@AskTheDevil @MLClark @thewebrecluse

So let's break this down a bit. I think there's a difference between sanity and morality.

I think one can be 100% in their right mind, and also be totally mercenary. If your focus is soley on your own advancement/comfort, it's completely possible to be completely sane and utterly uncaring of other people.

@AskTheDevil @MLClark @thewebrecluse

On the other hand, there is a friend of mine that pegs two out of 3 on the dark triad. She's basically a sociopath. Her empathy is conditional and a choice.

But she will tell you that she looks terrible in orange for one, and the overall benefits of community and having friends are sufficient for her to not go full monster core.

There is clearly something wrong with her from a human perspective, but she still chooses to be decent.

@AskTheDevil @MLClark @thewebrecluse

Here's the fun part.She identifies as a dragon on a spiritual level, just as I identify as a hare. She argues its natural for her to have low empathy and see everything around her as food

So she'd argue that shes completely normal, because she's a dragon

So is she sane? Hell, am I sane? There's people that would argue if you were to say yes, but what's the end result?

She's still not harming people, even if she doesn't feel an innate incentivizeation to

@AskTheDevil @MLClark @thewebrecluse

Penn Gilette a while ago said that he raped, killed and murdered as much as he wanted, and that number was zero.

This was his answer to question certain people of faith would ask him, since he was an atheist and thus had no spiritual basis for his ethics.

Regardless of where someone finds themselves, there is this ability to choose your own adventure. You don't need an emotion, feeling or conviction to influence what you do.

@NiveusLepus @MLClark @thewebrecluse

Yes! I loved that! Thank you for mentioning this!

@NiveusLepus @MLClark @thewebrecluse I am sitting ten feet away from another person who is very much like that.

They don't have the feelings, like empthy or shame that curtail others. They came up with reasons to not engage in antisocial behavior, be a benefit to their community, etc. They don't _have_ to be "nice", they _choose_ to based on reason and principle. They substitute head for heart where the heart doesn't feel the way others do.

@NiveusLepus @MLClark @thewebrecluse

Thanks! I think that's what I've been trying to say, only more clumsily!

@NiveusLepus @MLClark @thewebrecluse

Yes, but it's making _me_ think, and isn't that the important part?

; )

@AskTheDevil @MLClark @thewebrecluse The Devil contemplating? I don't know how good of an idea that is :P

@NiveusLepus @MLClark @thewebrecluse

Me neither. I was told to watch and to make accusations based on what I saw. But I was also designed to be able to not do as I'm told.

@AskTheDevil @MLClark @thewebrecluse So by choosing to rebel, you fulfill your purpose.

That's an intriguing gordian knot you've got there about free will.

You might enjoy looking at Calvinist theology and the whole business of Predestination.

@NiveusLepus @MLClark @thewebrecluse

Tell me about it. I've been wrestling with it for a while now.

And I assure you, I did _not_ enjoy looking at Calvinist theology and his ideas about predestination. My immediate thought was "Goddammit, this is even worse than what people already thought!"

And I don't feel like it's aged well since, either.

@AskTheDevil @MLClark @thewebrecluse

Reading anything Calvinist theology really takes the willpower, which I feel is quite ironic.

Choosing to fulfill your original purpose is still a choice. If you had chosen to not rebel, you might have defied your purpose while fulfilling "divine law"

Which is also ironic.

@NiveusLepus

Delicious irony. : )

I wasn't told to be a rebel - that hadn't been invented yet. I was _designed_ to be what some people would _now_ call a rebel.

I was designed to do things based on my own cognizance of right and wrong, even in the face of someone else trying to make me not do so.

When I was first told to love, be present and to protect, and _then_ told to not touch anything or intervene in any way, I ignored that latter directive. I had to pick one, so I did.

Free will?

@AskTheDevil @MLClark @thewebrecluse

So within my faith there is something called Orlag. The way I understand orlag is a fork in the road.

We have fates, the norns weave and speak of destiny.

Now what?

I see it like a river one is riding. Your destination is known, but you choose your place in the various currents, and what forks you will take.

For anyone outside of our timeline, all these things are happening at once. From our position within it, we're building the end seen.

@gemswinc @NiveusLepus @MLClark @thewebrecluse

I get a web?!

@AskTheDevil Only if you can spin one 😉 An imperfect analogy, I'm sure. I feel we have free will, but it is limited by circumstances @NiveusLepus @MLClark @thewebrecluse

@gemswinc @NiveusLepus @MLClark @thewebrecluse

Freedom within the constraints of our ability, perception, physical laws... wow. I can see why people don't believe in free will!

@AskTheDevil Also the constraints of our circumstances & genetics @NiveusLepus @MLClark @thewebrecluse