#predeterminism

[depraveddame]

AND ANOTHER THING.

“Destined to find each other in every universe no matter what” is literally the definition of predeterminism— it’s the soulmate trope.

Is the free will in the room with us?

[markermage]

Chrono Trigger Headcanon: 3 Days Pass Between the Trial and the Ocean Palace

It has been too long since I last played through the game, but I had this idea enter my head, and I felt the need to post about it before doing a playthrough to double check.

By my count, between the trial and the Ocean Palace, there is...

The night of the party in Ioka Village.

The night with Frog as he makes his decision to fight Magus with you.

Crono waking up from the dream sequence after his fight with Magus.

I'm excluding Lucca's repair of Robo, because we don't see her having to sleep during this time or immediately after.

If I am correct, then Crono escapes prison and an execution that was scheduled for 3 days, only to die a prophesized death 3 days later to Lavos. Even if I'm wrong, this is a detail that would make for a rather poetic inclusion in a retelling as the escape from a fated death just leads to a different fated death on the same day.

[kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate]

I think to a not-insignificant degree, I believe in determinism but I still hold onto the belief in personal/moral responsibility and the agency to change and I have no idea how to reconcile those

maybe our choices are more predetermined in some moments than others

[healingwgabs]

Predeterminism and religion go hand in hand for most religions, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism included (the idea of God having a "plan" for you and that "everything happens for a reason") and this is especially harmful to trauma survivors, esp when that "plan" involved experiencing torment, in many cases, unfathomable. Love isn't abuse and that includes God. I'm not sure how this differs from someone abusing you and then calling it love, a lesson, or an opportunity for growth..

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then.

from Walden by Henry David Thoreau 

[theromanticrationalist]

Thought I would share some of my thoughts on the final Loki episode, For All Time. Always. I ended up rewatching it again (still just as heartbreaking the second time around!!), and I think that many people kind of misunderstood He Who Remains purpose within the story. Yes, Kang has entered the MCU and we have all the doomsday ramifications of that. However, his role in that episode was mainly allegorical. He is there as a reflection of what Loki would have become if he had continued on his path of narcissism and self-loathing. Loki and Sylvie confronting He Who Remains at the end represents the final test, the last trial on their quest, and what that means for both their characters' journeys.

But He Who Remains isn't a god. The free will that everyone keeps talking about in this episode isn't the kind of free will when we are talking about predeterminism. He Who Remains didn't create the Multiverse and everyone in it, he was just a human man from 31st Century earth, a scientist. What He Who Remains actually did was found the TVA in order to maintain the Sacred Timeline, which he determined was best for everyone involved. So, everyone - of their own free will - already made their choices. The way the timeline wasn't free, however, was that they couldn't make choices outside certain perimeters. So, someone like Classic Loki could escape from Thanos unharmed and live a whole entire life, but what he couldn't do was reach out to his brother again. There were a certain set of choices that were taboo, according to He Who Remains. So knowing what someone is going to choose isn't the same thing as making that choice for them. He Who Remains knows how things are going to go, but he isn't controlling everyone. He isn't infinitely omniscient or omnipotent, even if he did know and formulate a great deal. He orchestrated certain things to happen a certain way, but he didn't ordain everything to be. This is an important distinction because I have seen people act as if Loki and Sylvie were the first ones to make choices that were truly free, i.e. they are the first MCU couple to freely fall in love with one another, etc. This is just not true. If we look at Peter Quill and Gamora, for example, they freely fell in love with one another. He Who Remains didn't create Peter Quill or Gamora, and he didn't make them fall in love with one another. He has no clue what is in their heart or mind, but what he could do, however, is observe how their story plays out and determine, "Okay, so Peter and Gamora must always be the ones in love with one another, and no one else, so that other pesky realities don't pop up and mess up the timeline." Imagine the Multiverse like an infinitely branching tree. It existed before He Who Remains was alive, he lived in it like a normal human once. What he ended up achieving was the ability to prune the tree, to keep it from branching off of its own accord, which is what it naturally wants to do. He Who Remains is a glorified, self-proclaimed Multiverse gardener. Nothing more. So, no, He Who Remains isn't "God" and Loki and Sylvie are not "Adam and Eve," or other such nonsense. He Who Remains has his limits, just like any other finite being. What he represents is a man that was so consumed by his own self that he was driven to utter madness by grotesque self-preoccupation. He is narcissism incarnate. That is what he represented for the story.

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

All beings begin their lives with hopes and aspirations. Among these aspirations is the desire that there will be a straight path to those goals. It is seldom so. Perhaps never. Sometimes the turns are of one's own volition, as one's thoughts and goals change over time. But more often the turns are mandated by outside forces.

from Star Wars: Thrawn (2017) & Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil (2021) by Timothy Zahn

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

You do not take from this universe... It grants what it will.

from Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert