In the external or physical world, we are all aware of standard cause and effect, right?

You know, object A, X upon object B, with force X. We all get that.

Because it applies to just about everything from electrons to athletes.

But now consider events in your internal or mental world.

What causes your thoughts?

Some of our thoughts have external causes. Like, when we touch something and suddenly realize it's hot,

we don't deliberate whether or not to pull our hand away, right?

Our brain has already fired the instruction to do so involuntarily.

In some strange sense, we didn't really pull our hand away at all.

Because we didn't choose to do it.

Our brain did it before consulting us.

A second cause of our thoughts is internal.

Say you're thinking about giving a big presentation as you do so.

You get increasingly nervous and your blood pressure and your heart rate jump up.

Now, nothing external is acting upon you.

You're doing all the causing internally, right?

Your anxious thoughts are causing your brain to send signals to your heart and we get that.

But now I want you to consider a third category of your thoughts.

It's your conscious choices.

Something as simple as choosing where to go for lunch.

Now, when you introspect, when you think about your thinking,

do you believe that you're the active agent in charge of the process

...