Mean Ron, very mean.

There is a powerful craving in most of us to see ourselves as instruments in the hands of others and thus free ourselves from the responsibility for acts that are prompted by our questionable inclinations and impulses. Both the strong and the weak grasp at the alibi. The latter hide their malevolence under the virtue of obedience; they acted dishonorably because they had to obey orders. The strong, too, claim absolution by proclaiming themselves the chosen instrument of a higher power – God, history, fate, nation, or humanity.

Everything seems possible when we are absolutely helpless or absolutely powerful – and both states stimulate our credulity. Free Will would make each person absolutely responsible for his actions while Destiny removes all guilt. The Morality of a persons action is either based on the rules given to us or on the reasons for the action. The question of Free Will or Destiny is really a question of self-esteem and fear.

One could begin by saying there is an underlying assumption of the relativistic nature of life, the universe and everything. It has a “Randomness” to it. Reality is stochastic in nature, which is to say that each intelligent entity “creates” reality by their interaction and participation in it. We are adrift in a quantum world of uncertainty. Existence cannot be completely described by either religion or its philosophical successor, science.
Fear comes from uncertainty. When we are absolutely certain, whether of our worth or worthlessness, we are almost impervious to fear. (Thus a feeling of utter unworthiness can be a source of courage.)

Fear drives us to seek a path that has already been cut for us – a destiny. It is through a strong sense of self that fear is driven back and we can see that it is we who cut the path – our Will set free. The path of destiny is easy and free of the need to justify our existence; no longer forced to confront our fears we are complacent in the direction in which events drive us. Self-esteem tells us that we can accomplish that which we set out to do. It makes us autonomous. The Free Will effectively cuts the path for the fearful to follow – the person possessed of Free Will creates the destiny of those who follow.

This fateful process is set in motion when the individual is released to the freedom of his own impotence and left to justify his existence by his own efforts. The autonomous individual, striving to realize himself and prove his worth, has created all that is great in literature, art, music, science, and technology. The autonomous individual, also, when he can neither realize himself nor justify his existence by his own efforts, is a breeding of frustration, and the seed of the convulsions that shake our world to its foundations. The individual on his own is stable only so long as he is possessed of self-esteem. The maintenance of self-esteem is a continuous task that taxes all of the individual’s power and inner resources. We have to prove our worth and justify our existence anew each day. When, for whatever reason, self-esteem is unattainable, the autonomous individual becomes a highly explosive entity. He is consumed by fear and turns away plunging into the pursuit of pride – the explosive substitute for self-esteem. All social disturbances and upheavals have their roots in a crisis of individual self-esteem, and the great endeavors in which the masses most readily unite is basically is basically a search for pride.

To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are. Whether being different results in dissimulation or a real change of heart – it cannot be realized without self-awareness. Yet it is remarkable that the very people who are most self-dissatisfied and crave most for a new identity have the least self-awareness. They have turned away from an unwanted self and hence never had a good look at it. The result is that those most dissatisfied can neither dissimulate nor attain a real change of heart. By systematic self-examination and reflection it is possible to discern the strength of inner motivation and act as it directs. The intention behind the act accounts for its moral propriety, why the act is performed determines its moral rectitude. Moral behavior is, therefore, a matter of personal determination not of conformity to imposed rules. The spur to goodness, gentleness and kindness, as well as to anger, lust or hatred, is inward. This gives freedom to the individual in choosing a way of behavior.

We choose to either allow others to determine our destiny or to be the force behind our own lives.