"If you choose not to decide/You still have made a choice"

Among the deep philosophical questions human beings perennially ask there is perhaps no question more vexing than that of free will. I'd say that in our day as we discover more and more about human neural functioning we understand more and more those factors that condition whatever free will we might have. These factors are both biological and developmental. To use language more familiar to people my age and older, we learn more and more about the influences of both "nature" and "nurture."

One thing that is for certain is that any free will we possess is neither unconditioned nor absolute, as many still mistakenly believe it is. On the other hand, by becoming aware of certain limitations, we can to some extent "re-program" our brains, thus making ourselves more free. But we will never, at least not during our mortal existence, be free in an absolute sense. Our choices are conditioned. I can hold that even as I affirm these lyrics by late, great Bob Marley: "none but ourselves can free our minds."

As a Christian free will, or lack thereof, is a major factor in considering the overarching issue of salvation. While I have not yet read David Bentley Hart's book on Christian universalism, That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation, I've read enough reviews and commentary on it to know that he wisely deals with the issue of free will at a rather deep philosophical level. Frankly, anything written about the last things that doesn't treat free will extensively is woefully incomplete.

The opposite of unconditioned/absolute free will is determinism. Hard determinism holds that while you may have the illusion of free will, every choice you make is the one you could not help but make. Determinism can be set forth on a naturalistic basis (i.e., if you knew the trajectory of all the quarks at the Big Bang, you would know everything that happened in the universe until its end and know that it could not happen in any other way).

Determinism can also have a theological basis: everything that happens is God's will and foreordained to happen that way it happened. Like most sensible people, I hold that the truth is in media res, that is, somewhere between these two extreme viewpoints. More optimistically, I hold that the more you become aware of what limits your choices, the freer your choices become within those given limits. And so, unsurprisingly, I affirm Jesus's insistence that "the truth will set you free" (John 8:32).

What free will impacts, of course, are your choices. This is huge. Fundamentally, your life consists of a series of choices and the consequences of those choices. As a result, how your life turns out at any point in time is determined by the consequences of choices. Now, some choices that impact the consequences of your life were not made by you and even precede you. For example, you can't be said to have chosen to exist. Who knows, maybe the act by which you were conceived was not intended to be fruitful!? But here you are nonetheless! Some choices are made by your refusal to decide.

One example of the kind of limits imposed by "nature," so-called, has to do with sexuality. This forces me to once again bring up the sensitive subject of homosexuality. It has become very evident that the vast majority of people who are homosexual have no choice in the matter. For whatever reason(s), they just are predominantly or exclusively attracted to other people of their own sex- not all members of their sex, as homophobic people sometimes assert, no more than a heterosexual person is attracted to all members of the opposite sex.

While I am always loath to make this comparison because I don't like equating people with non-human species and I think there's been enough offensive trash written about homosexuals comparing their sexual desires and behaviors to other unrelated deviant sexual practices (i.e., incest, pedophilia, bestiality), this phenomenon is observable among most species of non-human mammals. This is to observe nothing more than homosexuality seems to be a naturally occurring phenomenon. This is why the Church no longer views being homosexual as sinful. In other words, it is okay to be gay.

Given the largely (perhaps not exclusively) non-voluntary nature of homosexuality, how can it be okay to be homosexual but not act like a homosexual? This gets back to the contradiction inherent in separating being from act with regard to homosexuals. Not only does it not make sense, it is rather cruel. Now, what the status of committed same-sex relationships vis-à-vis traditional marriage is remains an important question. I think Durham University theologian Robert Song has provided a great starting point for this discussion in his book A Covenant Calling: Towards a Theology of Same-Sex Relationships.

Making "big" choices always entails a risk. A lot of indecision results from understanding the risks of a particular choice and shrinking back from making the gamble because you fear you will lose. Lest I sound too fatalistic, I think for many of these "big" choices one can do "risk mitigation." By "risk mitigation," I mean understanding the risks and taking positive steps to reduce them even as you realize you don't control all the factors. Not controlling all the factors requires assessing these factors and knowing what they are to the extent you can. This is where prayer, faith, seeking the help and advice of others who have traveled a similar path come into play.

In this New Year, my morning spiritual reading, which I do immediately following Morning Prayer, is Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard. It is proving to be a fantastic compendium of Kirkegaard's works. This brilliant compendium was compiled and edited by Charles E. Moore.

The second piece found in Provocations, taken from Kierkegaard's work Either/Or, Moore chose a section in which Søren Kirkegaard discusses the primacy of making a choice. Kierkegaard begins this passage by extolling what a "glorious" thing it is to be able to make choices. He goes on to insist that making a choice "is the pearl of great price... not intended to be buried and hidden away" (, 9). Refusing to make choices, according to Kierkegaard is how you remain a slave, an unfree person. Of course, what the Dane is discussing in his intense manner is the ultimate choice: choosing God contra the world. It is of the essence of his Existentialism, the philosophy whose "father" Kierkegaard is often reckoned to be, that he emphasizes integrity and authenticity.

In any case, an issue so multi-faceted, complex, and deep as free will is not going to be dealt with in a blog post. Nonetheless, I felt like addressing this morning.

Neil Peart, one of the best, if not the very best, rock n' roll drummers ever, died last week at age 67 from brain cancer. For those who do not know, Peart was the drummer for the band RUSH. The first concert I ever attended was a RUSH concert while they were touring to support their album Signals. It is an experience very much lodged in my memory. Since I have long been a RUSH fan, it seems fitting that this week's traditio be a RUSH song. It just so happens "Free Will" is a song off their Permanent Waves album. Without a doubt, of the many great albums RUSH recorded, Permanent Waves is my favorite, not far and away my favorite (I cherish Moving Pictures and Signals very highly).