On Noticing The Illusion of Control
We are creatures of habit, learning through associations with people, things, smells, and external cues, even those that may seem extremely minute. However, we are easily influenced, or some may say, ‘triggered.’ In many ways, we are not that different from other animals. The crux here is that we humans are gifted with the faculty of rationality.
The story of Adam and Eve is familiar to all of us. Expelled from the Garden of Eden upon realizing their nakedness, Adam and Eve were forced to confront the realities of the world upon gaining consciousness. The act of realizing that we are capable of thinking for ourselves forces us to confront the realities of higher thought. With great power comes great responsibility — with rationality comes the absence of ignorance.
Or so we think.
We would like to think that we are in control of our minds, and that might be broadly true. However, if we are creatures of habit, we are more likely to have less control than we think. Being driven by habits is both a feature and a bug — habits help our brains process things we do frequently at higher efficiency, effectively freeing up cognitive capacity for us to focus on other things.
But why do we find it so hard to break out of habit? Why do we find it challenging to form new habits? Why is it difficult to try new things or break free from past trauma? It’s hard because we have less free will than we think. And that’s okay. To realize that we have less free will than we think paradoxically opens us up to more free will. To admit that we are less in control is to grant ourselves awareness — granting us control.
