A Silly Red Hat

The NYTimes on Tuesday highlights the debate going on in science on "free will." I love the picture accompaning the article, a little monkey (representing our conscious thought) riding a tiger (our unconscious thought). The monkey holds a steering wheel, (connected to nothing), and well, he's looking backwards as the tiger surges forth. I think basically the picture says it all, although the whole article is worth a read. Could it be that the best stuff in life, the stuff that makes it possible to get up, put our shoes on and face the day with a smile on our faces, is illusory?

My favorite line is from Dr. Dennett, who tries to reconcile the dilemmna of free will and determinism: "We have the power to veto our urges and then to veto our vetoes. We have the power of imagination, to see and imagine futures."

And well, maybe that's enough...I think it explains why that little monkey is wearing a silly red hat. He's kind of like us, he's imagining himself as a player in some kind of circus drama well beyond the world of the tiger. But of course, we're not just the little monkey, we're the leaping tiger too...looking forward, looking backward, ferocious and silly, working together, trying to survive in a world we didn't make.