Can our will be completely controlled by someone else, without us realizing it?

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This may be a variation of Descartes’ Demon

Is it possible that our will (all of our actions, desires, thinking) could be completely controlled by someone else without us realizing it?

For example; would it be possible for one to be thinking they chose to speak on Catholic Answers, when in reality, someone else is controlling that person’s choice? What ever the controller commands, the person does it thinking it’s their own will
 
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Completely controlled - no way.

I have heard people described as ‘sheeple’

and " The masses " described as " The messes "

As a Catholic - I do want to be controlled more by the Holy Spirit -
Whatever he may hint - or nudge me towards - daily.
 
Surely not.

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I worked in an office that had this woman who got pleasure from saying things to people that weren’t true, made up stuff, to get other people in trouble. She would accuse people of doing something to her and you would pay for it for days. If there was a conversation behind a closed door, she was caught listening in with her ear to the door. And she would get mad over something apparently someone said and she was a door slammer. When you heard a door get slammed, we all knew. The whole office would feel the brunt of some perceived attack on her. Then she started sabotaging other people’s work. She had women, who were kind and generous people, in tears. She was a whirl wind of trouble. She had warnings from the boss to keep her mouth shut, mind her own business, and stay out of trouble. There was no way she could put the brakes on her behaviour.

We could put her behaviour under the umbrella of mental illness. However, when it came down to it, she was devious and cunning, and untiring in her energy to create stuff up to mess up other people’s work tasks and work relationships. That suggests to me that else was in play. You would have to spend a couple weeks with her to believe it.
 
Like a mind control slave from many a conspiracy theory?
 
PennyinCanada said:
could put her behaviour under the umbrella of mental illness. However, when it came down to it, she was devious and cunning, and untiring in her energy to create stuff up to mess up other people’s work tasks and work relationships. That suggests to me that else was in play. You would have to spend a couple weeks with her to believe it.
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What in the world does a manipulative woman in your workplace have to do with the OP asking about if it’s possible for someone to completely control our will?
 
ChristMyLife said:
What in the world does a manipulative woman in your workplace have to do with the OP asking about if it’s possible for someone to completely control our will?
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I was suggesting that the demonic was in play. At the risk of being fired, she couldn’t stop her behaviour. It seemed to the rest of us that someone else was in control of her behaviour. Does that not answer the question?
 
Ok that makes sense and now I see how you were getting at that. I was missing the point that you were getting at.
 
I don’t think anyone or anything can control our will unless we consciously permit it.
 
Thanks for letting me clear that up. If you missed the point I was making I’m sure there were others too.
 
It’s so easy to misunderstand people here because we have no tone of voice, no gestures, no facial expressions, really no context whatsoever to go by. Just a block of impersonal text.

I think 90% of the misunderstandings that happen on this forum would not happen were we conversing face to face.

I even hate talking to people via phone or even video chat because of all you miss and it being so easy to misconstrue what each other is saying…

I’m someone who has a STRONG preference for face to face personal interaction over any other kind. Even though I do love the internet and social media communication, I recognize its inherent flaws and limitations.
 
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‘Can our will be completely controlled by someone else, without us realising it?’

Tell me, @CatholicHere_Hi, did you just put the coffee cup down…? 🐹
 
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Actually I was trying to control the OP but you must be collateral, I’m so sorry, here let me make you smile 😃

(Tell me it ain’t so)
 
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Of course there’s hypnosis and I’ve seen someone use auto suggestion and maybe nlp to remarkable effect on a factual tv program.

Dr Peter Kreeft also says that our guardian angels (and their counterparts) can make suggestions but not control our free wills.

And I also remember a story whereby a man was asleep at the wheel of his car whilst his guardian angel actually drove the vehicle and delivered the whole family safely to their destination. This was explained to the man by St Pio when they finally met.

I think entertaining ideas about being controlled by external agencies is not a healthy pursuit generally speaking. If anything we might do better to consider how effective our prayers are at defending us instead.
 
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By my understanding psychology, some branches of it would tell us that most of our motivations and desires are unknown to us.

I don’t have a high regard of most of psychology, to say the least. It’s probably worth considering in this context however.
 
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NO,
and please speak to a health professional about these thoughts.
 
I suppose that anything is “possible”, and we are certainly influenced by our life experience.

But for practical purposes, the ability to distinguish between different options and make value judgements, means we have a responsibility to make the best and most moral choices we can.

If you scenario turns out to be correct, we haven’t actually lost anything.

But I sincerely doubt that it is the case.
 
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