rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (08/20/85)
Which Rich took this journey? Certainly not I. I would have never insisted that there was a black and white dichotomy between my choosing to come (of my own free will) or someone else telling me to come. A wide variety of possibilities owing to a variety of experiences may have induced me to come. Talmud? Ma-Tsu? This kind of enlightenment I don't need. Perhaps Rich Carnes took this journey? And made a wrong turn in Poughkeepsie? > [God is speaking:] `Often one uses the statement "I am determined to > do this" synonymously with "I have chosen to do this". This very > psychological identification should reveal that determinism and > choice are much closer than they might appear. Of course, you might > well say that the doctrine of free will says that it is *you* who are > doing the determining, whereas the doctrine of determinism appears to > say that your acts are determined by something apparently outside > you. But the confusion is largely caused by your bifurcation of > reality into the "you" and the "not you". Really now, just where do > you leave off and the rest of the universe begin? Or where does the > rest of the universe leave off and you begin? Once you can see the > so-called "you" and the so-called "nature" as a continuous whole, > then you can never again be bothered by such questions as whether it > is you who are controlling nature or nature who is controlling you. > Thus the muddle of free will versus determinism will vanish.' > -- Smullyan, "The Tao is Silent" > > So, does anyone out there care to argue with God? Sure. I do it all the time. :-) But if you are made to be indistinct from the universe itself, then you are not the only force engaging in attempts at control. Which explains the intense complexity of the universe---everything inside it either blithely "obeying" physical law or directed by a will (free or not) to do certain things. Frankly, I as a person have individual needs and wants that I seek to direct, if I am able to, and I don't seek to wholeheartedly immerse myself in the rest of the universe and lose my distinctness within it. All Smullyan is saying is that we are determined to make the choices that we will make. -- "iY AHORA, INFORMACION INTERESANTE ACERCA DE... LA LLAMA!" Rich Rosen ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr