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Free Won’t

—Hypothesis in a 2007 study in
the Journal of Neuroscience

Perhaps it’s false, about “free” will—
_A myth we hold as true.
What happens when we’re ruled by lust?
_“Free” will is ballyhoo.

Perhaps instead, we have “free won’t.”
_We logically decide;
Think “No” to impulse or desire,
_Then reason is our guide.

A revelation! “Free” means choice
_In choosing do or don’t!
…So when I don’t, that is free will
_But when I do, free won’t?

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Peter Venable has been writing poetry for fifty years and his poems have appeared in The Lyric, The Merton Seasonal, The Christian Century, and other publications. More of his work can be found at petercvenable.wordpress.com. His “Roofless Church” merited an Honorable Mention in The Best Poems of 2024 in the SCP’s International Poetry Competition.

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6 Responses

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Free choice of the will may be a do or a don’t.
    But we may be conditioned to apply our won’t.
    Cute ditty that makes us think.

    Reply
    • Peter Venable

      Ironic, of course. Theologically, I hold that we have free choice but not free will.

      Reply
  2. Joseph S. Salemi

    We have both free choice and free will. The fact that God in His eternal omniscience knows what we will do, and what the consequences will be, does not negate our freedom — no more than our understanding of a natural process and its patterns prevents that process from being natural.

    Arguing otherwise would be like saying that because we understand how photosynthesis works in plants, the process of photosynthesis is therefore artificial and not natural.

    Reply
  4. Paulette Calasibetta

    A very thought provoking piece; ” will or won’t, do or don’t”….hmm.

    Reply
  5. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    This quirky and clever poem has my brain buzzing and my Muse stirring. Peter, thank you!

    Reply

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