The Answer

Did you vote?


How did you decide? Was it determined by what you knew, what you thought, what happened in Iraq or who your parents were?

In some ways it we all of those. All the experiences of your life, interacting with all of your unique biological physiology, for all the years you have been alive, created that moment in time. Your decision.

Yet, you decided. It was your own decision. Or at least it felt like that.

If I get to know you better, which of course I hope I do, then it probably wouldn't be difficult for me to predict how you voted. Once I know how old you are, where you live, what you do to support yourself and how much money you have, I could take a pretty good guess. These factors matter. That's why some of you received many phone calls and some of you didn't.

If you have read much of this blog, you can certainly make a good guess about me.

So, we are not unique, we are programmed. Our behaviors are set.

Yet, as a therapist I have to believe that people can change. And I do believe that part of the process of therapy is to help people take control of their lives. But how can they do that if everything is lined-up in advance. There is so much that has already gone into you that you can't just turn it all around.

Even if you rebel against that statement, it's because you are the kind of person who tends to do that.

But you can.

Next time I will begin to tell you how.

Right now I will leave you with one word. This is a word I got from Daniel Dennet, who is still one of my favorite neuro-philosophers (although he kind of got too wound-up about religion).

The word is "compatiblist."