Free-will and Self

     Two of the conversations I have with students have just come together.  One is the conversation about self, in which they only conceive of themselves as statuses.  While they feel they are something other than their statuses, but they cannot articulate what that is.

     The other conversation is about determinism in which they see that everything they do is determined.  Even though they feel they have freedom, they can't demonstrate that it's true.

     What I've seen is that the deterministic trap only works for statuses.  When you are authentically coming from your Self, you can Choose rather than react.

ID: 20541 -- Tuesday, February 15, 1994 at 8:42

(c) Earl Babbie 2000