#erm

In fact, if you are faced with the prospect of running across an open field in which lightning bolts are going to be a problem, you are much better off if their timing and location are determined by something, since then they may be predictable by you, and hence avoidable. Determinism is the friend, not the foe, of those who dislike inevitability. ↗

— Daniel C. Dennett

#free-will #indeterminism #freedom

The quest of discovering your empowered self is a process of refinement, not accumulation. Cut away the nonsense, the drama, the regret, the scars of the past, and make a decision to no longer let them govern your happiness and freedom. ↗

— Steve Maraboli

#empowerment #freedom #happiness #life #past

If God created our will, then he's responsible for every choice we make... So-- as I recall, the official philosophical answer is that free will doesn't exist. Only the illusion of free will, because the causes of hour behavior are so complex that we can't trace them back. If you've got one line of dominoes knocking each other down, one by one, then you can always say, look, this domino fell because that one pushed it. But when you have an infinite number of dominoes that can be traced back in an infinite number of directions, you can never find where the causal chain begins. So you think, That domino fell because it wanted to... Even if there is no such thing as free will, we have to treat each other as if there were free will in order to live together in society. ↗

— Orson Scott Card

#dominoes #freedom #philosophy #want #freedom

Jupiter: I am not your king, impudent larva? Who then has created you? Orestes: You. But you should not have created me free. ↗

— Jean-Paul Sartre

#freedom #humanity #liberty #mankind #self-determination

Unfortunately we do treat others as we treat ourselves. We should try being genuinely kind to ourselves first and the rest will come naturally, like an 18-kt. Golden Rule.” ― Erica Goros, The Daisy Chain ↗

— Erica Goros

#friendships #golden-rule #help #inspiration #life

The sky is blue today, Max, and there is a big long cloud, and it's stretched out, like a rope. At the end of it, the sun is like a yellow hole..." Max, at that moment, knew that only a child could have given him a weather report like that. On the wall, he painted a long, tightly knotted rope with a dripping yellow sun at the end of it, as if you could dive right into it. On the ropy cloud, he drew two figures-a thin girl and a withering Jew-and they were walking, arms balanced, toward that dripping sun. ↗

— Markus Zusak

#friendship #german #jew #sun #friendship

You cannot go and warn him," Saeunn said sternly. "It is too late. You would never find him." "I know," said Renn without turning her head. To herself she added, But I've still got to try. ↗

— Michelle Paver

#friendship #loyalty #friendship

No matter our size or shape, everyone deserves a safe place in this world." ~ from BIG SMALL DOG, a children's story about overcoming bullying and adversity, and discovering unity and friendship. ↗

— Suzanne V. Marshall

#book #children-s-book #dog-story #empowerment #inspirational

I once asked an old Japanese man why Japan decided to team up with Germany during WWII, and do you know what he told me? Well, you would if you speak Japanese, which I don’t. ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#germany #japanese #war #wwii #funny

I’m a Pisces, and people say that Pisces make the best the best lovers. That’s because Pisces are fish, and it’s like my grandpa always used to say, “The next best thing to making love to a mermaid, is having sex with a fish. ↗

— Jarod Kintz

#funny #lovers #mermaid #pisces #funny