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Free will is a funny thing. Some people subscribe to "Cogito ergo sum." and call it that, but others wonder whether or not their thinking is preconceived by another. I mostly skip past all that nonsense because if I 'anything' then I necessarily am. If I don't then I am, because if I do 'anything' then I definitely am. To not be is a state of being; a defined state of existence. Nothing itself is an object I can reference that exists as a metaphysical projection on top of objects that more intuitively exist. A simple way to look at that is that I can reference a triangle, and then erase that triangle. In that triangle's place there is nothing 'as a result' of there having been a triangle that suffered a transmutation. In this case this 'nothing' is a homonym that is partially composed of triangle. One could theoretically remove this object form of nothing to reach a meta-nothing that exists as a metaphysical projection of a metaphysical projection, an instance where 'nothing' no longer applies. One way to do this is referencing a possible series of events where I never engaged in this diatribe and the prerequisite triangle that transmuted into 'nothing' isn't manifest at any capacity, but if you're clever you might realize that the lack of 'nothing' exists relative to an object I manifest as 'a possible series of events' in this case. To reference an abstract nothingness that exists primordial to any existence is to transmute a currently manifest object into a form that humans more intuitively consider worthless. Can't add, can't erase...

Anyways, now that I've established that everything is real and nothing is in your head, let's go on to the nature of free will.

(This is a philosophy blog now I guess. Wouldn't it be cool if someone cited me in some paper? "Check out this badass.")

Imagine I'm the author of a book. I can't write in that book "This is a perfectly enjoyable book and everybody who reads it loves me." but I can make the book behave that way in-universe by writing "One day, upon reaching enlightenment, our protagonist realized that the book you are currently reading is a perfectly enjoyable and favorite book for everyone in-universe whether they realize it or not." and if I establish that the narrator is reliable it's instantly manifest. For you however it would take actually being a perfectly loveable author of a perfectly enjoyable book, so that's easier said than done. If I were to write within my book, let's say it's solely created by me with every step of the process under my complete creative control, then if I decide to write "Everyone in-universe has a deeply profound love for the author of the book you are reading whether they realize it or not." that would be an expression of self love. Some might call that narcissism before checking the DSM-V and realizing that other people's opinions are completely subtracted from the equation, making the diagnosis impossible. If it were only possible for me to write that if it appeared to be that I was evaluated in a similar way then that would be more indicative of narcissism. Narcissists do not love themselves autotelically, they reward themselves for being deemed practical. If it's possible for me to write "I love myself unconditionally. Sometimes I have problems, sure, but I always remain steadfast in my love." and mean it, then it isn't a problem.

In fact, it means nothing to me that you know that I can write that. It means nothing to me that you know that it means nothing to me. I simply wrote that for fun. It's random that I'm writing any of this. There is no logical incentive for me to engage in this behavior but I'm doing it because it's just what I do. Bananas! Ravioli! Dada! Dada! Dada!

I always know how to make myself laugh. Anyways, free will. So, imagine for me that you suddenly don't have free will... (This is hypothetical, don't get scared.) In this scenario you're an actor reading a script, and it's already been decided every single line you are to read in front of the director. You've committed to engaging in this role, and one day your job will be done and you can decide another role to fill or perhaps to never act a day in your life again. Even still, there's a varying degree of things that may be permitted. Some directors allow you to adlib lines, some allow you to fully recontextualize the words you're given, and some allow you to place strong emphasis on some words while leaving other words quiet and dull. There's many perfectionists out there who don't give you as many freedoms, sure, but even in those scenarios there's often small things you can sneak in under their noses. It's akin to how Chrysippus of stoic fame would refer to fate as akin to an object rolling downwards but choosing the way it expresses its downward descent. (I learned that from a Wikipedia article.) In this sense if you're decided to be a sequence of roles by your agent then you're akin to an artist who's allowed a limited arrangement of mediums in sequence. Eventually the contract might run its course before you lose the body that surely helped afford you all those roles, and then you could decide to direct something for yourself with your 'free' time. Get it?

Now let's adopt a scenario where you do have free will. Let's say you're manifesting whatever your heart desires, and you're authoring a book. (Ironically this scenario is you reading a script, but bear with me.) In this book you can write any character doing anything as many times as you'd like, and you're only writing because you're writing. Every character that you write is an expression of you in a way that each character may or may not be aware of. They're all avatara in the most literal sense, all being manifestations of their godhead. It doesn't end at the characters, because even the environments and story being told is an avatara. You manifest as this book for every time you engage within its bounds with intention. You can be atemporal, you can restructure entire passages and ressurrect the dead. It's a complicated matter to describe how time travel works in this scenario but I could try my best. A character within your story may or may not be aware of the chronology of their author's writing process. This means that events the author was aware of already, having already been penned, can happen after the first chapter of the book if it was penned later in the author's chronology. It's akin to a game's save file editing the game's data, making a new object using the recipe of a save file that occurs later in the chronology of the player and yet earlier in the subjective chronology of the videogame character. I call it "Ostensible Time Travel" for lack of an ostentatious title.

I've been wanting to describe how paradox-free time travel works for months already. This is awesome.

Anyways, you're every character in your book. Let's say you've sacrificed your free will to your past self for a brief period and you're proof reading something you've written in your book. It's a passage involving a character that your past self wrote, and you're getting into it. You see yourself as this character the way that a reader would see themselves in a character they'd relate to, even to the point where you don't even actively think about how you wrote it while you're reading it. "This is some really good prose." is something you might think to yourself, but nothing you take away is directly tying to your actions. It's purely the words working their magic on you and not your culminated effort steering your psychology like a sunk cost fallacy. It's a beautiful moment, however temporary. If I were to look at myself, as you, for a minute... I'd be compelled to get into hermeneutics. In fact, that's exactly what I'm doing right now. Trinitarianism, linking Father to Author, linking Son to Character, linking Holy Spirit to Reader. In a moment you were 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 and somehow that made perfect sense. I am I. Then you came by, my simulation of another person I manifest, an expression of me, and manifested yourself as an approximate of me with the building blocks I've provided you. We melt into eachother. If you say "Hey you." I will turn my head as though you were referring to me.