Ian Caithness

'The unexamined life is not worth living.' - Socrates

Life is an illusion. Free will is an illusion. Choice is an illusion. As was once suggested, 'man believes himself simply because he is conscious of his actions.' (Benedict Spinoza). There is no greater illusion than that of free will. Life is determined. The world is nothing more than a mere reflection on universal causation, the principle of cause and effect. An infinite regress of causes is not possible but the theoretical implications of an infinite future continue to exist and these causes and effects are that which dictate our choices, our influences and our morals. There is no 'moral self' as some libertarians have suggested. There is no reason to believe that we have attained moral responsibility through the differentiation of personality and moral self. We must first accept that life is nothing more than an infinite regress of environmental and genetic factors which dictate our choices. We have no morals. Once we appreciate that can we live to our full potential as dictated beforehand.

'Life is the flower for which love is the honey.'

Love is that which we all seek to attain. We seek a path which, in our ignorance, we believe difficult to tread. This is not the truth. The truth of the matter remains that love would be simple were it not for the obstacles which we ourselves place before us. We set ourselves milestones and hurdles as though it is an accomplishment and we are disappointed should we ever fail. This is no phenomenon. What we must appreciate is that our paths in life are walked blind. Should we open our eyes, we would see that, before us, there is a world which we can explore. Instead, we wander the paths of life with our arms outstretched, expecting to fall and crumble beneath the weight of our burden. When we fail, we are disappointed. We should have no expectations of life. Life was not ours to demand. We must make our future. We must have a reason for each action. Should the effect ever differ from the presumption it is because the cause is different, not because we have done something wrong. It is not love that is blind. It is ourselves.

'I saw. I came. I conquered.' - Julius Caesar

Should we be concerned that our lives are not according to plan? We should not. We must understand life is nothing more than a mere dictation of that which has been predetermined. I do not believe in God nor am I religious but this does not infer that I cannot believe our life has been determined beforehand. I do not believe it was an omnipotent being. Such a statement would infer faith. I have none. Instead, I believe life is nothing more than the effect of the world, the world being the cause and the effect of the universe. It is a continuous chain of causally determined actions. Our plans mean nothing if this plan is not in accordance with the plan that has in mind for us. This is how our lives should be. We should embrace the world. I do not scream peace, war or environmentalism. I scream for an embrace. Accept ourselves. Look to the light. Open our eyes. The world is whispering. Listen.