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

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[weetuskenraider]

"Planning and puppetry on whose part?" Tahiri asked, her tone guarded.

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Noting the guarded tone, Valentine paused a moment before responding, her head tilted as she considered Tahiri carefully. Then she smiled, faintly and sadly.

"That's just it," she said. "Isn't it? If they were any good, you won't even notice that there are string, much less who's pulling them. If you can, then they're hardly masters, and are likely puppets themselves."

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[weetuskenraider]

"That's reassuring," Tahiri muttered, though a quick half-smile hopefully made it clear she wasn't annoyed at Valentine. Then because every now and then the crack of JJK must be WTFed at, because it was a convenient detour from the real questions, she continued. "My first Jedi Master tried to break a curse that was imprisoning the spirits of a tribe's children, and failed. So he put himself into a trance and slept for centuries, hoping he'd find the people who were meant to break the curse. He woke when A -- when my friend and I found him."

She shrugged. "Do you think," and this was an awful thing to imply about Ikrit, even in theory, "he was manipulating us? Because I think I'd have tried to do it anyway."

[[I can't make this stuff up, I swear. -_- I WISH I COULD SAY I HAD.]]

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure," Valentine admitted, after a moment of listening carefully and thinking about, "I know enough about it off of just that to tell. You mean manipulating you to break the curse? He might have been. And he might not have been aware himself that he was."

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri wasn't sure she liked the possible directions her thoughts could go from there, and bit her lip. "If it's a choice I would have made, to do that, either way, does that make it a bad thing, necessarily?" she asked.

[[Not that I discourage this, but STAY AWAY FROM THE JJK, BELIEVE ME, IT WILL ONLY MAKE YOU CRY.]]

Re: Destiny, Free Will, or Other?

[a-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"No one said anything," Valentine said, smiling very faintly, "about manipulation being bad. It's more just a fact of life. And then, I guess, you could wonder if, if you were going to choose it anyway, is it manipulation anymore? Or just really good foresight? But if you're still choosing to do it, there's a chance you'd choose the other way, so perhaps he's just manipulating you enough that you'll stay the course; enough that some other manipulation wouldn't sway you in the long run."

Not to inspire paranoia or anything.