Free Will

My guess would be the one offered by the watchtower society?

Denis Diderot wrote:

Mankind will never truly be free until the last king has been strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

I'll repeat my position, if only to get us back on track. The subject of "freewill" (vs. determinism) is not the ego (an imagined agent of action within us); it is a system of usually conflicting (conditioned and unconditioned) drives clothed in cultural values, learned interests, ideas, etc.). This system is not the ego; it is a natural phenomenon, a facet of Nature, or the Cosmos (the Hindus called it Brahma or Brahmin; it may be what some Christians call God).
Ergo, our actions and thoughts are not the properties of a constrained agent (ego). They are the spontaneous operation of that system of drives which operate as an on-going expression of Nature/Cosmos/Brahmin/God. Everything is spontaneous and free, but may not seem so from the perspective of illusory Ego.

neologist wrote:

Denis Diderot wrote:

Mankind will never truly be free until the last king has been strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

What the hell does this mean? And how can this possibly be called "truth"?

Jason Proudmoore wrote:

neologist wrote:

Denis Diderot wrote:

Mankind will never truly be free until the last king has been strangled with the entrails of the last priest.

What the hell does this mean? And how can this possibly be called "truth"?

I'm sorry to have offended you.

It was meant as a topic for consideration and not as an absolute.

Actually, Diderot has identified the two greatest obstacles to world peace.

Why should we not contemplate life without them?

The subject of "freewill" (vs. determinism) is not the ego (an imagined agent of action within us); it is a system of usually conflicting (conditioned and unconditioned) drives clothed in cultural values, learned interests, ideas, etc.)[...]Ergo, our actions and thoughts are not the properties of a constrained agent (ego). They are the spontaneous operation of that system of drives which operate as an on-going expression of Nature/Cosmos/Brahmin/God.

Doktor S wrote:

My guess would be the one offered by the watchtower society?

Not until I ring yer doorbell a few times.

neologist wrote:

Doktor S wrote:

My guess would be the one offered by the watchtower society?

Not until I ring yer doorbell a few times.

I had jehovahs witnesses over at my apartment once. I invited them in. two men and a little girl. They showed me their literature.They asked me what I believed. I showed them my literature and told them.
They never came back.

Doktor S wrote:

neologist wrote:

Doktor S wrote:

My guess would be the one offered by the watchtower society?

Not until I ring yer doorbell a few times.

I had jehovahs witnesses over at my apartment once. I invited them in. two men and a little girl. They showed me their literature.They asked me what I believed. I showed them my literature and told them.
They never came back.

Didn't serve coffee,either, I'll bet.

ps Neo..do you really do the whole door knocking trip?

Doktor S wrote:

ps Neo..do you really do the whole door knocking trip?

It may be hard to believe, but I prefer talking with non believers.

3] The nonsense can be understood by contemplating the answer to this question: Who servess the politicians by maintaining social order and delivering troops to the front?

. . . As a matter of fact, I did offer. But right about the time I told them I was a registered member of the Church of Satan they seemed to lose interest.

neologist wrote:

3] The nonsense can be understood by contemplating the answer to this question: Who servess the politicians by maintaining social order and delivering troops to the front?

Never mind all that... Who do the politicians serve?

1] Sorry, I just concluded your use of profanity was an indication of offense.

2] You don't know what I mean by obstacles to peace?

Apparently, world history has not been on your class schedule as yet.

3] The nonsense can be understood by contemplating the answer to this question: Who servess the politicians by maintaining social order and delivering troops to the front?

Time to exfoliate