Re: for pseudoname

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: : if your point is merely that you still possess a free will, no matter where you are, then you are correct. : You miss my point. Very simply, it is that at the level of thought, you are master. No other. You decide what attitude you will take toward a circumstance. It is not about whether you can control that circumstance or even manipulate it, or even what the outcome will be. it is simply to say: I will think as I choose, Iwill act as who I choose to be, within the circumstances that I find myself. It is the difference between a person walking to the gallows with their head up, or pissing their pants. This is about who you are, internally. You're going to the gallows - ok. That's not changing. How you go, is up to you. Does the attitude it matter, if you're going to the gallows, one way or the other? Absolutely. Every action, no matter how small, causes a ripple in the fabric of life. Take the black lady who refused to go to the back of the bus.... in a larger sociological context, every small change, creates a minute shift in the consensual paradigm we call 'reality'. Enough ripples change the paradigm, sometimes for good, sometimes for ill. : however, you give the impression that this is cause for hope for all people... : NO. This is not about hope. This is about choosing WHO YOU ARE at the level of thought, and acting upon that within the circumstances presented to you. This is more applicable to adults than to children, and certaintly is not applicable to those with mental impairments that do not allow them choice at the level of thought. Do you see? : that because you have a free will, you can do whatever you want to with your life. : Again, no. 'Life is what happens while you're making other plans.' This is true. However, you are what happens to you at the level of thought and the internal process. : my "logic" is nothing but pure...if your choices are limited, your free will will not take you to the places that it can take others. it's very simple, really. : Again, it's not about outcome. Internal process. : : what can the starving child master? i suppose he can tell himself, "hey, starving isn't so bad, after all, i've still got the hot sun beating down on me and well fed reporters taking pictures of my naked body. and i've got lots to look forward to...if i just pray hard enough, maybe i'll die and be put out of my misery!" : A child... does not have the same set of mental tools that an adult has access to, biological fact. The brain does not completely develop until sometime in the teens. After that, there's still a lot of life to go through, before one has the capacity to shift the internal landscape, so to speak. No, the child doesn't say, 'starving is not so bad.' But the adult can say, 'I will meet this with courage. I will fight this until the end, I will go with dignity.' Do you see? : : do you really think he can tell himself something that will make it bearable? just because he is the master of his own mind does not put him on equal footing with everyone else in the world. : Again, this is not so much about outcome, athough attitude is a huge factor. This is, again, about WHO YOU ARE. Who you choose to be, internally. : i agree that happiness is not dependent on external circumstances -- AS LONG AS BASIC NEEDS ARE BEING MET. if basic needs are not being met, there is no potential for future happiness, since one in that state is DYING. how can one possibly argue with that? would you be happy knowing that your choices included either dying on your knees or dying upright? : i realize that everyone has choices...but that's not the point. : That is MY point. We are talking about two different animals. : the point is that not everyone has equal opportunities, and if you think they do, you are completely blind. : Completely blind? My, how equal opportunity of you...

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