8 Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path
because he exists only out of the necessity of his
nature. Similarly, God knows himself and every-
thing else freely, because it follows from the neces-
sity of his nature alone that he should know
everything. You see, then, that I locate freedom not
in free decision, but in free necessity.
Let us, however, descend to created things,
which are all determined to exist and to act in fixed
and precise ways by outside causes. To see this
more clearly, let us imagine a very simple case. A
stone, for example, receives a certain momentum
from an external cause that comes into contact with
it, so that later, when the impact of the external
cause has ceased, it necessarily continues to move.
This persistence of the stone is compelled, and not
necessary, because it had to be established by the
impact of an external cause. What applies here to
the stone, applies to everything else, no matter how
complex and multifaceted; everything is necessar-
ily determined by an outside cause to exist and to
act in a fixed and precise manner.
Now please assume that the stone, as it moves,
thinks and knows that it is trying, as much as it
can, to continue in motion. This stone, which is
only conscious of its effort and by no means indif-
ferent, will believe that it is quite free and that it
continues in its motion not because of an external
cause but only because it wills to do so. But this is
that human freedom that all claim to possess and
that only consists in people being aware of their
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