A Few Meaningful Lines…

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Greetings from far far away. I hope this finds you well. I’m sitting in the inn. Heh. I say the inn, like you know it. It’s not what you’d expect. Sure, right now it’s dark and moody, but during the day… well, it’s comfortable anyway. Durable. Kind of like if a Cracker Barrel and a tavern had a baby; that grew up to serve alcohol, practical wilderness wares, and weaponry. And if it played simpler music… live. (Not always better music, though.)

Now in Chora, that inn had some class. Of course, it was kind of a café, but – Come to think of it there’s a painting of it hanging up in that building just across the square! Oh, you’d like it too. It's like you’re peering out a window at a drizzled courtyard that just sighs like a lazy Sunday afternoon. Well, except for a few flowers dancing happily with their raindrops. Oh, and there's the musicians near the window gently bouncing the room's serenity… and, there's the barkeep drying something while affectionately noticing someone out across the way, behind another window reading a book. It’s really something. I guess you'd have to see it.

Anyway, I’m here, just trying to drop a few meaningful lines since one is supposed to be regular with their correspondence, and with all the adventures of late, that has not been easy. All I can say about the adventures though is that there’s this cave, and there’s something inside it, and that something wasn’t very happy the last I checked. (I’m so going back to check again when I’m done writing this! It’s going to be awesome!) (Rumors about my running scared and trapping it in there are completely unfounded. Like, there’s totally zero evidence.)

Well, this seems like a good place to stop for now. Thanks for your attention. Maybe next time, I’ll have to write less about the realm and talk more about terran stuff. “Terra” sounds much better don't you think? For my use anyway. (“Hey terrans!” > “Greetings earthlings!”) Yeah, I’m sure you understand.

Well, later.

-Pen

Stay free

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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

Hoping the tv lies…

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Hello again, Terrans.

I hope this finds you well. From the news over there, “well” seems like wishful-thinking. But what does the news know anyway? Am I right? To them, everything is conflict. Well, more precisely, war and… allure. And it all seems like a giant PR scramble too. I bet the news has employees hyped up world-over, spinning everything they hear so it validates some elusive dying rich elite guy's perspective. If that presentation was true Terra, I’d never visit. Well, the treasure troves of philosophy would probably lure me, but it would not be pleasant. But anyway, that’s only the news! Out and about, it’s much better.

In the real world, your real world, people open doors for each other, and not just men for women but everyone for everybody. People give each other basic respect in passing (on foot, not as much driving). Yes, there are exceptions, but it’s not as bad as it looks on tv. On tv, everything is both horrible and sexy. Most places are not really so horrible… and they're far less sexy too (especially at Walmart). So, I ask. How are things?

Here, it’s more of the same. The labor of building this place has really settled down. Thank God. We were way too intense about it. My fault. Some bad news is that I didn’t have much time for Gluestick (my horse), so I had to part with her, but it'll be ok.

Also news on my end, but more of a Terran thing I guess, is that I’ve been enraptured by a free-will debate. Someone already asked why, so I’ll save you the trouble. It was a free-will debate *with significant people doing the talking*. That was enough. But also there was… well, this debate also involved what the Bible had to say about free-will.

Now, hold on. That is a factor even Jordan Peterson (no snake-handler) could appreciate. Still, I do appreciate that book and what it says. It’s like, enchanted somehow, and in a good way, likely divinely. Still, that’s not cause to embrace the words someone else put in its mouth. And that’s my point. Terrans do that all the time! It’s so crazy! But anyway, since free-will is so profoundly important, what the bible says about it is too.

And free-will is preeminently important, but I better stop there for now, before I get worked up, and this letter never ends.

All the best.

Pen

Some light reading…

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Hello from the budding green yonder. How are things? I hope things are well. If twitter is any indication though…. well, thankfully twitter is not real life, right?

Actually, I did notice two good things on twitter recently. One is my happy place list. But also the Caped Persuader dropped word of his new post. I read it, and I enjoyed it. It comes with the fun superhero parallels one expects from CP, and it asks some good questions like:

Which [kind of conservative] is the true heir to the American spirit?

What does it even mean to be conservative or liberal?

Which am I?

I should add that I’m not endorsing everything there, especially one part at the end. (You’ll know it when you see it.) : ) Nevertheless, there is plenty to appreciate. Maybe check it out.

Incidentally, all that definition talk reminds me of my reading (that Terran book Human Freedom). I recently came across a section discussing the intended meaning behind a phrase in Aquinas that is translated free-will. Definitions are fascinating little buggers ain’t they? I’ve dropped some thoughts on them myself (here, here, here, here, here, and to a lesser extent but still worth mentioning: here).

Around my neck of realms, the work has really lightened up. The mad rush I mentioned before is now more of a light hustle. That change put the fun back in the work. For example, today, I did a bunch of cleaning up and also a few odd jobs for money. Oh! I am so close to getting my horse that I can smell it! (I mean. I can smell the getting of the horse, not the horse itself. Well, no I suppose I could smell that too if- never mind.)

Well, I better get back to them beautification efforts.

– Pen

Catching up

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Dear Terrans,

It’s been a while! I need to take the time to write more often! The micro-bloggings take less time, just a spare second now and then, and that is less than- whatever it takes to actually pen something like this. That sounds like an excuse, even to me, and it I probably is. I do hope you understand. Civilization-building takes its toll. I think we’ve grown too quick. Maybe we should slow down and let things grow at a more natural pace. I’d enjoy the extra time to write.

Fortunately for us here in Liberterra (that’s what we call it), the elvin connections across the realms help a great deal. And the dwarves help too! (One can’t forget the dwarves, or they’ll be sure to remind you…. and remind you, and remind you…). Even with the help though, there’s lots of work available! People set up shop, start other ventures. Also, they often look for help on heavy work-load days. One guy even tries to make it as a bard! I suppose we could stand for some cheering up after a hard day.

Most of the locals have been pretty hands off. It seems they just sold us the land, and they are done with us. Reading some of the Terran history of what happened to them natives, post-Plymouth, I don’t blame our natives one bit. But their knowledge of the local wildlife and land would help. The few who stayed with us know that and capitalize off it which is of course fair and admirable.

I confess I do allow one other thing to take my time away from you all. A book. Dr. Stratton’s Human Freedom. I once posted how I wanted to read it. I like how the book doesn’t ignore the more religious significance of the conversation but comes at it head on. Some of you Terrans may not appreciate that aspect as much, but I do, and so far the book does a good job at it.

Less new but just as distracting, there’s been some kind of unfortunate event in the woodlands. I guess a large sum of money was lost, stolen, or something; but apparently the critters collected it, and you can find the money on them! Ever go hunting and search your prey for spare change? It’s weird!

Anyway, I must be going. I do hope your horrible pandemic (of authoritarianism) gets better. This is why I don’t connect/marry realms. Bad stuff gets through too.

God bless.

Pen