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Middleman

Registered: 07/11/99
Posts: 8,399
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Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics
#700399 - 06/25/02 11:33 AM (21 years, 5 months ago) |
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What do you Think?
"All the philosophies, creeds, dogmas and beliefs that humanity has evolved are variants of three great paradigms, the Transcendental, the Materialist and the Magical. In no human culture has any one of these paradigms been completely distinct from the others. For example in our own culture at the time of writing the Transcendental and Magical paradigms are frequently confused together.
????? Transcendental philosophies are basically religious and manifest in a spectrum stretching from the fringes of primitive spiritism through pagan polytheism to the monotheism of the Judaeo-Christian- Islamic traditions and the theoretical non-theistic systems of Buddhism and Taoism. In each case it is believed that some form of consciousness or spirit created and maintains the universe and that humans, other living organisms, contain some fragment of this consciousness or spirit which underlies the veil or illusion of matter. The essence of Transcendentalism is belief in spiritual beings greater than oneself or states of spiritual being superior to that which currently one enjoys. Earthly life is frequently seen merely as a form of dialoque between oneself and one's deity or deities, or perhaps some impersonal form of higher force. The material world is a theatre for the spirit or soul or consciousness that created it. Spirit is the ultimate reality to the transcendentalist.
????? In the Materialist paradigm the universe is believed to consist fundamentally and entirely of matter. Energy is but a form of matter and together they subtend space and time within which all change occurs strictly on the basis of cause and effect. Human behaviour is reducible to biology, biology is reducible to chemistry, chemistry is reducible to physics and physics is reducible to mathematics. Mind and consciousness are thus merely electrochemical events in the brain and spirit is a word without objective content. The causes of some events are likely to remain obscure perhaps indefinitely, but there is an underlying faith that sufficient material cause must exist for any event. All human acts can be categorized as serving some biological need or as expressions of previously applied conditioning or merely as malfunction. The goal of materialist who eschews suicide is the pursuit of personal satisfaction including altruistic satisfactions if desired.
????? The main difficulty in recognizing and describing the pure Magical Paradigm is that of insufficient vocabulary. Magical philosophy is only recently recovering from a heavy adulteration with transcendental theory. The word aether will be used to describe the fundamental reality of the magical paradigm. It is more or less equivalent to the idea of Mana used in oceanic shamanism. Aether in materialistic descriptions is information which structures matter and which all matter is capable of emitting and receiving. In transcendental terms aether is a sort of 'life force' present in some degree in all things. It carries both knowledge about events and the ability to influence similar or sympathetic events. Events either arise sponataneously out of themselves or are encouraged to follow certain paths by influence of patterns in the aether. As all things have an aetheric part they can be considered to be alive in some sense. Thus all things happen by magic, the large scale features of the universe have a very strong aetheric pattern which makes them fairly predictable but difficult to influence by the aetheric patterns created by thought. Magicians see themselves as participating in nature. Transcendentalists like to think they are somehow above it. Materialists like to try and manipulate it.
????? Now this universe has the peculiarly accomodating property of tending to provide evidence for, and confirmation of, whatever paradigm one chooses to believe in. Presumably at some deep level there is a hidden symmetry between those things we call Matter, Aether and Spirit. Indeed, it is rare to find an individual or culture operating exclusively on a single one of these paradigms and none is ever entirely absent. Non-dominant paradigms are always present as superstitions and fears. A subsequent section on Aeonics will attempt to untangle the influences of each of these great world views throughout history, to see how they have interacted with each other and to predict future trends. In the meantime an analysis of the radically differing concepts of time and self in each paradigm is offered to more fully distinguish the basic ideas.
????? Transcendentalists conceive of time in millennial and apocalyptic terms. Time is regareded as having a definite beginning and ending, both initiated by the activities of spiritual beings or forces. The end of time on the personal and cosmic scale is regarded not so much as a cessation of being but as a change to a state of non-material being. The beginning of personal and cosmic time is similarly regarded as a creative act by spiritual agencies. Thus reproductive activity usually becomes heavily controlled and hedged about with taboo and restriction in religious cultures, as it implies an usurpation of the powers of deities. Reproduction also implies that death has in some measure been overcome. How awesome the power of creation and how final must earthly death subconsciously loom to a celibate and sterile priesthood.
????? All transcendentalisms embody elements of apocalyptism. Typically these are used to provoke revivals when business is slack or attention is drifting elsewhere. Thus it is suddenly revealed that the final days are at hand or that some earthly dispute is in fact a titanic battle against evil spiritual agencies.
????? Materialist time is linear but unbounded. Ideally it can be extended arbitrarily far in either direction from the present. To the strict materialist it is self-evidently futile to speculate about a beginning or an end to time. Similarly the materialist is contemptuous of any speculations about any forms of personal existence before birth or after death. The materialist may well fear painful or premature death but can have no fears about being dead.
????? The magical view is that time is cyclic and that all processes recur. Even cycles which appear to begin or end are actually parts of larger cycles. Thus all endings are beginnings and the end of time is synonymous with the beginning of time in another universe. The magical view that everything is recycled is reflected in the doctrine of reincarnation. The attractive idea of reincarnation has often persisted into the religious paradigm and many pagan and even some monotheist traditions have retained it. However religious theories invariably contaminate the original idea with beliefs about a personal soul. From a strictly magical viewpoint we are an accretion rather than an unfolded unity. The psyche has no particular centre, we are colonial beings, a rich collage of many selves. Thus as our bodies contain fragments from countless former beings, so does our psyche. However certain magical traditions retain techniques which allow the adept to transfer quite large amounts of his psyche in one piece should he consider this more useful than dispersing himself into humanity at large.
????? Each of the paradigms take a different view of the self. Transcendentalists view self as spirit inserted into matter. As a fragment or figment of deity the self regards itself as somehow placed in the world in a non-arbitrary manner and endowed with free will. The transcendental view of self is relatively stable and non-problematic if shared as a consensus with all significant others. However, transcendental theories about the placement and purpose of self and its relationship to deities are mutually exclusive. Conflicting transcendentalisms can rarely co-exist for they threaten to disconform the images of self. Encounters which are not decisive tend to be mutually negatory in the long run.
????? Of the three views of self the purely materialistic one is the most problematical. If mind is an extension of matter it must obey material laws and the resulting deterministic view conflicts with the subjective experience of free will. On the other hand if mind and consciousness are assumed to be qualitatively different from matter then the self is incomprehensible to itself in material terms. Worse still perhaps, the materialist self must regard itself as a phenomenon of only temporary duration in contradiction of the subjective expectation of continuity of consciousness. Because a purely materialist view of self is so austere few are prepared to confront such naked existentialism. Consequently materialist cultures exhibit a frantic appetite for sensation, identification and more or less disposable irrational beliefs. Anything that will make the self seem less insubstantial.
????? The magical view of self is that it is based on the same random capricious chaos which makes the universe exist and do what it does. The magical self has no centre, it is not a unity but an assemblage of parts, any number of which may temorarily club together and call themselves 'I'. This accords with the observation that our subjective experience consists of our various selves experiencing each other. Free will arises either as an outcome of a dispute between our various selves or as a sudden random creation of a new idea or option. In the magical view of self there is no spirit/matter or mind/body split and the paradoxes of free will and determinism disappear. Some of our acts arise from random choices between conditioned options and some from conditional choices between randomly created options. In practice most of our acts are based on rather complex hierarchical sequences of all four of these mechanisms. As soon as we have acted one of our selves proclaims 'I did that!' so loudly that most of the other selves think they did it too.
????? Each of the three views of self has something derogatory to say about the other two. From the standpoint of the transcendental self the materialist self has become prey to pride of intellect, the demon hubris, whilst the magical view of self is considered to be entirely demonic. The material self views the transcendentalist as obsessed with assumptions having no basis in fact, and the magical self as being childlike and incoherent. From the standpoint of the magical view, the assorted selves of the transcendendatilst have ascribed a grossly exaggerated importance to one or a few of the selves which they call God or gods, whilst the materialist has attempted to make all his selves subordinate to the self that does the rational thinking. Ultimately it's a matter of faith and taste. The transcedentalist has faith in his god self, the materialist has faith in his reasoning self and the selves of the magician have faith in each other. Naturally, all these forms of faith are subject to periods of doubt."
~from _Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics_ by Peter Carroll
~A Primer In Aeonic Magick~
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Anonymous
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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Middleman]
#700779 - 06/25/02 01:37 PM (21 years, 5 months ago) |
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Greetings Divine Trinity!
Om
Edited by Shroomism (06/25/02 01:40 PM)
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Anonymous
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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Middleman]
#700798 - 06/25/02 01:44 PM (21 years, 5 months ago) |
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Watch as all three elements of these paradigms reply:
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Swami
Eggshell Walker

Registered: 01/18/00
Posts: 15,413
Loc: In the hen house
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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Middleman]
#700853 - 06/25/02 02:08 PM (21 years, 5 months ago) |
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Of the three views of self the purely materialistic one is the most problematical. Not at all. In this view, one can see much of the inner workings of the clock. The materialist view is also the simplest in that it doesn't require thousands of pages of escape clauses and special circumstance; i.e., it is internally consistent.
If mind is an extension of matter it must obey material laws and the resulting deterministic view conflicts with the subjective experience of free will. Our society does not truly embrace free-will ( I was beaten as a child therefore I am cyncial and sarcastic - or whatever). I remember a discsussion with a friend. He said." I like sex!" as if he had any choice in the matter!
Another friend said we have free will in picking out a flavor of ice cream. Could be, but could also be due to the number and type of sensors on your tongue. On the other hand if mind and consciousness are assumed to be qualitatively different from matter then the self is incomprehensible to itself in material terms. Many things are incomprehensible in all three paradigms, so your point is...?
Worse still perhaps, the materialist self must regard itself as a phenomenon of only temporary duration in contradiction of the subjective expectation of continuity of consciousness. The Materialist does NOT expect continuation.
Because a purely materialist view of self is so austere few are prepared to confront such naked existentialism. Agreed. So they make up fables and adopt one of the other paradigms.
Consequently materialist cultures exhibit a frantic appetite for sensation, All three paraidgms exists concurrently on this drug-related; hence sensation-seeking; forum. No difference.
...identification and more or less disposable irrational beliefs. The Materialist viewpoint is the most rational stance of the three. You even outlined the basis in your statement on it's dependence on the physical sciences.
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The proof is in the pudding.
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Divine_Madness
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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Middleman]
#712914 - 06/30/02 10:01 AM (21 years, 5 months ago) |
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I found that to be a very informational reading. I even enjoyed a short state of euphoria during reading coused by its seemingly objective view on the three paradigms. Right afterwards I doubted the objectivity correctivity of the information given. I realize this could be coused by its general view.
But. thanks to this piece Im realizing that im mostly attracked to the Magician paradigm . And actually most theories I come up with match this paradigm. I actually had forgotten im not really made for the Trancedental view (in my case buddistic) of life, which I have been interested in for quite some time.
The most importand thing this reading did to me was making me conscious of the excistense of the paradigms.
I think it would be the most efficient to find balance in the three.
-------------------- its all placebo
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Anonymous
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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Divine_Madness]
#713622 - 06/30/02 04:29 PM (21 years, 5 months ago) |
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We must balance all three into perfect harmony. Ala the Divine Trinity
Om
Edited by Shroomism (07/01/02 03:30 AM)
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Anonymous
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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Middleman]
#714933 - 07/01/02 03:35 AM (21 years, 5 months ago) |
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I find that I am dominantly a transcendentalist.. but that I have many traits of the magical paradigm. Perhaps even earlier in life I was at a materialist standpoint... but now I find myself to be predominantly a transcendentalist.
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Anonymous
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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: ]
#714935 - 07/01/02 03:37 AM (21 years, 5 months ago) |
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Interesting how the first three people to respond fit the material paradigm, the magical paradigm, and the transcendental paradigm.. in that order. All three aspects of this objective reality present.
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Anonymous
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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Middleman]
#714939 - 07/01/02 03:43 AM (21 years, 5 months ago) |
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What really gets me is that last paragraph...
Each of the three views of self has something derogatory to say about the other two. From the standpoint of the transcendental self the materialist self has become prey to pride of intellect, the demon hubris, whilst the magical view of self is considered to be entirely demonic. The material self views the transcendentalist as obsessed with assumptions having no basis in fact, and the magical self as being childlike and incoherent. From the standpoint of the magical view, the assorted selves of the transcendendatilst have ascribed a grossly exaggerated importance to one or a few of the selves which they call God or gods, whilst the materialist has attempted to make all his selves subordinate to the self that does the rational thinking. Ultimately it's a matter of faith and taste. The transcedentalist has faith in his god self, the materialist has faith in his reasoning self and the selves of the magician have faith in each other. Naturally, all these forms of faith are subject to periods of doubt."
This blows my mind. Mainly because its so damn true. Just watching the interactions on this message board you can see these interactions between different groups. It's almost as if you can know beforehand how a certain paradigm will react to another.
I would like more people to participate in this.. read that and state which paradigm you think fits you best. This could make for a very interesting experiment.
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Divine_Madness
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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: ]
#714997 - 07/01/02 04:35 AM (21 years, 5 months ago) |
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I would like more people to participate in this.. read that and state which paradigm you think fits you best. This could make for a very interesting experiment.
Agree, that is a good idea.. The best thing about it is that it is also very selfreflecting (at least, it seemed to me).
-------------------- its all placebo
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exsane
Stranger
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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Middleman]
#715124 - 07/01/02 05:51 AM (21 years, 5 months ago) |
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I am paraphrasing Alan Watts' lecture The Nature of Consciousness I see another way of modeling the world views. three models of the universe in use. These models touch our emotional chords. They are the Mechanical model, the Organic model, and the Dramatic model. The Mechanic model is the most prevalent in the west, and is actually common sense for most people living in the west. I believe it derives from the Bible and Aristotle. There are two variations of this model; The Ceramic model, and the Fully-Automatic Model. "The ceramic model of the universe is based on the book of Genesis, from which Judaism, Islam, and Christianity derive their basic picture of the world. And the image of the world in the book of Genesis is that the world is an artifact. It is made, as a potter takes clay and forms pots out of it, or as a carpenter takes wood and makes tables and chairs out of it. So the image of God and of the world is based on the idea of God as a technician, potter, carpenter, architect, who has in mind a plan, and who fashions the universe in accordance with that plan. So basic to this image of the world is the notion, you see, that the world consists of stuff, basically. Primoridial matter, substance, stuff. As parts are made of clay. Now clay by itself has no intelligence. Clay does not of itself become a pot, although a good potter may think otherwise. Because if you were a really good potter, you don't impose your will on the clay, you ask any given lump of clay what it wants to become, and you help it to do that. And then you become a genious. But the ordinary idea I'm talking about is that simply clay is unintelligent; it's just stuff, and the potter imposes his will on it, and makes it become whatever he wants. " The Ceramic model is the where the materialist fully-automatic view evolved out of. Many Transcendalist view the universe with the Ceramic model. Themselves as just objects in the objectionable objective universe. "And this image, this ceramic model of the universe, originated in cultures where the form of government was monarchial, and where, therefore, the maker of the universe was conceived also at the same time in the image of the king of the universe. 'King of kings, lords of lords, the only ruler of princes, who thus from thy throne behold all dwellers upon Earth.' I'm quoting the Book of Common Prayer. And so, all those people who are oriented to the universe in that way feel related to basic reality as a subject to a king. And so they are on very, very humble terms in relation to whatever it is that works all this thing." Then people started feeling kind of weird with this God person breathing down their neck all the time so they killed him. But kept the Ceramic model. Only without Potter. So now we have evolved the Fully-Automatic model. And we still go on about the laws of reality, with no lawmaker. "Newton's whole image of the world is based on billiards. The atoms are billiard balls, and they bang each other around. And so your behavior, every individual around, is defined as a very, very complex arrangement of billiard balls being banged around by everything else. And so behind the fully automatic model of the universe is the notion that reality itself is, to use the favorite term of 19th century scientists, blind energy....And likewise and parallel to this, in the philosophy of Freud, the basic psychological energy is libido, which is blind lust. And it is only a fluke, it is only as a result of pure chances that resulting from the exuberance of this energy there are people. With values, with reason, with languages, with cultures, and with love. Just a fluke. Like, you know, 1000 monkeys typing on 1000 typewriters for a million years will eventually type the Encyclopedia Britannica. And of course the moment they stop typing the Encyclopedia Britannica, they will relapse into nonsense. " "And so in order that that shall not happen, for you and I are flukes in this cosmos, and we like our way of life--we like being human--if we want to keep it, say these people, we've got to fight nature, because it will turn us back into nonsense the moment we let it. So we've got to impose our will upon this world as if we were something completely alien to it. From outside. " "And so in this way, we inherit a conception of ourselves as being artifacts, as being made,[being constructions of parts just moving mechanically]." and it is perfectly natural in our culture for a child to ask its mother 'How was I made?' or 'Who made me?' " (Materialist How, and Transcendalist Who). But this would not be natural for a Chinese child to ask. A Chinese child might ask How was I grown? Which is a world of difference. "You see, when you make something, you put it together, you arrange parts, or you work from the outside in, as a sculpture works on stone, or as a potter works on clay. But when you watch something growing, it works in exactly the opposite direction. It works from the inside to the outside. It expands. It burgeons. It blossoms. And it happens all of itself at once. In other words, the original simple form, say of a living cell in the womb, progressively complicates itself, and that's the growing process, and it's quite different from the making process....Because after all, you ARE a symptom of nature. You, as a human being, you grow out of this physical universe in exactly the same way an apple grows off an apple tree." This idea is cyclical, and has a far different emotional context then simply being an artifact that will fall apart in the end. So this is the Organic view. And it is a way many of the Eastern Transcendelists and much of the Magicicians subsbribe to. The other idea is the Hindu Dramatic view of the Universe. where there is one self Brahman playing all of the parts of the Universe. In the Dramatic view Reality is poetry.
And which view is the right view. These 3 views do not necessarily deny eachother. If anything they fit together perfectly. Materialist seem to want to suck the poetry out of breathing. But it is unnecassary. Poetic expression of life is a way of expressing the wonder of being. The OM is the pulse of Life. They are like the different maps of the world. The Phyiscal map, with all of the wiggly lines. The Politcal Map with the sectioning off of the Earth. Population density maps.... etc. Even maps with vastly different shapes. But trying to measure meters with an inch stick is hard if you haven't been taught measurement conversion. Life is purposeless. And in the Purposeless of life lies the joy of freedom. You can feel how ever you want about life. Is Consciousness just a complicated mineral, or is a mineral just a primitive consciousness. It can work both ways. This emotional imperialism is weird.
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Anonymous
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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Middleman]
#719354 - 07/02/02 11:43 PM (21 years, 4 months ago) |
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Shroomism
Space Travellin


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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Middleman]
#908929 - 09/26/02 12:46 AM (21 years, 2 months ago) |
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/me gives this thread a super bump
I am of the Transcendental paradigm
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ViBrAnT
WaRpInG &sPiRaLiNg
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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Shroomism]
#909039 - 09/26/02 01:50 AM (21 years, 2 months ago) |
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The magical world is rarely explored by myself due to the fact that it is below the trancended paradigm. I can safely say i do not understand it in the least, my guess is that it balances the transcended and materialistic paradigms. When i come in contact with it a different energy seems layered overtop the present paradigm much like the transcended except it seems more like a fairly tale, illusionary, although i am by no means certain this is true.
There is a certain pleasant magic to it, like it is keeping the energies centered at all levels. Everyone appears as sorcerers, elves, barbarians, witches, whatever. I feel as if i am being watched by nature,like it has eyes that can see and are looking out for me. I expereince minor delusions in this realm and weird things happen, laughter is also in abundance, houses often appear as seperate worlds or magic kingdoms. If there is a realm in which Terrance Mekenna expereinced visual confirmation of the elves this would have to be it.
-------------------- " liken this life illusory, for your sand castle will one day be adrift amongst the wind "
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pattern
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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Middleman]
#909396 - 09/26/02 09:18 AM (21 years, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
Aether in materialistic descriptions is information which structures matter and which all matter is capable of emitting and receiving. In transcendental terms aether is a sort of 'life force' present in some degree in all things. Events either arise sponataneously out of themselves or are encouraged to follow certain paths by influence of patterns in the aether. As all things have an aetheric part they can be considered to be alive in some sense. Thus all things happen by magic, the large scale features of the universe have a very strong aetheric pattern which makes them fairly predictable but difficult to influence by the aetheric patterns created by thought.
Interesting! The Magical view is surprisingly analogous to my beliefs. Replace "aether" with "time" and you describe my views.
The materialistic view of time is too boring to be true. 
-------------------- man = monkey + mushroom
Edited by pattern (09/26/02 11:00 AM)
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Sclorch
Clyster


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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: pattern]
#909457 - 09/26/02 10:35 AM (21 years, 2 months ago) |
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The materialistic view of time is too boring to be true.
Yeah... that makes SOOOO much sense. I've noticed that most boring things ARE false. Isn't it convenient and fun how things work out like that?
-------------------- Note: In desperate need of a cure...
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Adamist
ℚṲℰϟ✞ЇѺℵ ℛ∃Åʟḯ†У


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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Sclorch] 1
#909516 - 09/26/02 10:58 AM (21 years, 2 months ago) |
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There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
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{ { { ṧ◎ηḯ¢ αʟ¢ℌ℮мƴ } } }
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pattern
multiplayer

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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Sclorch]
#909519 - 09/26/02 10:59 AM (21 years, 2 months ago) |
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> Yeah... that makes SOOOO much sense. > I've noticed that most boring things ARE false. > Isn't it convenient and fun how things work out like that?
Your post is SOOOO boring!
-------------------- man = monkey + mushroom
Edited by pattern (09/26/02 11:01 AM)
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Sclorch
Clyster


Registered: 07/12/99
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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: pattern]
#909581 - 09/26/02 11:14 AM (21 years, 2 months ago) |
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Then it must be false and therefore we have a liar's paradox.
-------------------- Note: In desperate need of a cure...
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In(di)go
People of the sun.


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Re: Paradigm Shifts and Aeonics [Re: Swami]
#910040 - 09/26/02 02:06 PM (21 years, 2 months ago) |
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In reply to:
Our society does not truly embrace free-will ( I was beaten as a child therefore I am cyncial and sarcastic - or whatever). I remember a discsussion with a friend. He said." I like sex!" as if he had any choice in the matter!
Another friend said we have free will in picking out a flavor of ice cream. Could be, but could also be due to the number and type of sensors on your tongue.
since when are you dependent on society? of course it does not embrace free will... it embraces the will of the rich and poweful... but i still have free will... many people may dislike me, or call me crazy for some things, but it is still free for me to chose what i think/say/do, right? free will may not be embraced by our society, but it IS present...
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