the fall of man wasn’t about the acquisition of Free Will, it was the acquisition of Free Won’t. it was the first seed of skepticism. it’s the top spinning in the house in the dream in Inception; it’s the voice in the back of your head that whispers “maybe not…” and “unless?” and “no, probably not…”.

it is not the dog that wonders why This Tree compared to That Tree; nor the cat that wonders if the rat’s family will mourn; nor the goose who contemplates the commute to his summer home. they simple do things. only man has the audacity to reflect and think, “hmm, but what if I didn’t?”

this is Free Won’t. this is the human condition. this is the ability to, when our intuition says, “go that way”, override it and say, “I think I’ll go this way, actually”. in the same way that other animals just know how to do things, we have just forgotten how to use our intuition. it has been separated from the part of us that just knows to inhale and exhale and pump blood. we are now keenly aware that each choice is a conscious effort. this is Free Won’t.