apr 24, 2024
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Jessica Sun 孙道言
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thread 5/9
"This so-called 'action' of mine, which I think is freely willed, is in fact mostly habitual and automatic; I am a robot, simply functioning according to the programming and conditioning I have received."
05:41 PM - Apr 24, 2024
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Jessica Sun 孙道言
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thread 6/9
"The moment we start to gain any degree of true self-knowledge, we shall be astonished and horrified at how much of what we consider our 'own' life, thoughts and feelings, is mere robot-like reaction to conditioning."
05:41 PM - Apr 24, 2024
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Jessica Sun 孙道言
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thread 7/9
"This is true also of our inner, personal life: the sort of people we like or dislike, the sort of religious and political views we have, the sort of things we like to eat, the sort of recreation we like to take, and so on."
05:41 PM - Apr 24, 2024
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Jessica Sun 孙道言
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thread 8/9
"Prejudice and hatred, whether of race, religion, or class, such as is tearing the modern world apart, is largely a matter of passive reaction to conditioning; a truly 'free man' is not governed by these things."
05:41 PM - Apr 24, 2024
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Jessica Sun 孙道言
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thread 9/9
"And we cannot hope to abolish social and political strife so long as we remain passive to the influences which provoke it, so long as we remain slaves to our conditioning."
05:41 PM - Apr 24, 2024
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