Is free will just an illusion? Are scientists correct to say that all our apparent 'choices' are determined solely by our 'nature and nurture'? On what basis does a religious/spiritual person claim to have free will? Is free will located in the heart or in the intellect? If free will is located in the heart, what does this actually mean? If LOVE or fear are our only alternatives, how does free will relate to nature and nurture in the decision-making functions of the intellect? What is this 'peace that surpasses all intellectual understanding'? In One Degree of Freedom: Solving the Free Will Problem, Beyond Judgement and Retribution, psychologist Dr Phil Harker takes you on a deep journey through the inherent flaws in scientism, religious fundamentalism and secular humanism, right to the heart of these timeless questions. Using an interpretive framework of Transcendental Idealism, Dr Harker shows that "Who am I?" and "What choice do I have?" are, in essence, the same question and hence have the same answer. The idea of a separated, autonomous personal 'self' is without foundation in ultimate reality. Harker introduces multiple reasons for refuting the generally accepted individual self as our true and only identity. Rather, he proposes that both our true identity and free will reside at the unseen focal point of the structure of Being-Itself. This is the all-powerful answer to the questions addressed in this book. It will then be shown how free will can seamlessly interface with the laws of nature that govern the function, though not the purpose, of our fleeting experience of individuating temporality, full of risk and limitation, in a space-time universe. Building on his solution to the free will problem, Harker returns to the foundational religious literature of the West to reveal that this concept of free will, though concealed in allegory and metaphor, has been hidden in plain sight in the seemingly historical stories of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Arguing from the central theme that in material forms we experience a kind of 'death' in space and time via a cosmic dream of separation and specialness, he inverts the traditional concept wherein 'life' is followed by 'death'. Having served its transcendent purpose, this dream of 'death' is ended by the awakening and return to spirit life, which is our true and eternal Identity. This offers an astoundingly beautiful, perfectly safe meaning and purpose to an otherwise meaningless experience in a world of suffering and death. Harker also shows that this perennial philosophy is entirely consistent with the earliest spiritual literature of the East as it arose in India. The saying 'failure is not an option' is revealed to be finally true in this surprising story of hope for a world that offers no lasting hope at all.
