When John-Paul Sartre explained his concept of existential angst, he used the metaphor of vertigo. If you walk along a mountain path and sense a feeling of vertigo, you're not afraid you will fall off. You're more concerned that you will decide to jump.
Free will causes fear because it means freedom could change radically in the future. The freedom to do what you want later becomes freedom to end present desires.
Dan Brooks wrote, "Getting a tattoo may be a way for your past self to dominate your present self, but getting sick of your tattoo is a way for your present self to betray your past."
If you decide to start writing right now but receive a phone call about a movie date, free will clicks in. You decide you can write tomorrow. Then, half way into the movie, you realize you actually wanted to write. Guilt sets in causing angst.
The question of who is in charge becomes complicated.
Free will causes fear because it means freedom could change radically in the future. The freedom to do what you want later becomes freedom to end present desires.
Dan Brooks wrote, "Getting a tattoo may be a way for your past self to dominate your present self, but getting sick of your tattoo is a way for your present self to betray your past."
If you decide to start writing right now but receive a phone call about a movie date, free will clicks in. You decide you can write tomorrow. Then, half way into the movie, you realize you actually wanted to write. Guilt sets in causing angst.
The question of who is in charge becomes complicated.
Write about a time of choice in your life. Or, write about a person who has to make a choice to stop a bad habit. He or she may wish but free will takes over.
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