“You Always Have A Choice” — Wrong! No. You Don’t.
The alarm clock—the bane of your existence, the most annoying device to have ever been invented by mankind—blares at 7 a.m., waking you up in the morning to a bunch of emails from angry clients or 15 notifications for unfinished homework. As you scroll through all the notifications, a single thought begins to present itself with growing urgency in the back of your mind: “Why am I doing this? Why do I even bother? Theoretically, I could just not do any of this.” And you would be right! You could just not do anything. You could skip your homework or ignore your boss at work. But the consequences would be perhaps just as bad, if not worse, than just doing the darn thing you don’t want to do in the first place! But ignore all of this for a couple of minutes as I try to provide you, the reader, with information that will help you come to your own answer to the question in the title.
One example that I’ll use to introduce this essay is one that is particularly present in my life as a high schooler: The advanced placement classes conundrum. Here it is in a nutshell.
→ What is success (at least to a ton of kids at my school)? → Going to a good college.
→ How 2 get into a good college? → Have a high GPA.
→ How 2 have a high GPA? → Take as many APs as possible.
Then, those same kids that took all of those super hard classes, myself included by the way, start complaining about the coursework and huge amount of homework we get. But it’s like, “YOU did this to YOURSELF. No one forced you to do any of this! You have a choice!”
And the worst part is, that is 200% correct! Not only is it logically valid, but the fact that we complain about it makes no sense whatsoever considering that we made the conscious decision to embrace that course load as a catalyst for success later on.
So, I decided to hit the books to figure out the answer to the great question in the title: Do we, as ambitious, success-driven human beings, really have the luxury of making choices? Or do we not? Let Marcus Aurelius, “former emperor of the Roman Empire” (according to Google lol) give us his thoughts first.
The universe, Marcus tells us, is governed by a rational order called logos, and that everything happens “as it must occur.” He calls this Amor Fati, or acceptance of fate.
→ “Accept whatever comes to you woven in the pattern of your destiny, for what could more aptly fit your needs?” (Meditations 7.57)
However, while we cannot control fate, Marcus insists that we do have complete and utter control over our own minds.
→ "You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." (Meditations 4.3)
For him, free will is our ability to align our judgments and actions with reason and virtue, even when external events seem like they’re predetermined and out of our control.
Next let’s take a class with Seneca.
Similarly to Aurelius, Seneca does his absolute best to emphasize that while the universe is governed by fate, we retain complete and uncompromised moral freedom.
He explains his idea of fate through a metaphor of a river. While you cannot stop the current, you can control how you swim within it.
→ “Fate leads the willing and drags along the unwilling.” (Letters to Lucilius 107.11)
In other words, our choices lie in how willingly we cooperate with whatever fate brings our way. Those who accept it for what it is and build upon it and embrace it will be led to success, while those who deny and refuse it are dragged along forcefully whether they like it or not.
But something unique to Seneca is his idea of virtue as true freedom. He teaches us that true freedom does not come from anything external, but purely from within oneself. What he means by this is by mastering our desires and emotions, we liberate ourselves.
→ “No man is free who is not a master of himself.” (Moral Essays: On the Happy Life 3.2)
In fact, a determined world should have no bearing on your amount of freedom, Seneca argues. The self-mastery is where free will resides, even in a world with a predetermination so powerful that no one may escape it.
Finally, let’s hear what Epictetus has to say.
The dichotomy of control was one of the more famous lessons that Epictetus spoke about throughout his life. In it, he distinguishes between what is within our control—aspects of our lives like judgements, desires, and actions—and what is not—things like external events, body, and possessions.
He puts it very bluntly: “Some things are up to us, and some things are not!” (Enchiridion 1.1)
I don’t think any more explanation is needed.
Another concept he explored very thoroughly was the freedom of the mind with regard to virtue and logic. Epictetus tells us that even in the face of slavery the mind can remain free if, and only if one is able to exercise virtue and reason to the highest standard.
→ "You may fetter my leg, but my will—never." (Discourses 1.1.23)
Of course, I’m not sure how much I agree with that (spoiler, I don’t), but I am just relaying his message to you so that you may enlighten yourself with as many differing perspectives as you can.
Now that was all a lot of information to unpack, and you may have gotten slightly lost along the way. Here’s a little summary to help with that.
For the Roman Stoics:
Externally: They agree with me—you don’t have a choice over many events. The Stoics acknowledge that the universe is deterministic, and much of what happens to you is beyond your control.
Internally: They assert—you always have a choice in how you respond. The Stoics place a huge emphasis on the freedom of the will to determine our reactions, to remain virtuous, and to act rationally despite external circumstances.
If you’ve read this far you may be wondering what my personal opinion on the matter is. And I’ll tell you, just not today haha. This article is already far too long. Tomorrow, my friends, is another day, and another opportunity to hopefully get another quality piece of writing out for my very small audience. Till then.
