by archibald wrote:Penny, one thing I don't like about the notion of free will, or if you prefer one thing I like about the notion that it doesn't exist, is that it, er, frees up my thinking about certain things, or potentially does. I'm prone to blame, both self-blame (I'm fairly self-critical) and blame of other (eg my parents, other people, whatever). A lot of this is predicated on the fact that I or they could have done something else.
I very well understand that you might or might not like something, but so what? The rest is psychobabble, fee-fees. I take the Zen route, here. If you're going to blame somebody for something, do it with the entirety of your being. Write them off. Erase their names from the writings on the tablet of your heart. It's like an Etch-a-Sketch. Just doodle them in again. You're just doodling.
archibald wrote:Holding fast to the idea of free will seems to make forgiveness harder.
Now listen to Bob Dylan sing about how he might have stayed in Mississippi a day too long.
My entire family has disowned me for my beliefs. It almost happened earlier in my life when I chose to cohabitate with someone instead of marrying first. That's how deep in belief my family is. They got past the cohabitation but that was apparently their limit. 
