Good day, terrans. I hope things are well, despite the ever-negative news over there. As for me, I worked on a long-standing project and then ran a few errands for someone in the inn. So now, I’m paid, refueling my belly, and thinking. Recent conversations on free-will are on my mind, and I like it, even if some of the banter was a bit awkward.
Yes, awkward. It’s strange for me, hearing free-will denied publicly. For a long time, whenever I heard that denial, it operated as an excuse, used to justify one's behavior. The criminal cited fate at the thought of reform in order to justify his staying the course. A scrooge said the stars of the poor couldn’t really be changed so why bother? The idea uglied its confessor and embarrassed him in polite conversation.
Frankly, it isn’t a trivial mistake either. Free-will is part of what makes us special, more than animals, so determinism gets it wrong bigly. It mocks us and not just us. The dull mechanistic outlook paints everything dull and mechanistic. It grey-washes out all the humanity, love and magic.
It's bad for you, too. The more one believes they aren’t free, the more it’s kind of true for that person. People who believe they are wed to their course are less likely to muster the will to change it. Believing all your choices amount to influence, has a yielding to influence… influence, and that opens one up to manipulation. But it dehumanizes in another way too. Steps toward animalizing people are steps to getting them treated like animals. The police don’t need any help in that, and society falls apart fine on its own without help in the process.
So yeah, it wouldn’t be good if a popular holy book were thought to teach such stuff. Such an unfortunate situation would render contrary (and legit) readings golden. (Why set the book against the essence of humanity if you don’t have to?) That's part of why I like this molinism thing. It’s interesting and all yes, and it has the added perk of rescuing vital good sense from the nefarious clutches of a misreading.
I could go on but not now. The day is getting on, and I’m going to explore the realm a bit. Maybe get a cookie. Thanks for the fun conversation terrans.
-Pen