No replies to this topic

[KenPruitt]

A Philosopher looked upon the world one day, and was troubled at the blatant disorder he saw. Theft, violence, moral decay. He began thinking of what could be done to solve these problems, but couldn't find a suitable solution. Freedom and liberty gave rise to moral decay, such as drinking and promiscuity, and authoritarianism merely created more violence. So troubled was he at the state of the world that he begged God to make the world an orderly and moral place.

God, troubled by this plea, appeared before the philosopher in a dream. He said to him, "Verily, I can make the world the orderly place that you desire, but in doing so, I would have to take away man's freedom of will. Would you accept a world with no freedom of will?"

The philosopher pondered this for a moment. "Perhaps it would be for the better. Mankind destroys itself more and more each day. If we are to survive, this must end."

God responded, "So you would accept that there would be no more advancements in what you call science? The advancements that man has created in medicine were only possible because of me, but it was man's desire for improvement that inspired him to look for them. Would you take away man's desire to better himself?"

The philosopher pondered again. "I would, for this desire has led to greed and excesses. Our markets suffer because of those who hoard in excess, more and more people find themselves in poverty, and more people are murdering and stealing just to survive. Surely this cannot be an acceptable state of affairs."

God shook his head and said, "Yes, this is an unacceptable state of affairs, but would you take away the desire of those who are in poverty to better themselves? How would you make the advancements that you treasure so much without such desire? Would you have begged me to make the world an orderly place had you not had the desire to see the world in a better state?"

The philosopher thought about this for a moment.

"If you will not make the world more orderly, please tell me how I can."

God responded. "There is only one thing you can do. Take solace in your labor, for in your labor is the path to inner peace, and seek to educate those around you through means of reason, but know the orderly world you seek is nigh impossible. I created man with freedom of will for a specific purpose. If I were to remove that freedom, your world would stagnate to the point of destruction. I created freedom of will, but the nature of the freedom of will is necessarily chaotic. Respect this chaos, and take solace in your labor, but know that your failure is inevitable."

The philosopher was dumb-founded by this answer. "I'm so confused."

God responded lastly, "Confusion is the undying fruit of human mortality." With that, God left the philosopher's dream. The philosopher woke up the next morning, but did not remember his dream. And so he continued making the same mistakes he made before, until the end of his days.