I’m trying to patch together my conception of free will and determinism to sum it up here in answer, but it’s full of holes. Basically it goes like this. Determinism is the rule of nature and, of course, mankind. Free will doesn’t exist. Some measure of freedom and emancipation, on the other hand, do exist. It’s hard to sum it up. Basically, very close to a spinozist stance, just with more holes and gaps. But I’ll stop here since the OP specifically asked to leave philosophical perspectives at the door.