We have stated that the
lower reaches of the
psyche begin where the function
emancipates itself from the compulsive force of
instinct and becomes amenable to
the will, and we have defined the will as disposable
energy.
But of what use is a morality that destroys the human being? To bring will and capacity into harmony seems to me to be a better thing than morality. Morality a tout prix is a sign of barbarism - more often wisdom is better - but perhaps I look at this through the professional glasses of the physician who has to mend the ills following in the wake of an exaggerated cultural achievement.
The question of free will is one of the philosophical
problems which has never yet been solved. Free will is a
subjective feeling. Intellectually and philosophically, there
is a pro and a con, and you can never prove either side. If
you ask yourself whether you are doing something because you have to or because
you want to, you will never find out. You can always say that
you feel as though you wanted it, but perhaps it is only an unconscious
complex which makes you feel like that. So how can you
ever say which it is? It is a subjective feeling, but it is
tremendously important for the
ego to
feel free to a certain extent. It is a feeling problem about
the mood in which one finds oneself. If you cannot believe in
a certain amount of free will and therefore free initiative of the ego, you are
completely lamed because then you have to go into all your motives.
You can go into the past and look into the
unconscious more and
more deeply, but you will never
get out of it. TPoPA 168
Why Quantum Physics Ends the Free Will Debate