Destiny & Free Will, Week I [Monday, Period 4]

[atreideslioness]

Ghanima had decided to hold class outside by the pond next to the school, since there was no reason to keep her students cooped up in a classroom today. She'd tacked a note on the classroom door, and was now waiting the students assembled, sitting on a rock as they found their way to her and took seats on the grass.

The moment everyone arrived, her eyes snapped from the pond to the children seated (or standing) around her. "Good afternoon," she said in a clear voice that carried effortlessly. "This is Destiny and Free Will. If you are in the wrong class, please consider this your opportunity to leave. Although it is entirely possible that if you are here, then you are where you are supposed to be, no matter what it says on your schedule. I am Lady Ghanima Atreides. You may address me as Miss Atreides, Lady Ghanima, Miss Ghanima, or some variation thereof. Be warned, however, that I do not answer to Lady Atreides. Lady Atreides is my grandmother, and I have no desire to claim that title from her."

"This class is designed to look at the differing opinions on predestination and freewill from a variety of religious, temporal, and philosophical schools of thought," she continued. "Regardless of any personal experiences you may have had on this topic, I expect everyone to maintain a respectful and open mind towards the subject matter and your classmates. Mocking destiny is a dangerous pastime, and not one I will permit during class hours. What you do on your own time, however, is your business."

She waved the stack of papers sitting in her lap at them. "This is your syllabus. Be aware that it is subject to change at any time, unless a particular class is predestined to happen, in which case the syllabus is moot anyway, isn’t it?" The smile she flashed the students was decidedly impish.

"For now, I would like you to go around and introduce yourselves, and state for the record whether you believe in destiny, free will, or are currently undecided."

[Wait for the OCD, for that is your destiny! OCD is up and destiny is assured. GO FORTH.]

Comments

Sign-In #1

[atreideslioness]

In an ordained manner!

Re: Sign-In #1

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin

Listen to the Lecture

[atreideslioness]

Talk, pass notes, take notes, just don't get caught by teacher, or detention may be in your future!

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri was quiet, half watching the flamingos in the pond as she listened, knees tucked up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine folded her legs under her and listened super-carefully, hoping she could make up through sheer paying attention for knowing nothing about this and having no powers or prophecies of her own to speak of.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

Eleanor listened attentively, writing a few notes in the margin of her syllabus.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Although she was listening, Valentine sat with a pen being fiddled with between her fingers and a mind that was easily distracted elsewhere. At least it wasn't a complete distraction; it was the topic itself that distracted her and took her brain other places, but it was still somewhat related.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[gotyourmateria.livejournal.com]

Yuffie was sitting quietly next to the pond, listening while rolling two yellow materia globes in one palm.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[anarchist-queen.livejournal.com]

Leda kind of hated her parents. For some reason the whole idea of destiny creeped her out. Figures they'd sign her up for a class like this.

Re: Listen to the Lecture

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

Liir listened. He didn't mock much of anything as it usually came around to smack you in the backside.

Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[atreideslioness]

"I suppose it is only fair for me to go first."

"I will be perfectly blunt," Ghanima said crisply. "It is my personal opinion that to see the future is to be trapped by it. Destiny is a short leash and a cruel mistress, and I am a firm believer in humanity's right to forge its own future, out from under the oversight of an oracle."

"The entire purpose behind this class, however, is to allow you, as sentient beings, to think critically and to make your own informed decisions. Not simply parrot what I say, or your religion says, or your parents think. No matter what you decide at the end of these seven weeks, it is my hope that it will be your voice speaking, and not simply the words of another being offered up without any thought behind them."

"Next."

[OOC: Class discussion! Feel free to ping to anyone anywhere anywhen! Let chaos reign!]

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[likethestore.livejournal.com]

K-Mart was thoughtful. "I'm K-Mart -- yes, like the store -- and I don't quite know what I believe yet about this stuff. I mean, maybe it's possible to be meant to do something, whatever that something is. But maybe it's also possible to get there however you can end up getting there."

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[glacial_queen]

Karla propped her chin on her fist, thinking. "That's a tough question," she mused aloud. "Black Widows can spin tangled webs that tell the future. Our medium is dreams and visions. But the dreams we get and the visions we see aren't simple laundry lists of instructions; they need to be parsed and teased until the answer is revealed. We...don't always understand them in time," she said. She paused for a moment, looking inward, then shook her head and kept speaking. "Sometimes they carry warnings, sometimes we can prevent what we see, sometimes we can work to make our visions come to pass. But is that the same thing as fate or destiny? Or is it something else?" Karla grinned. "Normally I'd say that only the Darkness knows for sure, but maybe that's something I'll learn in this class."

"...I'm Karla by the way."

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[thatsamilkshake]

"I'm Francine. Before I came here I didn't know anyone even could see the future," she said. "Not for real. Now..." Francine ducked her head a bit. "I'm not magic or anything; I don't know much about this stuff. I don't know what I think yet, I guess."

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[puppy_fair]

Zack considered his answer carefully before answering, today.

"I'm Zack Fair, and I think..." This was kind of hard, actually. "I think that there are different paths people can take, that will take them different places. And maybe that one of those paths is the right one, but you don't know if you've taken it or not until it's too late to turn back to pick a different one."

He shrugged.

"So you take things as they come, and you do your best, because there isn't really anything else that you can do, is there?"

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

"I knowed one who could see the future," Firekeeper said. "She say it is like a stream breaking over rocks. Big things cut deep course in this 'water' and she could see easily." She did not mention that it had been in trying to divine her future that the jaguar Truth had been driven to madness.

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[heartflames.livejournal.com]

"I'm not certain about destiney, but I believe everyone has a right to free will and lead their lives as they see fit."

Eleanor had good reason to be adament about free will.

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[weetuskenraider]

"I'm Tahiri," she said, as rapidly as usual but much more quietly, looking down at her feet. "Sometimes the Force gives us visions. We're told they're only possibilities, not definite outcomes. That interpreting them on your own is a really bad idea."

Not that it had ever stopped Anakin. She'd probably be what he'd seen in that vision now if he hadn't acted on it. Sithspit, this was a headache, and that was before factoring in knowledge of a future timeline courtesy of Fandom's specialness, but really, why make the discussion even more twisty?

She shrugged. "All I can say is that it's -- it has to be an awful thing to have hanging over your head all the time, and who knows how much worrying about some possible future outcome is going to mess you up?"

Casual tone? Attempted for, not entirely accomplished.

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

After a moment, Valentine had settled on a...suitable response to something like this, in the confines of the class, anyway, one that didn't just suggest they all go read the copious amounts of literature she'd actually composed on this subject.

That was Demosthenes, anyway. Not Valentine Wiggin.

"My name is Valentine Wiggin," she started, simply, though the more she talked, the more a clear line of feeling on the topic became evident in the undercurrent of her speech. "I do not believe in destiny, but I do believe that someone can be born with the specific intent of great things. I do not believe in free will, but I do believe in will. The free part, to me, seems to suggest that we can act without the influence of others, entirely on our own accord, and I just can't even imagine something like that. Everything we do is influenced by something else, but there's always a certain degree of choice, and what might appear to be destined is really just very good planning and master puppetry."

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[momslilassassin]

Ben had a looooong rant stored up about destiny, free will and affecting the future.

He didn't share it with a group of students.

"I'm Ben Skywalker. I've seen people trapped and manipulated by what they think they've seen in visions of the future," he said quietly, focusing on his boots. "I know of people destroyed by their attempts to change what they think will happen. I hate destiny."

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[gotyourmateria.livejournal.com]

Yuffie waited until others went before answering, mostly to give herself time to figure out how to say what she wanted to say. She kept rolling the materia globes in her palm while she spoke, because it kept her from looking around at anyone other than Ghanima.

"For some people, they have a destiny, that no matter what it's going to happen, it's just a matter of whether they accept it and make it easy or fight it and hurt a lot of people along the way. For others, it's free will. They can choose whether or not to accept or deviate from the path to destiny."

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[finding-x-dream.livejournal.com]

Agnes considered. "Where I'm from," she answered, "Destiny -- and, for that matter, Fate, and The Lady -- are all real, actual gods that really, actually influence things, so not believing in them would be kind of silly. Personally, I'd rather just do what I darn well please, and leave the philosophizing about whether it was predestined to the priests."

Besides, the Hand of Granny Weatherwax seemed to be stronger than the Hand of Fate, anyway.

Meet the TAs

[atreideslioness]

Once they ping in.

Re: Meet the TAs

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin was there and thoughtful about the subject matter. And rocking the username.

Talk to Ghanima

[atreideslioness]

She's around, both before and after class.

OOC

[atreideslioness]

If the class is incoherent, I blame con-ded.

Poke me over email if there's something Ghani should be responding to, and I'm just not seeing it.

Re: OOC

[glacial_queen]

I like that passing notes is okay, but taking notes'll land you detention if you get caught.

DOWN WITH SCHOLASTIC REBELS!

Btw, what con?