Tuesday, December 06, 2016

Freedom and determinism (reblog from Oct. 2013)


If we define “heaven's command” as nature's command, as well as the command of human nature, we then are talking about the largely biological origin of social behavior, as defined by sociobiology. And if we define “earthly power” as the freedom we may have within our biologically determined nature, then we may see that we don't have as much freedom as most ideologies demand.

There is more an ignorance than a tension between what is free and what is determined, that is, ignorance of the natural and biological commands that keep us within determined parameters of nature and human nature. The idea is to try to set up our cultures so that they take into account the various few free paths we do have, leaving room for whatever creative freedom and variation we have, without trying to do what our determined nature can't do.

Religions don't need to impose order on nature, nature already imposes its order on us, which we need to know so that we may understand how much freedom we actually have to successfully aid in our own evolution in nature to Godhood. Both science and religion help in this mission.  We have to admit that the pagan religions seemed to understand this balance with nature better than the monotheistic religions, which too often viewed nature as evil, largely do to an exclusively transcendent view of God beyond nature.

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