if you think that you are "existing" right now and there is a
"you" or "I" right now (in the way you think there is) as you are
reading this, think again!
read this for starters...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/81bc32e4-d5e3-11db-99b7-000b5df10621.htmlBut
the American neuroscientist Benjamin Libet has shown that before
every such movement, there is a distinctive build-up of electrical
activity in the brain. And this build-up happens about half a
second before your conscious decision to move your arm. So by the
time you think, OK, Ill move my arm, your body is halfway there.
Which means your conscious experience of making a decision - the
experience associated with free will - is just a kind of add-on, an
after-thought that only happens once the brain has already set
about its business. In other words, your brain is doing the real
work, making your hands turn the pages of this magazine or reach
over for your cup of tea, and all the time your conscious mind is
tagging along behind.
It is as if, after years of driving around in your car, you
discover that the steering-wheel is not attached to anything, and
the car has been steering by itself.
Two neuroscientists working in Australia have taken Libets
discovery one step further. They found that, when asking people to
choose to move either their left or right hands, it was possible to
influence their choice by electronically stimulating certain parts
of their brains. So, for example, the scientists could force the
subjects always to choose to move their left hands. But despite
their choice being electronically directed, these patients
continued to report that they were freely choosing which hand to
move.
So not only is your steering wheel not attached to anything, but if
your car was being steered by someone else by remote control, you
would not even notice. Every time it turns left, you just move your
toy steering wheel and think, Ah yes, I want to turn left.
It is possible to get rid of the fear of death... pai me
shi fu and I might teach you a thing or two 
