One subject that has been hashed out and chewed over since time immemorial is the dichotomy of free will verses determinism.  At one extreme it is said that nothing is predetermined, and everything boils down to choices made by individuals. At the other extreme, determinism or fate is said to be the only factor in our lives.  Many people take a middle-of-the-road approach and believe that the basic blueprint of our lives is predetermined, but is subject to change according to our own volition.

From  the reductionist point of view, the entire universe is like a big machine; everything that happens is caused by a prior event, everything can be explained by the known laws of physics, and consciousness is merely the result of the firings of neurons in the brain, which themselves are the result of chemical reactions.  In this view, the universe is like an unimaginably complex game of billiards, with primary particles (electrons, quarks, photons, etc) being the billiard balls.  The argument of the reductionists is indeed bolstered by observations. But is it really? Quantum mechanics has shown that subatomic particles are a sort of illusion themselves, and their observed properties have been proven to be altered by consciousness. And consciousness itself has not been adequately explained by science.

In this universe time is definitely linear. Therefore every event is caused by a prior event in a completely deterministic way, because if time is linear, then everything that happens must be caused by a prior event. If time is nonlinear, then our universe would be a very different place, with occurrences that have no observable causes and objects popping in and out of existence with no explanation. Einstein showed that time can be stretched or compressed, but it is still linear.

If consciousness is an epiphenomenon and merely the product of our brains, then every thought we think, every action we carry out is predetermined by a vast number of interactions of subatomic particles in our brains in a completely deterministic way, and free will is an illusion. But if, as the mystics tell us, consciousness is the fundamental phenomenon, and everything that exists is merely a projection of consciousness, then free will is, ipso facto the only factor that has any effect in the universe, and any evidence to the contrary is illusory.

As noted above, if time is linear, then every event is caused by a prior event in a completely deterministic way and nothing within the confines of our space-time continuum can alter that. But the question is, can some force from beyond the confines of our universe make itself felt within our universe? If so, then the law of causality (determinism) will seemingly be broken by such a force. What if our consciousness is not merely the result of the firings of neurons in our brains, but actually is an energy as yet undiscovered (perhaps even undiscoverable) by science?

Furthermore, what if our consciousness is projected from another realm (higher dimension, parallel universe, or whatever name you want to give it) into the space-time continuum known as the universe, and it is only an illusion that we (our very essence or soul) reside inside our head? Suppose for a moment that within the realm from which our consciousness operates, time is not linear. If time is not linear in that realm, the law of cause and effect is not applicable. In the realm of pure consciousness, time has no meaning.

It is by no means proven that our consciousness is merely the result of brain activity. On the other hand, I should say that the reverse is not proven either. I believe that the essence of who we are deep down inside, our soul, if you will, is projected from the infinite and timeless realm of spirit that always was and always will be, yet our normal waking conscious experience is determined by the firing of neurons, which itself can be modified by a number of factors, such as hormones or psychoactive drugs.