Our lives are woven with choices.
We make countless choices every day, from small choices such as delaying the morning alarm for 10 minutes, to choices that affect our lives, such as moving to another country.
Choosing is a beautiful action that makes you feel alive. But what if we have the chance to make these choices better and we make the wrong ones because we don't realize it?
What if we ask ourselves the following question:
Are we really free to make these choices?
What makes us make these decisions?
Is it really our "free will" or are we guided by our genetic codes, past experiences and the culture we live in?
Or could it be our traumas and addictions that make us make these decisions?
In this article, we will explore our decision-making habits, how our brain makes choices and how freedom is possible when the mind is silent.
Philosophical Perspective
Spinoza - Freedom in Necessity
Freedom, according to Spinoza, is not "the power to do anything" as it is commonly believed.
According to him, true freedom arises from necessity. Man is necessarily a part of nature and is necessarily free. But the freedom of man who does not know the laws of nature can be a recipe for disaster. (1*)
In other words, the more deeply man understands the laws that govern himself and nature, the more free he becomes.
In his view, nothing in the universe is random.
Everything (the fall of a leaf, the anger of a man, the birth of a decision) is determined by a chain of causes.
But this is not a fatalistic surrender; on the contrary, it is a gateway to a conscious awareness.
Because when one realizes that one is a link in this chain, one is no longer blindly attached to it.
He begins to act knowing himself to be in that chain.
This state of knowing is what Spinoza calls "freedom."
The mind is clouded by passions, desires, fears.
When we are overcome by a desire, we do not realize that it is ruling us; we think we are making the decisions that that feeling causes us to make with free will, even though we know we are under the influence of the emotional storm of the moment.
But when the mind is quiet, desire becomes visible as an object.
We are no longer identical with it; we see it, we understand its cause.
This moment of awareness is the point at which action changes from necessity to conscious choice.
According to Spinoza, man is not free when he is "a slave to his passions", but the moment he understands the cause of his passions, the chain is unchained.
Because to know is to change direction.
Understanding the cause of a behavior is the only way to transcend the obligation on it.
Therefore, Spinoza's conception of freedom is closely related to silence:
When the mind is silent, it is awareness, not thought, that speaks.
And awareness does not remove the obligation, but shows the space within it. In that thin space, choice is born.
Perhaps freedom is not about will, but about awareness.
Because what we really see, we can no longer do blindly.
And at that moment, for the first time, man becomes the subject of his own life.
Sartre - Condemnation of freedom
In Sartre's understanding, freedom is not a gift given to us, but a burden placed on our backs. (2*)
For him, man "exists before his essence."
That is to say, we are first born, then we determine who we are by our choices.(3*)
Therefore, man is condemned to be free, to choose freely who he is, because he has no other choice.
No matter how much we run away, we make a choice every moment. Even inaction is a choice and therefore a responsibility. Even when we choose not to do something, it is we who make that decision.
Sartre's conception of freedom is sharpened in the moments when the mind is silent.
Because as long as the mind speaks, it produces a thousand excuses:
"The circumstances were not favorable", "I had no choice", "I am like this anyway..."
But when silence comes, these excuses dissolve one by one.
All that remains is the naked truth:
We are the ones who choose.
When the mind is silent, we are left alone with existence.
No longer can we hide behind the noise.
Fears, expectations, excuses fall away one by one; only pure responsibility remains.
This is precisely the space that Sartre calls "nothingness":
This inner emptiness has the potential to be at once frightening and creative.
For it is in that nothingness that one can recreate oneself.
Silence here is not a passive silence, but a space of contact with the naked truth of existence.
When the mind is silent, there are no roles, no masks.
Only "me" and "my choices" remain.
And at that very moment, the paradox of freedom appears:
We have often woven the chains from which we want to be free.
But we are the only beings capable of untying those chains.
Perhaps this is what Sartre meant:
Freedom is an obligation from which we cannot escape.
But when we realize that obligation, we are truly free for the first time.
Eastern Perspective (Zen / Advaita) - Unity of the Chooser and the Chosen
In Eastern teaching, freedom is not an action but a remembrance.
According to Zen, man is already free; he simply forgets this freedom.
Because the mind creates a center that constantly says "I", freedom becomes a subject of struggle.
But freedom is not won through struggle; it is revealed through the dissolution of the false identification with ourselves.
As Lao Tzu said: (4*)
"True freedom begins not with understanding who we are, but with understanding who we are not."
The wisdom in this sentence lies in the fact that it sees freedom as a process of elimination, not an acquisition.
Nothing is "added"; only the unnecessary is eliminated, leaving the pure self.
It is like taking off a mask, the face underneath is always there.
In the philosophy of Advaita (which rejects duality), freedom appears when the distinction between the "chooser" and the "chosen" disappears.
Because this distinction is actually an illusion created by the mind.
When the mind thinks it is making a choice, there are two poles:
I and choice.
But when awareness deepens, these two poles melt into one flow.
It's like a river trying to choose its direction:
What the river is doing is not a choice, it's just flowing.
But when you are aware of the flow, there is no longer necessity, there is naturalness.
This is why in Zen "natural action" (wu wei) is the expression of freedom:
There is action but no effort; there is decision but no center.
Nisargadatta Maharaj puts it this way (5*):
"You are not what you do, what you think, or what you feel. You are the awareness that observes all of this."
Freedom in this view begins not at the moment of a decision, but beyond the illusion of "choosing."
When the mind is silent, the action is still going on, but there is no "doer."
There is only the flow of life itself.
Perhaps true freedom lies not in trying to change things, but in the non-interfering nature of the mind.
The quieter the mind becomes, the more effortless freedom becomes.
Because then there is no longer anyone saying "I choose"; there is only the choice of life itself, and that is us.
Scientific Perspective
Neuroscience and Decision Making
Philosophy has been discussing free will for centuries, but towards the end of the 20th century the debate moved to the laboratory.
The essence of the question was:
When we realize that we are making decisions, and do we really make these decisions?
In the 1980s, Benjamin Libet's experiments opened a disturbing window on this question. (6*)
Participants were asked to perform a simple task:
Press a button at will.
Simultaneously with the action, their brain activity was measured by EEG.
The results were surprising:
Signals called "readiness potentials" appeared in the brain about 300 milliseconds before the person consciously said "I'm going to press it now."
In other words, the brain was preparing for the action before it realized that the decision had been "made."
This suggests that, for many researchers, free will may be an illusion.
The action was going ahead of the conscious decision. We were just lagging behind and embracing the decision as "I made it".
But Libet himself did not interpret this result in a completely fatalistic way.
There was a small but critical area in which, according to him, human beings were not completely "automatic":
The moment of "veto" or "retreat".
That is, even when the brain was preparing for action, awareness could step in and say "no".
Therein, perhaps, lay the residue of free will... Not in initiating action, but in being able to stop it.
In the following years, fMRI experiments by John-Dylan Haynes and Chun Siong Soon showed that decision traces in the brain can be predicted up to 7 seconds before the person is aware of them.
These findings reveal how deep and fast the brain's automatic processes run. (7*)
But here, too, neuroscience did not come to the stark conclusion that "there is no freedom".
On the contrary, the picture changed when the prefrontal cortex came into play with awareness.
This area of the brain is associated with planning, ethical judgment, empathy and self-control.
So behavior was determined not only by limbic impulses, but also by the quality of awareness.
In the moment of conscious decision-making, the activity of the prefrontal cortex increased, while at the same time the inner chatter of the default mode network decreased.
This was like the neurobiological equivalent of silence:
When the mind is silent, decisions become conscious, not automatic.
Therefore, it is not a question of "whether there is free will or not."
The question is:
At what moment does awareness come into play?
Because even if the brain initiates automatically, when consciousness witnesses the process, the choice changes quality.
No longer impulse drives, but awareness does.
The "veto" moment in Libet's experiment is precisely this moment of awareness.
This is the moment when the conscious control regions of the prefrontal cortex (especially the dorsolateral PFC) come into play. In other words, it is the physical equivalent of awareness on a neurophysiological level.
Perhaps free will is the capacity to awaken within the decision, not before it is made.
The brain prepares for the action, but awareness becomes conscious of that action.
In that awareness, automaticity dissolves, choice is born.
Freedom begins not when the mind is silentbut when consciousness is awake.
Conscious Decision and Default Mode Network
Modern neuroscience has shown us that he silence of the mind is actually a reorganization of the brain.
In moments of silence, the brain's so-called "Default Mode Network" (DMN), the network that maintains self-narratives and automatic self-talk, slows down. (8*)
This network is the center of that familiar mental humming between the past and the future:
"What am I going to do?", "I wish I hadn't said that", "Tomorrow if..."
When the mind is silent, the activity of this network decreases.
Silence is not only the extinction of external sounds, but also of internal repetitions.
fMRI studies show that in this state, the brain's awareness centers such as the prefrontal cortex and the insula form stronger connections.
This increases cognitive flexibility.
The individual no longer acts from past patterns, but from the data of the moment.
The decision ceases to be a reflex; it becomes a conscious choice.
We can think of this as a kind of "neural freshness".
When the mind silences its echoes, new pathways open up between different parts of the brain.
Just as alternative routes become visible when traffic is reduced.
Silence simplifies the brain's complex narrative networks.(9*)
Thanks to this simplification, a person can make more authentic decisions by stepping out of automatic thoughts.
No longer reacting, but responding.
The decision is the product of awareness, not of past habits.
Neuroscientists call this "meta-consciousness":
No longer just thinking, but becoming aware that one is thinking.
And it is precisely at that moment (when the mind is silent but consciousness is awake) that freedom becomes a neurological possibility.
Perhaps free will is born not in action, but in the extinguishing of automaticity.
Silence is therefore not a void, but a new decision space.
Real Problems and Solutions
Problem: The Illusion of Freedom
Many of us would like to believe that we are "free".
When we choose the coffee we want, decide which city to live in or which profession to pursue, we think that we make these decisions of our own volition.
Until these self-determined decisions interfere with our health, psychology, productivity, happiness and peace of mind.
But if we look a little closer, we realize that this freedom is often a reflection. The echo of voices that do not belong to us, of internalized patterns...
Wherever we say "I am like this", the voice of the past and the environment is actually speaking.
Culture, family, education, religion, gender roles...
All of them are like invisible algorithms coded in the background of our minds.
These codes, like automated software, guide our decisions without us realizing it.
Sometimes a person thinks they are free only because they don't realize that algorithm.
Even saying "I drink my coffee without sugar" can be a continuation of a habit that was passed down years ago from an authority figure (a parent, a teacher, a fashion).
In other words, freedom is often just freedom to make choices in accordance with a habit, because of decisions that are made automatically without thought.
Society also feeds this illusion.
Advertisements tell us to "be yourself", but at the same time tell us "how we should be".
Educational systems praise individuality, but teach obedience.
The world of work rewards creativity, but punishes risk-taking.
In the end, what we call "free choice" is often just a preference filtered through cultural approval mechanisms.
In psychology this is called internalized norms.
In other words, external rules no longer come from outside; they speak inside us.
Thus, voices like "you should", "you shouldn't", "it would be shameful", "it's the right thing to do", "what people say", etc. masquerade as free will.
This is where the real danger lies.
When mental habits, ethical preferences or social roles are not questioned, freedom becomes a mere cosmetic adornment.
We feel as if we are making a choice, but in factwe are the ones who are chosen.
True freedom is not in being able to "do anything" but in being able to "realize what you are doing and why".
Because a decision made without awareness, no matter how complex it may seem, is still an automatic reaction.
When the mind is quiet, these automatic mechanisms become visible.
A thought comes, we say "yes, I want that".
But when we take a step back, we realize that we didn't choose that desire, it chose us.
In that moment, awareness becomes freedom.
Because it is no longer the internalized voices speaking, but the silent witness of consciousness.
True freedom is not unconditional action;it is the ability to see the conditions and to choose that action under those conditions or in spite of them.
Solution - Mindful Choice
Freedom is not an absolute detachment; it is the fine-tuning of awareness.
True freedom does not begin with the disappearance of external conditions, but with the transformation of the way we recognize them.
As Spinoza said, "The knowledge of necessity is freedom."
So to be free is not to break the chains, but to see them and be able to reshape them and ourselves.
Because what is realized is no longer automatic, it becomes free choice.
This is why mindful choice is born out of silence.
When the mind is silent, a moment appears in that small space.
The moment when the decision has not yet been made, but the decision begins to take shape.
That is where the seeds of freedom are sown.
Let's take a look at this list I have prepared for myself, which I would be happy to share with you:
Using moments of silence as a mindfulness practice.
Silence is not only the cessation of the noise of the outside world, but also the dilution of mental echoes.
Before making a decision, a few seconds of silence allows the brain to switch from automatic circuits to awareness networks.
This is the moment when, neuroscientifically, the prefrontal cortex is activated and "conscious control" becomes possible.
Pause before making a decision and observe the impulse behind the thought.
It is natural to wonder about the origin of a desire or decision.
Is the choice really ours, or is it the product of habit, fear, or a desire to gain the approval of others?
Oftentimes impulses masquerade as free will.
They are usually motivated by a need, a fear, or a sense of lack. Sometimes it is anger, sometimes it is approval seeking, sometimes it is avoidance.
Observation can soften the impact of these impulses.
"Am I choosing, or is it my habit?"
This simple but transformative question exercises our freedom muscle.
Whether we are reaching for a cigarette, opening social media or repeating the same argumentative sentence, we can ask:
"Am I choosing this?"
This moment of awareness creates a gap in the link of the automatic chain. And in that gap, choice is reborn.
We can keep a daily "Choice Diary."
At the end of the day, we can write down in short notes the important decisions we have made:
"Today I acted in this way, why?"
The goal here is not to judge, but to observe.
In a few days, we can realize which impulses are driving us, which decisions really come from our core.
These practices are like a laboratory of awareness. (10*)
In time, silence appears spontaneously in moments of decision. We begin to respond rather than react.
Because an inner stillness directs the flow of thought.
And in that moment, freedom ceases to be an abstract concept; it becomes a lived experience.
That moment when the mind is silent but consciousness is wide open is the neurological and existential intersection of freedom.
Perhaps it is in those moments that one truly "chooses" for the first time.
Conclusion and Message to the Reader
We have researched and found that true freedom is neither in suppressing thoughts, nor in mindlessly doing whatever we want. If we see the origin of the thoughts in our minds, and in spite of it or in spite of it we still find the thought or action logical and follow it, then we may have made a free choice.
What we think of as consciousness may not always be consciousness, but automatic behavior imposed on us by repeated, practiced habits. From this point of view, if we can silence consciousness and observe, we can make decisions with awareness, not with automatized will.
Perhaps freedom is not to stop thinking; it is not to allow thought to rule us....
So what illusions should the mind get rid of in order to sustain this awareness?
In the next article we will get to the root of the concept of 'I': who decides? Mind or consciousness?
Till then, stay mindful and peaceful.
Source
- Spinoza, Baruch. Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrata (1677).
- Sartre, Jean-Paul. L'Être et le Néant (Being and Nothingness). Gallimard, 1943.
- Sartre, Jean-Paul. Existentialism Is a Humanism. (1946).
- Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching. (4th-6th century BC).
- Maharaj, Sri Nisargadatta. I Am That. Chetana, 1973.
- Libet, Benjamin et al. "Time of Conscious Intention to Act in Relation to Onset of Cerebral Activity." Brain, vol. 106, no. 3, 1983, pp. 623-642.
- Soon, Chun Siong, Brass, Marcel, Heinze, Hans-Jochen, & Haynes, John-Dylan. "Unconscious Determinants of Free Decisions in the Human Brain." Nature Neuroscience, 11(5), 2008, pp. 543-545.)
- Brewer, Judson A. et al. "Meditation Experience Is Associated with Differences in Default Mode Network Activity and Connectivity." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 108(50), 2011, pp. 20254-20259.
- Frith, Chris D. Making Up the Mind: How the Brain Creates Our Mental World. Blackwell, 2007.
- Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life. Hyperion, 1994.
