perhaps freedom of choice?

freedon to live life according to what an individuals' own morals/inner guidance are?

the experience of finding ones' purpose on an individual basis-without having morals compromised by others?

in substitution of "freewill".

I cannot think of a better term to substitute for it-and of the "more than a few" books I've read on Enlightenment-this is the term used (freewill).

What I think is the misnomer is religion. I don't think Enlightenment or the advancement of evolution by Enlightenment is necessarily a religious experience/journey-but there does seem to be a definitive lack of a better word to summarize the thoughts on. Those evolutionary changes can technological, social, religious....not necessarily just religious.

What "IT" is-seems to be leaps in the collective conscience of a given society(which spreads)-as a result of uncontrolled, unrestricted laws and chaos. (Read Greek history .....). When society can reconcile,admit, put laws in place, reach the collective conscience on the mistakes that were made---only can we move forward from that on the evolutionary scale(of Enlightenment) towards what our "truth" or calling is meant to be-(again, socially, economically,religious...)

Which is another reason I very much hate this war, the wiretapping, the lack of Habeus Corpus, the torture. Instead of a steady path of advancement (where we were technologically in the 90s)-those advancements are being funneled into the military complex (when we could be using it to fund new energy

technologies, stem cell research...). These past 7 years have been a setback in many more ways than one into darker ages-where the same ego,greed, arrogance of wars of imperialism have been proven in the end-wrong.We've become a more stupid society as a whole---by intentional design of the corporate masters who enslave us all to thier "choices" for us.

Wt and RMP make some excellent points. Not sure where you were going with the neuroscience theory and freewill..

My point on it is this:

I believe some higher being instilled in all of us (whether you are agnostic or athiest)a moral compass to guide us. It's what's kept civilization going for centuries-what's created order out of chaos. When those codes are broken down by govt-it then creates chaos. That's where I think we are now-by the actions of our govt.

I think our Founding Fathers knew and thought of freechoice when they wrote the Constitution.I think it was provided for-by freedom of religion. That should even think of athiesm as a religion also. Most athiests I know are not lacking in any morals-the only difference is whether or not they believe in the same God/higher Being I do.

Religion or spirituality, despite what we see from the extremism of it-on the whole makes humans more aware their own compassion, empathy, compassion and tolerance of other humans and the planet. It's men with thier egos--who have many times hijacked those basic things-and led others astray in thier morals.So it's those followers of men like these who have given up thier freewill-and instead willingly put thier fate in someone elses hands.

On my own spiritual journey in the last few years-I've come to conclusions about God on my own-without outside interference---by specifically MAKING my own freechoices about what I believe. I actually took the time to ask myself that philosophical question---why am I here? where did I come from? How can I be happy?

It's been years in the figuring and listening---but I do believe in an afterlife, I believe in the soul. The ego and materialism are just illusions, if we think this is how we should measure ouselves or judge ouselves by. There is much more to the human existence than this----yet my govt., with its' capitalistic, imperialistic ways----wants me to think otherwise(that it is the ego). A fatalisticly flawed belief-which will enslave the mind to the ego---therefore keeping anyone from being truly happy-or finding their own purpose in life. flawed becasue it depends on those who follow it to think---"if I just had this, I would be happy",or "if I just had more oil, I would be happy..."which sets you up for a circular, neverending pattern of always wanting more. who capitalizes on that?--corporations of course. Corporations who have hijacked our govt.

In a nutshell-it is becasue of freewill-that I have that same right to take responsiblity for my own soul, my own afterlife, my own fate, my own search for God---which IS provided for in the Constitution (freedom of religion-athiest or not).Becasue religion or spirituality is something not yet proven-or proof or moral codes by science---does not mean it does not exist. i think it means science either has not yet caught up technologically to prove it-or perhaps it is something, by design, not meant to be proven. Maybe that's the test of faith-is believing in those morals and listening to ones own morals while respecting others-without proof-is what religion is about.