Help: to explain animal vs human free will

[emilynghiem]

An alien lands on Earth and says "Why do humans do what they do?"

What is the answer?

They take the path of least resistance, tending toward what brings the greatest peace and satisfaction, and tending to avoid what they associate with fear conflict or suffering.

the human conscience is programmed like binary code to associate choices with positive 1 or negative 0.

the complications arise when conflicting associations or fear "skew" their choices.
So even if a change is needed to get to more positive outcomes
the FEAR of change can be so great as to override the positive benefits!

The three basic fears that skew the logic process
* fear of the unknown
* fear of change or control by outside authority or source against consent or free will
* fear of conflict or confrontation, unforgiveness

The love or faith that can overcome these fears
* love of truth can be greater than fear of unknowns
* love of justice can be greater than fear of injustice
* love of humanity can overcome fear of conflicts unforgiveness war
==============================================
I also saw a PBS film on Buddhism where the three negative influences were given as
* fear
* anger
* greed
with the three remedies given as
* wisdom or understanding
* compassion
* generosity or charity

In Christian terms I would summarize
the image of human nature made in the image of God as:
*love of God (universal truth, love, greatest good will for all)
*love of Jesus (universal justice for all, especially Restorative Justice)
*love of neighbor (love of humanity, healing of all relations for peace/harmony on earth)
and the three opposite sides where this becomes corrupted:
* Satan (selfishness, fear, abusing knowledge to invoke distrust division instead of unity)
* Antichrist (injustice or abusing law or authority in the name of justice to commit wrong)
* False Prophet (abusing hateful speech to spread ill will and unforgiveness instead of resolving conflicts to heal and comfort to restore good will through charity and forgiveness)

 

[emilynghiem]

I dont mean to offend you if I have. Your posts on this topic seem so sad and resigned. You almost sound lost or hurt. Maybe I have read something into them that is not there.

No offense taken. Ending up in heaven or being happy just seems to be a rather shallow purpose invented by man to direct his actions.

i agree

guilt and fear as a way to control the masses.....

Dear DD Syrenn and Tony:
Maybe the same factor
that would makes someone assume that "approaches to life without a personal God would be missing a sense of purpose or fulfillment"
is related to why someone would fear that
"teaching heaven or hell is some externalized or fear/guilt based way to manipulate."

This may be true in some cases, yes.

Some people who do not get what Christians mean by a personal connection or relation with God DO have unforgiven conflicts or issues and are not totally at peace with themselves or others yet. Nor are Christians who still have issues with atheists or nontheists, and who do not yet see how that is part of God's plan and included in the Bible.

And yes, some people HAVE abused the heaven/hell teachings as some externalized reward system that is opposed to what is really necessary inside to have peace and to end suffering which ultimately heaven and hell represent on various levels, on earth or beyond.

Instead of just rejecting heaven/hell per se, why not equate the same terms with what actions lead to "peace" or to "suffering" on earth? The same criteria still apply.

It takes the same amount or willingness to forgive and to correct conflicts
in order to achieve peace/heaven on earth and to conquer the cause of hellish suffering.

I find the fear between theists and nontheists, that we cannot speak a common language and align on values, is causing both sides of the misperceptions about people in other groups. The fear and misperceptions are mutual, but so is the agreement to get past them!

I hope the answers you find help others to do the same.
Getting rid of the false division and fear is 98% of the battle. The rest takes
care of itself, though it opens the door to many more challenges these
are much easier to address when the fear and division factor is out of the way.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Animals do that they want... free will
Humans have guilt,morals, demands of society and religion.... not so much free will.

So tell me....who has free will?

Human beings have free will. Animals do not.

 

[Sky Dancer]

HELP! can ANYONE help me with this one:

I got stuck with a friend on the free will issue.

I said that the will/consciousness/conscience of human beings is DIFFERENT from the sentient ability of animals.

He disagrees.

He keeps talking about the spiritual connection with all life, which I agree with.

When he separates humans from animals, he uses the terms "intelligence" to confirm that people are more "intelligent" than animals; and he also says people have made bad or worse mistakes/choices and that is why we have that responsibility to fix them. but he says animals have equal responsibility for their destructive or productive actions, and I disagree, that animal instinct is not on the same level of human consciousness and free will. (I believe the mistakes/lessons by humanity are already on a different/higher level than animals who do not carry karma/sin like humans carry into future generations until these are resolved. So there is a REASON we make mistake with more global impact, and it is NOT just by our intelligence but by our spiritual level of connection by conscience that is different. He thinks the spiritual connection of animals/plants is equal; I agree it is equally important in the sense of the whole creation, but the free will and knowledge that man carries has a higher responsibility or path than nature/knowledge animals have.)

YIKES!

My point is that human nature has a higher component to it BY DESIGN and not like animals do; it is NOT that we are "more important than animals because we are human" it is our spiritual nature and responsibility we have as humans that makes us different that is more important to use correctly.

Can anyone help me, I must be miscommunicating and maybe he uses "intelligence" to say what I am trying to say. But even there he thinks it is possible for animal intelligence to change the same as human intelligence to change, but that is NOT the same!

Can ANYONE give an analogy an example that would explain
how humans have a different spiritual level and it is not just intelligence
but by the design of human nature?

HELP HELP HELP thanks!

God gave man dominion over all animals. We are not equal in any way. We are not connected spiritually or any other way.

Buddhists see it otherwise. Animals and humans both have Buddha nature. Humans have more potential than animals to realize that nature.