The Illusion of Free Will

The Illusion of Free Will

I was talking to a friend of mine, and she said,
“Takdeer ke aage kisi ki nahi chalti.”
And just like that, a very interesting conversation began, one that turned into the story you’re reading now.

She said something that stuck with me.
“We always choose from the options available to us. That’s it.”

I pushed back.
“What if I choose something that’s not even an option?”

She asked, “How do you decide if it wasn’t an option?”

I replied, “How do you decide that it was?”

She said, “If it’s accessible, it was an option. We don’t have everything at our access. And the fact that we make the best of our circumstances, that’s what makes our journeys unique.”

I agreed. But I had one more thought to add:
“Even if you’re right, even if it’s all based on what’s accessible, don’t you think that makes free will just an illusion?”

That led to a much deeper question.
Do we really have free will? Or are we just choosing from whatever options our circumstances allow? If we only ever pick from what’s available, are we ever truly free?

An Example, From a Hungry Mind

During that conversation, I was living through a perfect example. I had just come back from a long day. A meeting followed by a lecture. I was exhausted, hungry, and my hand was shaking.

I decided I would eat oats with milk, pomegranate seeds, and almonds. Something healthy. But the milk was in the freezer. Frozen solid. I’d have to wait 15–20 minutes before I could cook the oats and eat.

Right there, a choice appeared.

There were cheese slices in the fridge. Ready to go. No waiting. I could have eaten those and filled my stomach.

If I had said, “Aaj mere takdeer mein healthy nashta nahi hai,” I would have eaten the cheese slices and moved on. But because I chose to believe I had agency, I waited. I waited for the milk to thaw, and I made the oats.

And it hit me.
Maybe free will really is just choosing an option which is right for you even when the easier one is right there. Believing you have a say. Believing your effort matters.

So, Is Free Will Real?

Maybe not if you believe in the the grand, all-powerful scheme of the god and universe. But sometimes, free will looks like patience. Sometimes it looks like resistance. Sometimes it’s just believing that your actions, no matter how small, matter.

I believe that if we just accept that there is no free will, then we might just give up, choose the path of least resistance and and wait for all this to be over. But if you shift your perspective even a little, and just believe that free will is real, you believe that you have agency, what you do matters and you tend to do what is best for you, just like what I did with oats today. My health is certainly benefiting from the fact that I believe that the free will is real. It gives me agency.

And if you don’t have agency, then what’s the point?