[ehecatl]

>> that their decisions are based on past experiences and that their free will is actually just the evaluation of their perceptions (of their truth)

This might be pretty close to the mark, actually. Our conditioning to past, even collective, social, experience can become so all encompassing that we cannot imagine something "other". Perhaps psychopaths can? And that's a pretty scary thought.

[lazerpants]

I think meditation, some types of travel, and/or certain illicit drugs are important to people because they are able to temporarily experience what you have described as "other", to varying degrees, utilizing the aforementioned agents/techniques.