Free Will - Wishful Thinking or Deep Reality?

Attempting to believe in the concept of free will gives me great satisfaction. Sounds awesome to control the course of one's destiny (slightly scary, and a lot of responsibility, yes, but still better than randomized or determined).

Unfortunately, the more I reflect upon the subject of free will, the more I realize it might just be wishful thinking. With so many conscious and unconscious factors contributing to our life and the decisions we make on a daily basis, believing in something like 100 % free will becomes impossible.

To me, free will seems possible within a limited range of options. Genetic factors, society, culture, the media, our immediate environment, and the people we interact with all contribute to the choices we make, the choices we are able to take, and our natural inclinations.

One interesting thing to reflect upon is the existence of an eternal soul. If this deep aspect of our being holds free will when it comes to the choice of reincarnating with a specific set of genes, its free choice determines the parameters of our life. Since this blueprint came from a free selection, free will lies at the core of our being.

Moving further on to the more tangible aspects of existence, we are embedded in a society ruled by a set of laws determining what we are able to do. Culture provides behavioral norms, narrowing our range of acceptable actions. The media contributes to our desires and aversions. Our immediate environment further molds our behavior. If we take all the influential factors of our existence into consideration, free will seems desirable, but highly unlikely on most occasions.

However, the more conscious we become of all the factors that mold our existence, the freer we become in our ability to make more conscious, freer decisions.