Free will is something we strive for, it's based on the interpretation of how we live, how we are spiritually, mentally, physically and how we've adapted to our environment.
This is all physical world oriented.
We gave up the real free will by wanting an experience in a limited solid reality.
Once this experience is over, we can reflect on the narrow slit we created that our physical world free will appears to be. In the wider reality it's more than a narrow slit. It's still limited, but to what extent exactly, this is the next level, use your astral awareness and gained knowledge to make a comparison.
You now have two answers that differ.
Does free will exist, or is it an illusion of the psyche?
The spanner has been thrown...
When you say "It's still limited, but to what extent exactly," can you answer that?
I will get to free will in a minute, but first. I've come to the idea that the heart of reality has competing truths; or perhaps a better way to say it is the heart of reality has competing truths with exceptions. Another way to see it is, the heart of reality is ultimate, yet also relative. Kind of like yin and yang still playing out even at the heart of reality. The heart of reality being the unmanifest in Hinduism, and wu chi in taoism, and Shunyata or nirvana in Buddhism. If you don't know what this place is like I strongly suggest you read about it. So this place of reality is said to be both relative and ultimate. A place with absolute nothingness yet full volume. A place of utter peace from all form. A place where there is no sight or feelings or emotions, or anything since you are all those things in one. And this kind of makes sense. There are many seeming dichotomies in the spiritual IMO. But upon closer look we see that these dichotomies are all work together in the long run IMO.
That is why you may seem to see this as dichotomy, but it must be, in order for the universe to evolve. I am assuming that the two dichotomies you were referring to was that we have such a limited free will here. And yet on the other hand, when we die we realize that we didn't have much real free will compared to the other side. Was that the dichotomy you were talking about? So which is the real free will in these two dichotomies? And the answer is both IMO. Since we must evolve on the physical as a whole in order for the wider reality, or the astral to have less suffering. I will even go a step further and say that we need to evolve in the wider reality in order to prepare us for the physical. As Frank pointed out he doesn't think one is higher and one is lower ultimately speaking. And I will add it's because one can't be without the other. They are all important in the grand scheme of things. Higher and lower are just terms we use to help us understand things from our perspective here on earth. Was that on target?
Peace.