Ron, I am an absolutely free being within myself, living in a somewhat unfree society full of weird hierarchies and customs in which I do not believe. It started in Grade 1, perhaps even before that. I've been faced with it all my life. I'm no more or less a pawn than anyone else, though. I am in the same boat as billions of other people, but better off than a great many of them by virtue of living in a pretty peaceful and prosperous country, so you might say why should I complain, right? And you'd have a point if you did say that.

I know little about Calvinism. What I do know of it does not attract me at all. It seems very dour and strict, and it's sectarian. I tend more toward Taoism. I believe in free will. I do not believe in systems or in a plethora of rules, but I put up with them, because that is the sensible thing to do. A Taoist does not seek confrontation, he learns from Nature, and then like flowing water or like the wind, he finds the harmonious way....he passes by unseen, because he attacks no one.

"by opposing something, you give it strength"

He who opposes a huge social system stimulates from it a massive response, generally to his own utter defeat, despite all those Hollywood movies proposing the contrary for dramatic purposes...there's a long list of such movies.

I can recommend an excellent work on Taoism. Well, two excellent works...

1. The Tao of Pooh
2. The Teh of Piglet

Read those two books and you will have a fairly good idea of at least some of what I believe in.

Here's the rub, though. If I was a really accomplished Taoist, I wouldn't burn up all this time arguing contentiously with other people like you on Mudcat about things like this, because by opposing any of you, I give you strength, and I deplete some of my own energy in the process...to no useful purpose. I stimulate a counterattack of some kind. ;-) No, if I was a true Taoist, I'd just leave people alone to believe whatever the hell it is they want to, and they'd never even notice me. I would not react to what they say, and they'd never have a reaction from me to react back to. They'd be arguing with someone else instead. You'd be arguing with someone else instead.

I would pass by quietly, unseen, doing what is meaningful and joyful to me, hurting no one, and life would go on.

That's what I believe in. "Live and let live."

*****

You said up there somewhere above: "Nobody is in favor of war."

Not so, Ron. NO friggin' way! I have personally met a number of people and heard a number of people who are violently and passionately in favor of war, as long as it is launched on somebody that they hate. They lust for vengeance and destruction. They're in a minority, but it is a vocal and significant minority. Some of them write newspaper columns. The editors of the Toronto Sun, for example, just pant for war. They dream of it. They are never happier than when the USA decides to bomb someone new into the stone age, as long as it is a Republican administration that makes the decision. ;-) The only time I can EVER recall the Toronto Sun not enthusiastically cheering for a war before, during, and after it happened was when Bill Clinton went into the Balkans against the Serbs. They figured that if a Democrat was doing it, it must be a mistake...they just HATE Democrats, liberals, socialists, etc...you know, those people.

Oh yeah, Ron, you'd just love the Toronto Sun... (joke!)

******

Say, I just looked up some stuff on Calvinism. Nope. It doesn't sound like a set of beliefs I would subscribe to at all. It seems utterly wrongheaded and deeply opposed to much of what I believe in.