Is free will simply an illusion of personal control?

[Maricel Evasco]

If all physical reality can potentially be described in mathematical formulas and if our mind is part of that physical reality, then everything, even our own thoughts and decisions, are bound to one inescapable mathematical solution. In this view, is life just a compendium of equations which our mind sorts out to be meaningful or not?  is that what we call free will simply an illusion of control or is there an is an intrinsic randomness (uncertainty principle) which drives our personal growth and evolution?

[Maricel Evasco]

Steve, that was a beautiful explanation and I agree wholeheartedly. Life has so many variables which is why to me, free will entails manipulating only the variables that are relevant to us- making the choices that put at us at some level where we could control the outcome to the degree that it puts us in the place we want to be, but even that can still be based on chance.

[Snagg]

"Is free will simply an illusion of personal control?"

 

No. The actual illusion is that there is a preset destiny that awaits us all, that our "Free Will" is somehow thwarting it's aims.

Free Will is an on-going, instant-to-instant fact of life for every cogent thing in existence. A never-ending state of haphazard, relatively benign chaos. "Fate" and "Destiny" are romanticized versions of a desire to not take responsibility for one's own actions. It's the pretty lie that one's thoughts and deeds are the unalterable results of some grand "Master Plan".

[CWO3ROBBIE]

I do believe in "Free Will". I, however, know that I have very little control over the outcome of my exercise of that free will.  I do believe that each of us has more influence over the events of our life path than we realize. "Life is a Crap shoot" but we often influence the outcome by the direction in which we throw the dice. For example, you can experience the rush of freefall by jumping out of an airplane with a functioning parachute. You can also  experience it without a functioning parachute. In the second example you will experience it one time only. In the first, the parachute may not function properly.  that is the "Crap Shoot" aspect. 

I realize this is the same thing Maricel said, just put in a less cerebral wording.