Thousands of years ago the mind of man conceived of a question
which fascinates him to this day: “Do we have free will?” --
and there is an interesting feature thereto that is entirely overlooked
(to wit): men only apply the query to their behavior  --  never their thinking;
they will reflect on and debate interminably the question:

Never do men pursue this inquiry: not philosophers, not psychologists,
not neurologists, not sociologists, not theologians,
not even mathematicians and movie critics.
Wars have been fought; thrones brought down; religions ruptured,
marriages destroyed, families fractured and friendships ruined over the question of free-will regarding men’s behavior:
“Did so-&-so do what he did because that was what he chose to do? --  or
was he subject to unseen psychological, social, economic forces
that determined his actions in spite of his personal intentions?”
This question under various guises and sobriquets is argued daily
(often in life & death circumstances) in man’s judicial courts, and those of public opinion,
but the same query is never tendered nor touched by routine minds concerning

Extensive, persuasive arguments are continually offered on the apparent
both sides of this question;
given a moment, an agile mind can present wordy propositions that for the instant would seem to confidently show that men are free to do what they want & chose to do,
while just as smartly can another deft intellect, even using the same basic scenario, conceive of additional, previously unaccounted for conditions which would make the man involved incapable of personally selecting a course of action,
but rather, via the circumstances, forced him to behave as he did;
but no ordinary mind ever moves this question into the area which men,
if they were considering the situation in a different context,
unhesitatingly insist underpins all of their behavior  --  their thinking
(not un akin to someone trying to understand why an engine is running roughly and never considering the fuel being used,
while this same person, when not involved with this specific effort,
continually mentions to others the importance of fuel quality in the operation of engines).

It is not even initially a matter of whether thinking is actually related to behavior or not  --   normal minds believe that it is;
the mind says that thinking is at the root of behavior --

Judicially, morally, economically and personally, do men find the question of whether they and others act freely or under duress (seen or otherwise) of extreme importance,
but the certain man sees that matter as suitable to children,
and only he applies the free will question where it has actual significance,
and potential to produce results  --   to his own thinking.
When a man first undertakes to pursue this question down this road

Pondering whether a thief freely chose to commit his nefarious act due to
laziness & greed, or because of irresistible social, or psychological forces is one thing,
but trying to think about whether what you are thinking about right this moment 
is what you decided to think about, or else were somehow made to,
is an activity not fit for most of six billion minds out of Earth’s six billion;

The potential purpose-in-it  for the certain man cannot be easily told
(so what else shocking is to be today revealed?!), but purpose it has in abundance
for those who would see what is really going on in life,
for applying the question of free-will to a person’s own thinking is the best way possible to exert the kind of pressure needed to finally pop the bubble of illusion regarding thought which naturally surrounds thought.
You can discuss, debate, theorize and speculate on the nature of a flashlight
for eternity, and all the while think it to be whatever you think it to be,
but nothing can match actually seeing one for yourself,
and the only way this is possible is for the flashlight to shine on itself

The realization which answers all questions
and explains everything a human can understand about life
is not the realization of some fact, truth or secret –
it is the realization of why the only minds who can answer the question: