Yogi: When the experience of every moment is the result of the past, do we even have a choice?

Sayadaw: There are 2 kinds of result – the results of the actions of the past, so you can’t change it, and there are the results yet to come that are determined partly by what has passed and partly by the present moment which you have a choice with.

For example, now you’re tired which is a result of something in the past and you can’t change the tiredness but in the present moment, you can choose how you want to deal with the mind. 

The mind can have the right thought and right view and it will feel better even when the body is tired.

Or, the mind can have wrong view and complain, so the body is tired and the mind is also stressed.

In the present moment, that is the choice the mind has. If the mind is trained, it has more choices to be positive.

In the moment, we can have wisdom that gives us better decisions and better choices or we can be deluded, and delusion doesn’t give us the best choices.

With every experience, we have a choice to respond with a wholesome response or unwholesome response. 

Yogi: Is it actually a choice or a feeling of having a choice?

Sayadaw: There is no freedom to choose if there is no wisdom; it will only seem like you have a choice.