The delayed reaction is perhaps the first step in the learning process. If all our reactions were “instinctive,” mechanical, in¬flexible, we would perhaps have little choice or “free will.”
We make use of our “free will” when we delay our reactions and take time to consider several courses of action and not just one. We may try to foresee which course of action is likely to bring about the most desirable results. We may ask, “Will others benefit from this decision as well as I?”
When we “jump at conclusions” and assume that there is only one way to act, or that we know it all to begin with, we fail to delay our reactions. We may also fail to make use of our free wills. It may be good occasionally to wait for second, third, and perhaps better thoughts to come to us. We can attempt to find out through experiment which thoughts are most closely in conformity with reality.
When we take time to think things over, we open up our minds to new observations and impressions. We look around and observe what is actually before us. Our problems may suddenly be revealed to us in a new light. That which was uninteresting may suddenly become fascinating.
An unfamiliar situation may call for a new type of response, a new way of thinking. We discover that we can deliberately delay our reactions until we think up several courses of action, not just one. We merely have to look around and discover something new, or we may ask people to give up their views. Then we are more free to select a course of action that we honestly believe will be the most beneficial.
When we do not do this, we may merely be choosing the lesser of two evils. Freedom involves the right to select the course of action that we believe is positively good.
We do not want to be forced to accept the either-or alternatives offered to us by others, when both alternatives seem undesirable.
Our ideas are supplied by our imaginations. Therefore, it is good to have a wholesome, active and optimistic imagination—one that will supply us with a wealth of ideas and alternatives from which to choose. The lively imagination is one that is in contact with “facts” and people, and is not excessively word-oriented.
As it is important for an individual to be imaginative, optimistic, resourceful, and free to select the best from several courses of action, it is good for a group to be similarly imaginative, optimistic, resourceful and free. A group needs constructive leadership backed up by an enlightened and well-informed membership. Small groups need to be independent of pressures that might be exerted on them by larger and stronger groups.
The individual’s imagination and his freedom of will are tied up with the imagination and freedom of his neighbors, and of the groups to which he belongs, even the groups to which he does not belong.