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NY RESOLN X FREE WILL
For 364 days of the year, I’m perfectly happy to sit on the fence when it comes to the “free will” question. Do I truly make my own decisions or am I pinballing through life along a path determined by genetics, environment, and experience? I have no idea. But this ignorance vanishes on the 1st of every January. When it comes time to declare a New Year’s resolution, I hop off the fence and stand resolutely with the determinists — not out of some grand philosophical or scientific insight, but out of the realization that chalking things up to “everything is pretty much determined” is a fantastic way to avoid starting the year with a stressful homework assignment.
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PICA X VISHWAROOP DARSHAN
- When Krishna was much younger, he sat looking at the Gopis clean all the vessels. He noticed that after a vessel in which butter was stored was emptied, the Gopis would clean them using mud. He started to wonder if even he would have to eat mud after eating butter to clean his stomach.
- So, after eating butter to his fill, he stuffed his mouth with mud. His brother, Balram, and his friends noticed that he had stuffed his mouth and asked him what it was. He refused to open his mouth so they took him to Yashoda. Yashoda also asked him to open his mouth but he did not say anything nor open his mouth. Yashoda then grabbed a stick out of anger and said he would get a beating if he didn’t open his mouth right away.
- Krishna then opened his mouth and to her surprise, Yashoda could see the entire universe clearly in Krishna’s mouth. She could even spot Gokula and herself standing in front of the child with his open mouth. In disbelief, she closed her eyes to clear her mind. When she opened her eyes she saw Krishna smiling at her innocently. Though Yashoda had taken note of this miracle, she kept it to herself as Krishna seemed unaffected.
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EVIL V G-D
modern texts provide a third answer, one in which the dominant word is “silence.” In this case, the main argument is that we cannot explain or understand everything, and man must humbly accept his inability to grasp the full extent of reality’s mysteries and resort to stillness. It is precisely this inability to make sense of our chaotic existence – so rife with monstrosities and devastation – that can ultimately assuage our religious consciences. It allows us to acknowledge that we neither can understand, nor should we.
This approach seeks to free us from the need to search for answers, from trying to give religious legitimacy to our inability to rationalize everything. It enables us to concede and “leave those questions be.” Nonetheless, as people of faith, this line of thought does not ultimately satisfy our quest for meaning. It is only effective insofar as it somewhat alleviates our sense of impotence. It can only mollify the souls of those willing to accept what cannot be understood, but those who thirst for answers will never find comfort in accepting a world of endless question marks.
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