July 2, 2004

• What is your understanding and views of free will and destiny?

  On a very simple level, I believe in both. Now brace yourselves for my attempt to describe such a paradox.

  Imagine that there is a universe created for every decision you have ever made a la Sliders (remember? that show with Jerry O Connel? A different universe created for every choice depending whether you had eggs or toast for breakfast, buried the body or let the man live. Now imagine that not only is there a universe for every decision you make, but one for every decision made by everyone.

  So, you may ask, if there are infinite possibilities for every choice that exist, how can there be free will?

  These universes do not come into existence until you have reached the critical point of your decision. For example, let’s say this morning you had to choose whether to put on your right shoe or left shoe first. At the very moment you make the decision in your head, all the possible consequences of that choice spring into being as new universes. However, we are all unaware what plane of existence, what life trajectory, we are participating in. Therefore free will comes in in that though all possibilities exist, you can move freely through them

  Perhaps, but what about destiny?

  Well certain choices are more important, or stronger than other choices. You wouldn’t place the same importance on the decision of which pant leg to put on first verus whether to begin a war? In the same vein of thought, certain decisions are also more likely to be made by certain individuals. One example would be if you primarily use your left or right hand with which to throw. If you have a stronger side, it is more natural to use it even though you are equally capable of using the other. Certain individuals are also endowed with various abilities that also make certain choices more obvious for them…examples would be things like music prodigies, or exceptional athletes. Therefore destiny is merely a stronger influence by the self (or ego) to make certain choices of an individual more attractive than others. In this way can free will and destiny co-exist

  But what about God? How can there be any element of uncertainty if even one individual knows all the answers?

  Words like omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient tend to get tossed around a lot, but rarely do people actually think about what these concepts mean. Omnipresent is easily solved if you grant that every indvidual contains a part of a whole. Call it a buddha nature, a soul, or simply unrealized potential, but if one accepts it, then omnipresence is achieved in all planes of existence and across all axes as well.

  Similarly, then everything everywhere that posseses this piece of spirituality also shares its collective knowledge and power with the whole, and matter and energy are conserved, satisfying the laws of physics

  To reiterate, fate is possible because every iota of existence is a piece of a higher being, call it what you may. Free will is possible because one is not aware of which iota one may be. After all, do you know what every square inch of you is about to do at every given moment?Can you instantly locate with exact precision what cells in your body will be doing five minutes from now? No, because if you could, cancer wouldn’t be possible. Equally true, individual cells in the body, or pieces of the whole, cannot comprehend what the entire unit will be doing outside of its own area of specialty

  So, hopefully I haveanswered your question, aytch. If you have any further confusion, or other philosophical based questions, I will be glad to continue to expound upon my thoughts.

  Same for everyone else….and why not post your views on fate and free will? Comment away!

  -J

  “Now, go from this place. You are all free to choose your own fates, or let them choose you as you please”
  “Looney old bugger, idn’t he?”

  • 3:59 am
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