Prompt
Some people think that they have free will, while others believe in fate,
but the truth is that it’s impossible to ever be sure one way or another, so
why ask the question?
Botner
The answer is, for me, something that should be applied to the whole
question of what we believe and why we believe it. What we believe to be
true and what is true are relative terms. The thing is, free will is based
on what we can control. Even when we say we’re playing the random number
generator, the results are as predictable as any calculation. It’s not that
we can’t be lucky, but even chance is ultimately determined. I suspect that
we will only really start to understand the mystery of free will when we
realize that there’s nothing we can do, that there’s no one for us to blame,
and therefore no one to control. That’s when we’ll understand what true
freedom is. About a week ago, I finished a book that has kept me away from
blogging and reading for a while. I first heard about it a while back, when
it was on the list for a discussion I was having with someone, and was
intrigued by the idea. It’s the story of a family living in northern
Alberta, and how that environment changes the lives of those involved. The
wife is pregnant and has gone into labor, and leaves her husband to go to
hospital, with her young son and her mother in tow. As she’s being wheeled
away...
Conclusion
...a man rushes in, and claims to be the father. It’s not the husband,
though, and you probably have a pretty good idea where this is going. So
what does this have to do with fate and free will? Well, all the characters
in the story had the opportunity to make whatever choices they felt
necessary. They might have regretted it afterwards, or not. It doesn’t
matter, it can’t be changed. Furthermore, each character is beholden to
whatever choices the other characters made, as well as other people who
aren’t characters. They’re also influenced by the weather, the geography,
the time in which they were born. Now, when you add this all up together, a
lot of people think this spells fate, but that’s not the case. Just because
you don’t have control over everything, doesn’t mean you have control over
nothing. If you could control all of reality, that would be omnipotence, and
that is neither the opposite of, nor answer to, fate. So what’s the answer
to this? Does fate exist? Or just free will. I say neither, really. We’re
all just trying to make the best choices we can with the cards we’ve been
dealt. It’s all about causality, which started with the big bang, and will
end with the heat death. Trying to figure out any more details is futile,
unnecessarily taxing, and unproductive. Just live your life, and be as happy
as you can, while helping as many others as you can, as much as you can. Or
don’t, who am I to judge?
No comments :
Post a Comment