Freedom and Necessity

[In conversations over the holidays, the question of determinism and free will came up in a number of settings. In our Metaphysical studies, Nicoll's answer is quite compelling.]

The intelligible substance, if it is drawn near to God, has power over itself.... If it falls away, it chooses the corporeal world and in that way becomes subject to Necessity which rules the Kosmos (Stobei, Hermetica, VIII).

"What is to be understood by the intelligible substance drawing near to God? Does it not simply mean an ascent of this ladder of degrees of consciousness within us? 'The idea of God is the idea of our spiritual natures enlarged to infinity' (Wm. E. Channing). To put 'God' inside us is itself a reversal, for our material conception of God is as something outside in the sensible world. But God is closer 'than the neck-vein' because understanding is not outside us; and to understand differently, in a new way, is always close to us, because this ladder of consciousness is within us. Outside is the world of experience, inside are degrees of understanding; and if the intelligible substance draws near another understanding of things it draws near to 'God', i.e. to an enlargement of consciousness. It all depends upon what we make most important. As Plato said, there are three things--soul, body, and money, and all three have their place (Rep. IX).

It is remarkable how we put 'God' outside us--how we cannot get away from a three-dimensional view of things. 'The Kingdom of Heaven is within you, and whosoever knoweth himself shall find it.' Yet do we ever see the matter in this way? Do we comprehend that 'God' is understanding, and that the worse our understanding the more tyrannical and 'outside' does 'God' seem to us, and the more slavery we are in?

Man gains freedom only through the use of his highest faculties. Materialism makes him more and more a slave to the forces of the phenomenal world. It is easier for us to take things as they appear--nay, even feel that we can deal with everything by means of our logic, and even 'conquer' nature. The point is, however, that such an outlook does not call into activity the unawakened higher degrees of understanding. Therefore it means that we remain handicapped, although it looks as if our attitude were extremely practical. The crux of the matter lies just in that there are no further degrees of understanding in us, that we are products of a mechanical selection, without surplus, then we must insist upon a purely rational or logical approach to life, since we have this degree of understanding naturally. If we believe otherwise, then we must take our reason or logic only as one partial and very necessary approach to life, but not inclusive of other forms of understanding. The Hermetic fragment, while showing that a materialistic standpoint goes ultimately against our own interest, indicates a principle of freedom and also a the source of our slavery. The more man is turned toward the corporeal world and argues from the sensible alone, the more will he fall under the power of necessity, i.e. the more enslaved he becomes by outward things.' (203-205)