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Finally, an explanation of why Obama was elected!

Seriously, this is a fascinating article. It demonstrates why our form of government (as original) is the absolute best in the world. Government must be small and limited in power. Our cultural morality must be determined by the “We the People” (35% ?) and NOT by Big Brother government.

It all breaks down to people who act on principle (maybe 50%) and people who don’t. The principled people break down further into a group that is largely emotional (how does something ‘feel’) and those that approach things from a more rational basis. Of course, these lines are not clearly defined and we all vary in one degree or another. However, it does explain why most people go along with the crowd and the dissenters are usually rational or emotional. Strangely enough, it also explains politics . . .

In the Sixties, a groundbreaking series of experiments found that 65 per cent of us would kill if ordered to do so.

65 percent of "us" weren't around in the 60's. Or were just toddlers.

No, some researchers decided that 65% of those they experimented on were likely to kill someone on orders. I doubt much else was "proven."

Milgram argued that far from being in any way fake, his experiment demonstrated in a very stark way something that we all know happens, but which we can't bring ourselves to believe. It is more comfortable to imagine that there was something uniquely evil or weak about German prison guards than to believe that most of us would behave the same way when faced by the same set of circumstances.

Exactly why people who read of some of the outrageous goals, methods, etc., of the Left just refuse to believe they're real.

Free Will is largely an illusion. We are all acting on 2 general sets of programming:

1- Hard wired genetic/hereditary programming,

2- “Software” programming from family, social and cultural sources.

What little true free will we experience is the tiny piece that remains independent of #1 and #2.

Just my opinion, never studied the subject deeply.

[Posted fully acknowledging that many FReepers discount Tolle; The Power of Now]]According to Eckhart Tolle, giving in to the now is the only path that leads to actual free will. “Most people live in the delusion that they make decisions out of free will. In reality their actions are completely determined by their past. How you think, what you want and what you consider important are all determined by your upbringing, your culture, your religion – in short, by your concepts. As long as you still think you are your mind, you have no free will. Spiritually you are unconscious. You may think you know what you want, but you don’t. It is only the conditioning of your mind that says: “This is what you need to have”. That’s not a choice, it’s mechanical. Some people escape from this. Then it is suddenly as if there is more consciousness, which means that for the first time they truly experience free will. Only then can you take responsibility.”

It sounds very easy, so why do most people continuing to suffer? I ask Tolle if suffering is necessary as a path to insight, as happened to him? “You need to suffer until you see that you don’t need to suffer. That appears to be a paradox. Suffering was necessary for most people who have gone through a deep inner transformation. There are exceptions. But nowadays not everyone has to go through the ‘dark night of the soul’. Many have already suffered enough. Humanity has already suffered so much that you could almost say that all the necessary human suffering is behind us. It’s already taken place. It is therefore now possible for many individuals to make the transition. When you understand that you’re suffering as a result of collective conditioning, then you’ve already got one foot out the door.