Our lives are constantly filled to the brim with hasty decision-making, wearisome contemplation, and trivial everyday choices ... right? Maybe it's a debate over which college to attend, which job to apply for, or even which cat to adopt. Whatever the choice may be, its normal to experience anxiety over the possibility of making an incorrect decision.

However, as daunting as a momentous decision may seem, take comfort in knowing that a choice wasnt actually made in the first place.

A lot of the time, we neglect to realize the lack of control we actually possess over the events that occur within our lifetime. Much of the human race is convinced theyre consciously making their own choices, but because we are a product of evolution, its impossible to be in control of how our lives progress.

While we experience the illusion of making a choice, only one possible outcome can occur for every situation -- and the probability of that outcome after it has occurred is consistently 100 percent. Because of this, the free will were convinced we maintain is nothing more than our lives unfolding as they were destined to from the start.

Imagine life as a movie youre about to watch for the first time. While you can enjoy in anticipation the uncertainty of the upcoming scenes, you still understand that the plot of the movie is predetermined. The movie progresses exactly as it does, and the previous scenes happened exactly as they did with no room for any alternate realities created by the concept of choice. There exists only what is and never what isnt or what couldve been.

So why do we even believe in free will? The answer may lie in the question itself. As human beings, we possess an advantage over any other animal we share the planet with -- our ability to ask why and seek the answer. Because of this unique feat, our perception of reality heightens and our self awareness is brought to a new level.

As the very particles were made up of work endlessly to understand themselves, were convinced this level of intelligence is enough to allow our choices to govern entire sections of our lives. As Neel Mukherjee blatantly puts it, We credit ourselves with far more agency than we actually possess. Things happen because they happen.

For some, the troubling part includes how the realization of free will as an illusion could understandably invalidate a sense of purpose. A lack of control over ones life is not necessarily a pleasant idea, so the illusion of choice exists partly to console.

However, would understanding the illusoriness of free will actually change how life is perceived? If anything, the idea is expansive. By eliminating the free will aspect, were able to gain a more in-depth knowledge of human behavior by investigating the true causes of an event rather than dubbing it as, They did it because they felt like it. Additionally, the absence of free will can promote less self judgment and a more efficient, constructive outlook on life.

If we truly were in possession of free will, wouldnt every bacteria and microorganism contributing to our bodys composition also need to possess free will? How could a brainless, unicellular organism without the knowledge of self awareness possibly make its own decisions?

Its impossible, so at what point during the coming-together of these life forms could they possibly create a truly independent being? How many trillions of unaware bacterium would it take to form an entity with conscious volition, and does our own self awareness truly validate our sense of free will?

Have you really chosen to read this column, or was it inevitable?

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Grace Sprecher: Did you really 'choose' to read this article? - PostBulletin.com