[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Victor, I also experience these synchronicities, and I also believe there's something in them, maybe along the lines you were saying -- that time is non-linear and there is an interconnectedness between things, or maybe even that there are parallel worlds, as some philosophers believe.
The question about free will remains though. If you were to throw yourself off a cliff, it would definitely affect your future (but not change it, as you wrote: that implies it is already decided). But the question remains: did you have a choice when you jumped, in the metaphysical sense? There are philosophers, called determinists, who believe that everything we do is determined and that all our choices are illusory -- and that if you jump off the cliff, it will be because it was determined that you should do that from the very beginning of time. And if you don't, it will be because THAT was determined. In this view of the world, you cease to be an actor and become instead a mere instrument of nature, the universe, the will of god, or whatever.
I don't believe this, but some do.
I don't believe it either. It makes no sense. This way of thinking is thought by many people. I think it is harmful.
The logiical conclusion is that people who abuse, murdewr, practise cruelty etc are MEANT to and their victims are meant to be.
It means that a child dying of some foul cancer is meant to. It e,mans all the terrible stuff that happens is meant to. And that it is not our responsibilty. That last sentence I imagine is why this belief is so popular.
bw
colin
