Stream Exercise
Imagine for a moment a scene, one of a little mountain stream which is tumbling down a hillside gully, not far from its source. It has been raining and so the level is quite high. Consider in your mind's eye, if you can, how it flows to the right over a little rock (where, had the level been lower, it would probably have gone around the rock), then the flow goes to the left over a tree bow, and then slows a little in a broader place, before splashing over a small cascade into a pool, and so on down the mountain side. Does it choose any of its directions?
No, the directions happen choicelessly.
Is it even really a separate entity different from the water deposited in it, the rocks, the depressions in the ground etc?
No, the stream cannot be separated from the environment.
Is it even the same entity moment by moment, or more the product of weather conditions and water, like an ever-changing pattern?
The stream is dynamically changing all the time in relation to conditions and organisms in and around it which are all also being affected by the stream and the wider environment.
1. Can you find anywhere where 'insert name' autonomously intervenes into life, choosing something that is not the product of all the elements; that is not a part of the overall flow?
No. Everything and everyone exists in relation to everything and everyone else.
2. Now please consider a regular decision made eg; what to wear in the morning, or what to eat for lunch, and describe to me what happens. There are environmental factors, there are colour preferences (but where did those come from - any autonomous intervention there perhaps?), practical issues (such as what is available), available time for preparation, purpose (eg; need to fill up for the day, or to look hip and cool for that person!) etc. Where in there is an autonomous entity intervening in the flow of life? Can you find someone somewhere?
Nowhere in all those daily decisions or preferences is there an autonomous entity intervening in the flow of life. Even simple “choices” are contingent on innumerable factors such as appliances working, energy levels, etc. A plan to quickly take the dog out to pee before work turns into a trip to the veterinarian after the dog encounters a porcupine. There are infinite far subtler inputs on the seemingly smallest decision.
3. Can anything be found for which 'insert name' is responsible – if so responsible to what and for what?
It's so counter-cultural to say we aren't responsible for our behavior. But on the level of true autonomy, we are all really products of our environment and our genetics/biology, which is another way of saying environment, I guess.
