By a lay philosopher for lay philosophers
Recently talked to a friend about consciousness and free will. It's funny how we got to the topic: I told him I recently started carrying my wallet in my back right pocket while I used to carry it in my front right pocket. It still occasionally happens that I out of habit try to place it in my front right pocket where I now keep my keys. So we began discussing: if we without thinking do such simple things, how many complicated things are not in our control completely?
The most significant factor affecting consciousness and free will, we agreed, was what we are being taught throughout our life. If you are constantly taught that the ideal is to turn the other cheek, to value democracy (as it's presented in our society), to value mental work as superior to physical etc. etc. etc. then if you are showed a contradictory view/opinion you activate your defensive mode involuntarily. That is in the sense to defend the beliefs and qualities of your tribe, of which you are part of, and you must stick together for each other's well being and for survival. Being aware of this doesn't magically stop one from thinking like that, but it is a first step.
The tribe archetype is ingrained in us for millenia now; the human body, including the brain, has remained essentially unchanged since cca. 300 thousand years ago. Even if dated later, this is still useful as an argument about how our minds work. We think we're much smarter than the "dumb" humans from 100 millenia ago. Even if dated even later, tens of millenia before the development of agriculture, it's still relevant. I think not enough people realise how much intelligence, planning, and cooperation is required to hunt down a mammoth. (To clarify, I'm not saying that was a main source of meat, but it certainly was a source.) This tribe archetype, or instinct, is ingrained in us, whether we like it or not, whether we accept it or not. What we are taught from early childhood until later has a huge impact on how our beliefs are developed.
How this ancient archetype fits in moderns society is interesting to say the least. Taking a quick look at social media it will be obvious how it affects the contemporary human. We see different tribes based around certain ideas and beliefs, typically around some politic ideals. Us versus Them, or even Us versus Everyone. And this is an explosion online. Another contributing factor to this is the impersonal interaction of social media, seeing only someone's message and opinion, and not seeing the person behind it, allows one to wholly attack them, with the idea of defending their own beliefs.
This tribe mentality hijacks our minds for wholly wrong reasons (is it too judgemental to say wrong? I believe not). The ideals are not well defined, fleeting, ephemeral. They're being continuously annealed in so called echo chambers. One feels connected to these other people sharing some same beliefs even though they're not connected to them in any other way. One of the most annoying and frankly stupid terms is the "online community". I guess that is another symptom of how tribe mentality and modern society and social networking mesh together in ways which result in a sort of shared delirium. "join our discord community", "the linux community is x", "reddit community is y", etc. etc. etc. It's a sort of autobrainwashing. "I'm part of this community, I'm part of something, we share ideas."
When I see people online gathered together around some shared beliefs I'm always remined of that 4chan greentext:
>before the internet >"i want to fuck toasters" >get called an idiot >grow out of it >today >"i want to fuck toasters" >find an online community of 1000 people who fuck toasters >ruin your life
While discussing topics in which you share interest with other people online isn't inherently wrong, it can be -- and often is -- a catalyst to autobrainwashing and kickstarting the tribe archetype in the wrong place. I certainly don't consider myself a part of the Neocities community, if there is such a thing; I share my thoughts here for others to read and read other's thoughts, and share opinions. We are individuals only sharing the service the site provides.
This requires significant effort. I cannot describe how much effort it requires; I mean this in a literal way, as in I literally don't now the amount of effort required. From the simple example at the beginning of this article, there was effort required in just changing in which pocket I put my wallet. The difficulty of exercising free will was also showed to me when I had a significantly high blood pressure to the point of my head wanting to explode, and when my ex girlfriend was trying to tell me something useful to try to calm down I told her to shut up and go to hell. Later on I realised the irritability impacted how I acted and how I thought. Similarly, thinking about doing something useful the next day at midnight or while you're really sleepy makes you think how it's not important to do it or how it requires to much effort. Thinking about said thing in the morning when you are energised shifts your perception. Certainly many other things impact how we think, things we know of and things we don't know of.
It's important to question what you are doing and why you are doing it. Maybe not all of the time because it does require significant mental energy, but at least some of the time. Simple things, like taking a different path to work or a friends place, actually makes you turn on your mind and focus, not just walk on autopilot. It's a small thing, but not insignificant. I would also recommend not wearing headphones outside to listen to music/podcasts, as that completely takes away one of your senses to analyse your environment. Also staring at your phone while walking, or even sitting. (This has a bonus effect of also affecting your safety while walking/driving/commuting; typically I view material only at home.) Meditating probably helps, but I'm not exactly in the mood to do it most of the time.
Another important thing is to create. Creating requires mental effort. Everyone has something they'd enjoy to create. It doesn't have to be excellent according to some party's standards. Create for yourself. Personally, I like to design and modify card games. It is satisfactory to work on something and reach a result which satisfies your criteria of something good, and coming back to it later to analyse it, change it, improve it.
Free will, consciousness, awareness. They are like a muscle. They need to be trained to be used properly in everyday life, in small and large things.
Do your best to become more conscious, more aware, of yourself and of others, how your mind works and how others' minds work.
Be aware that the level of exercising free will, level of consciousness and awareness, vary and fluctuate, depending on various circumstances and states of mind.
Try not to get your mind hijacked by the tribe archetype being misapplied, typically on the internet but also off the internet.
Remember that the human mind didn't evolve to work in this modern society, and that you have to work to adapt it. But also never forget your roots, your origins. We are more than modern men. Don't allow yourself to be swallowed into modern society and become a servant of the system. There are many challenges, but we must never give up, we must strive to be as free as we can be.
I wish you endurance and perseverance in tackling this challenge, we all need it
If you have comments and critiques about this article please leave them on my neocities page. I am yet to post my email address so I can be contacted that way. Also, I wrote this at two in the morning, and as I wrote above, wakefulness and sleep quality also affect how we exercise free will, so it is only natural that my article has not only small, but significant mistakes. I apologise for the lack of brevity, it is not my strongest suit and I have to continue working on it. Yet another example on the effort required to exercising free will and adapting the way we act and think.
Posted on 2025-08-27, not yet edited.