1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:20,640 Over the course of my life, I've heard a lot of argumentative talk against the existence 2 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:27,320 of a creator, in which they point to children being born with disabilities, to circumstances 3 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:34,960 beyond people's controls, the idea that awful things happen to good people without seemingly 4 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:37,080 any reason. 5 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:43,120 I think we've all heard one of the most famous and popular trilemas out there, Epicurus's 6 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:47,960 Trilemma, which by the way, a trilemma is when there's three choices, dilemma is when 7 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:48,960 there's two. 8 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,360 It's posed as the following. 9 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:57,520 One, if God is unable to prevent evil, then he is not all powerful. 10 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:03,360 Two, if God is not willing to prevent evil, then he is not all good. 11 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:12,040 Three, if God is both willing and able to prevent evil, then why does evil exist? 12 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:16,960 This is such a narrow viewpoint that it hurts. 13 00:01:16,960 --> 00:01:28,480 I mean, okay, human beings are near mastery level when it comes to lopping off the details 14 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:33,520 of a subject so that it fits into a nice, neat category in our brains. 15 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:38,880 Then we argue the details that we chopped off, we reasoned away. 16 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:45,080 Sadly, this does seem to be a practice that increases in frequency and how deep we're 17 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:50,800 willing to cut to make something fit as we age. 18 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:56,520 Not everyone, mind you, but definitely those who invested in chopping off those pieces 19 00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:02,160 when they were young and never really saw the value of filing things away as they are 20 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,320 without it fitting neatly into a file box. 21 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:09,680 But hey, we've all done that a fair amount in our lives. 22 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:17,680 I mean, how else would someone expect us to store the vast amounts of information, memory, 23 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:22,040 and understandings that one accumulates over the span of one's life? 24 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:24,960 It's part of how we store so much information. 25 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:25,960 No. 26 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:26,960 Oh. 27 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:47,260 It's… that. 28 00:02:47,260 --> 00:03:04,660 Okay, sorry, I apologize here. 29 00:03:04,660 --> 00:03:09,380 I literally just stepped away to write down the core ideas for a film treatment, which 30 00:03:09,380 --> 00:03:21,020 just I had the idea off talking about this and this is going to be such an amazing film. 31 00:03:21,020 --> 00:03:22,780 But yeah, sorry. 32 00:03:22,780 --> 00:03:23,940 Where were we? 33 00:03:23,940 --> 00:03:24,940 Right. 34 00:03:24,940 --> 00:03:28,080 So we simply categorize and catalog, right? 35 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:33,300 When we're forming our opinions on something, we lean more and more towards making that 36 00:03:33,300 --> 00:03:40,180 something fit the rubrics rather than take it in as it is all the little nuances. 37 00:03:40,180 --> 00:03:45,780 Imagine trying to put together a puzzle with very intricately cut sides to each piece and 38 00:03:45,780 --> 00:03:49,500 only being handed a couple of them at a time. 39 00:03:49,500 --> 00:03:53,780 You'd have several pieces that almost fit together, but not quite. 40 00:03:53,780 --> 00:03:58,180 And a lot of people will apply that extra pressure and make them fit together. 41 00:03:58,180 --> 00:04:03,900 Heck, some of them go for the scissors, even though the right thing to do would be to set 42 00:04:03,900 --> 00:04:09,380 those pieces aside and check back and on them as you get new pieces. 43 00:04:09,380 --> 00:04:16,780 And we say in the parallels, okay, anyways, back to the matter of God intervening in unfair 44 00:04:16,780 --> 00:04:17,780 situations. 45 00:04:17,780 --> 00:04:21,540 Let me, let me postulate this to you. 46 00:04:21,540 --> 00:04:27,860 What if God is not impotent or indifferent in the slightest? 47 00:04:27,860 --> 00:04:29,740 I'm guessing you're not shocked. 48 00:04:29,740 --> 00:04:34,100 That's part of my argument, but let's really think about this because there's some not 49 00:04:34,100 --> 00:04:36,340 so obvious stuff here. 50 00:04:36,340 --> 00:04:44,880 I mean, is it not possible that God refuses to intervene in a way that takes away man's 51 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:53,100 choices slash free will that are free will and decisions are rather crucial to us, to 52 00:04:53,100 --> 00:04:56,500 the purpose of us. 53 00:04:56,500 --> 00:05:01,220 This is not news to anybody that listens to the podcast that, you know, these are some 54 00:05:01,220 --> 00:05:07,620 thoughts that I have on that, but play along that mindset and say, you know, what if God 55 00:05:07,620 --> 00:05:13,300 set the world and the universe and our creations into motion and is letting our free will shape 56 00:05:13,300 --> 00:05:21,500 the world, but it's also of huge importance what we do with the hands that were dealt. 57 00:05:21,500 --> 00:05:28,460 You know, what if that is part of the whole process? 58 00:05:28,460 --> 00:05:32,880 What if he is hands off on the world for the most part? 59 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:39,740 And so many of these things are things that happen largely as a result of these systems. 60 00:05:39,740 --> 00:05:45,720 They're so intricately and carefully put together to allow for life or are influenced by decisions 61 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:51,340 made with that sweet, sweet free will that we love so much. 62 00:05:51,340 --> 00:05:58,920 Because we do know that an absolutely flawless system that never once hiccups or has any 63 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:05,380 unpredicted variation whatsoever, how that would go over with us, right? 64 00:06:05,380 --> 00:06:11,260 I'm thinking that you would have, we would not be able to have free will in a system 65 00:06:11,260 --> 00:06:18,780 like that, as there is no possible way for any system to run perfectly when there are 66 00:06:18,780 --> 00:06:21,900 humans involved or around it. 67 00:06:21,900 --> 00:06:26,140 We love to test the limits of things, don't we? 68 00:06:26,140 --> 00:06:27,380 Try and mess with things. 69 00:06:27,380 --> 00:06:32,940 So, so of course there has to be flaws and bad stuff and balance. 70 00:06:32,940 --> 00:06:38,180 You know, light has to have dark, warm has to have cold, fullness has to have emptiness 71 00:06:38,180 --> 00:06:45,460 because without the contrast, quite simply gets boring as hell. 72 00:06:45,460 --> 00:06:46,920 There's no variation. 73 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:52,780 There's no passion and no interest in the light or the warm or the fullness. 74 00:06:52,780 --> 00:06:55,940 It's part of what makes life worth living. 75 00:06:55,940 --> 00:07:01,220 The understanding that one day you will not be living it. 76 00:07:01,220 --> 00:07:05,140 It's that understanding that gives value to time. 77 00:07:05,140 --> 00:07:09,340 The fact that there just is not that much of it. 78 00:07:09,340 --> 00:07:14,580 And notice all these things that I mentioned here, the light, the warmth, the fullness, 79 00:07:14,580 --> 00:07:21,980 the interest, these things all have their counterpart, their antithesis. 80 00:07:21,980 --> 00:07:29,600 And those opponents, you know, dark, cold, emptiness, boredom, well, they all have something 81 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:40,340 in common that they are not a thing themselves, but rather only the absence of their counterpart. 82 00:07:40,340 --> 00:07:52,580 So if nothing else, it makes us interesting and it gives us variety. 83 00:07:52,580 --> 00:08:01,260 One of the things that I love about this world is its absolute complexity of interaction. 84 00:08:01,260 --> 00:08:08,720 Every single person on this planet has a separate and completely unique experience. 85 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:11,340 And that is such a good thing. 86 00:08:11,340 --> 00:08:21,380 Each person is far more unique than any fingerprint they may have or their DNA. 87 00:08:21,380 --> 00:08:27,980 And when you couple that with free will decisions that each person makes daily, well, one can 88 00:08:27,980 --> 00:08:33,660 see some of the wisdom in the popular phrase, bitch, you don't know my life. 89 00:08:33,660 --> 00:08:38,700 And no one even gets to see like even 1% of the footprint in which they leave on the war 90 00:08:38,700 --> 00:08:41,780 world, you know, the way they shaped it and helped shape it. 91 00:08:41,780 --> 00:08:49,340 So technically speaking, bitch, you don't even know your life. 92 00:08:49,340 --> 00:08:55,740 So part of that is because of, of course, the cacophony of cause and effect. 93 00:08:55,740 --> 00:09:01,260 Free will decisions ripple outward at that which it touches, it affects, which sends 94 00:09:01,260 --> 00:09:06,460 out its own ripples and changes and affects those that touch them. 95 00:09:06,460 --> 00:09:09,200 And on and on it goes. 96 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:17,180 And then of course, we add back into the equation, the hands that were dealt. 97 00:09:17,180 --> 00:09:25,500 There's a fantastically broad spectrum of hands you can be dealt in this game of life. 98 00:09:25,500 --> 00:09:29,820 Literally every single one of you can attest to this. 99 00:09:29,820 --> 00:09:37,500 And that compounds exponentially the incalculable number of randomizations in our lives. 100 00:09:37,500 --> 00:09:43,420 It ensures that no two experiences could ever be the same. 101 00:09:43,420 --> 00:09:49,780 And as an overall, it makes us fundamentally far more interesting than if everybody was 102 00:09:49,780 --> 00:09:51,940 born on the same even playing field. 103 00:09:51,940 --> 00:09:55,300 Besides that brings us back to the everyday was a sunny day. 104 00:09:55,300 --> 00:09:56,740 What's a sunny day discussion? 105 00:09:56,740 --> 00:09:59,660 The sweet not being as sweet without the sour. 106 00:09:59,660 --> 00:10:07,700 We are infinitely more interesting and appreciative this way. 107 00:10:07,700 --> 00:10:14,900 And I for one, well, I plan on giving him one heck of a story, a story that I navigated 108 00:10:14,900 --> 00:10:22,500 through in the environments I was born into, that others free will brought me into. 109 00:10:22,500 --> 00:10:25,980 And then those that I have chosen. 110 00:10:25,980 --> 00:10:28,940 Why would he intervene in that? 111 00:10:28,940 --> 00:10:32,580 It's part of what makes the system so incredible. 112 00:10:32,580 --> 00:10:37,140 Well, there are times that he intervenes. 113 00:10:37,140 --> 00:10:39,460 It's when he's asked for help. 114 00:10:39,460 --> 00:10:44,700 He kind of really pointed at doing that. 115 00:10:44,700 --> 00:10:50,940 We already know that our decisions and our interactions with others are one of the main 116 00:10:50,940 --> 00:10:53,060 points of our existence here. 117 00:10:53,060 --> 00:11:03,500 It's literally at the core of how someone obtains the feeling of importance. 118 00:11:03,500 --> 00:11:08,520 Let's assume for the moment that the products of cause and effect and all the seemingly 119 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:14,740 chaotic quantum natures of things happened as they happen. 120 00:11:14,740 --> 00:11:18,860 Unless there's an intervention. 121 00:11:18,860 --> 00:11:25,300 And that intervention typically comes when asked for it, but not typically in the form 122 00:11:25,300 --> 00:11:28,540 of our choosing or our prediction. 123 00:11:28,540 --> 00:11:35,780 And perhaps that was the only fair way to deal the hands to us in the first place. 124 00:11:35,780 --> 00:11:43,300 Some are born to wealth or love or into superior athletic or mental or beautiful genes. 125 00:11:43,300 --> 00:11:50,180 Some are born into barely functioning bodies and broken households or with various limitations, 126 00:11:50,180 --> 00:11:54,940 mentally or physically or aesthetically. 127 00:11:54,940 --> 00:12:00,780 We all have different circumstances, different wars that we're fighting that no one has 128 00:12:00,780 --> 00:12:02,660 any idea about. 129 00:12:02,660 --> 00:12:07,380 We all have our bright spots somewhere in our lives. 130 00:12:07,380 --> 00:12:09,460 Things that motivate us. 131 00:12:09,460 --> 00:12:14,180 Things that have changed us fundamentally. 132 00:12:14,180 --> 00:12:21,540 And yes, some of us have it way harder than the rest. 133 00:12:21,540 --> 00:12:32,460 But those of us who do are the variation that makes life itself interesting and gives appreciation 134 00:12:32,460 --> 00:12:42,500 to the light, the warmth, the fullness, the contentment and all the other counterances. 135 00:12:42,500 --> 00:12:54,260 They are quite often a very large part of why we have such an interesting world. 136 00:12:54,260 --> 00:13:03,820 And to that point, if God made the world who amongst men is worthy enough to call something 137 00:13:03,820 --> 00:13:07,180 a mistake. 138 00:13:07,180 --> 00:13:09,380 Let me postulate one more thing to you. 139 00:13:09,380 --> 00:13:16,860 I don't leave you alone, but what if this is the perfect system? 140 00:13:16,860 --> 00:13:24,300 I mean, a flawless perfect system would be by its very nature perfectly predictable, right? 141 00:13:24,300 --> 00:13:30,300 It would never change any of its patterns during the exact same thing from start to 142 00:13:30,300 --> 00:13:33,260 finish, right? 143 00:13:33,260 --> 00:13:40,760 With our current set of systems that make existence and life possible, somehow we have 144 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:47,720 free will and the systems are still functioning for the most part. 145 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:53,420 And when we see our free will wreaking havoc on some of these systems, we typically have 146 00:13:53,420 --> 00:14:01,260 the capacity to do something to help heal said system and get it back on track. 147 00:14:01,260 --> 00:14:04,620 Little repairmen within the system. 148 00:14:04,620 --> 00:14:08,340 Crazy, right? 149 00:14:08,340 --> 00:14:16,900 So maybe after all, we are in the perfect system, which is why bad things must happen 150 00:14:16,900 --> 00:14:39,260 to good people, and lousy hands must sometimes be dealt at birth.