Off the Beaten Path

            The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, a novel by Stephen King can be seen as words put together to create a well-told story or can be seen as a collection of chapters that challenge us as readers to analyze decisions we make in life and our motivation behind these choices. In the very beginning of this novel, Trisha McFarland makes the decision to walk off the main path to separate herself from her broken family in hopes that this would prove something to her mom and brother or make her feel a sense of fulfillment. She truly believed that the act of walking away from the challenge and hardship in her life would make things better, but as we see throughout the rest of King’s novel, this is not the case. Trisha exemplifies a normal human reaction to hardship and the results that come from determining what our future should look like and how we can shape that as individuals.

            From the very beginning of Trisha’s story, King whether intended or not, paints a picture of determinism and free will and how these two concepts play a role in Trisha’s life in the woods. Trisha uses her free will to choose and walk off the beaten path in hopes to be noticed by her family. Free will in this situation does not end in a positive light for Trisha and pushes her to trust in what she believes and who she is. When the McFarland family makes the decision to hike this path, it is stated that the path is a “moderate-to-difficult” 6-mile hike. When Trisha takes the matters into her own hands, this path goes from moderate-to-difficult to difficult-to-extreme in a matter of hours. This small detail in the novel however, can be seen as God’s plan for us in life. He never stated that His plan was going to be easy or always full of fun roller coaster rides, but once you have reached the end of the path, there is nothing but joy to feel. However, when we make decisions for our own benefit and turn away from God’s determined path for our lives, the path goes from moderate to extreme very quickly. We loose sight of the end to our path and turn away from difficulties that God has placed in our lives to change us. Trisha’s decision to step off the beaten path can be viewed as her decision to take her life into her own hands and begin to write her own script.

            King challenges us as readers to realize that we cannot face hardship alone and while we may like to utilize our free will in tough decisions, it brings us comfort and peace to look to someone such as God or Tom Gordon in Trisha’s case to get us back to the path and face our challenges and life decisions. Free will brought Trisha off the path, but determinism for her life and the growth of her family brought her back to it with peace and joy and motivation to get her family back in line.

A Different Take On Stephen King

As nine-year-old Trisha McFarland stumbled away from the hiking trail, simply to escape the bickering between her mom and brother and also to relieve herself, she had no clue what the consequences of her one small, innocent decision would be. Turns out, it would be a decision that would risk her life and yet once you have made the decision, there is no going back. In Stephen King’s novel, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, King invites us to walk alongside Trisha as she learns the harsh reality of what it is like to be lost in the woods. While offering its readers gripping entertainment, this book also provides an interesting take on the issue of free will and determinism, which we have been exploring over the past few weeks. It is interesting for me to note that while I could take many different interpretations of this novel regarding the free will/determinism debate, it is, again, compatibilism that seems to sum it up best for me.

Now I know many would argue that this story is ripe with determinism as a reoccurring motif—which I most definitely can see—but we would be doing ourselves a disservice if we said that compatibilism is not just as strongly represented throughout this story. From the moment Trisha steps off the path, she makes a deliberate choice and it is the first of many that determines the progression of this story. These choices build upon each other in the same way that chemical reactions do, and like all experiments, when you add in a new variable, things are likely to change.

Throughout this story, nature can be seen as the independent variable. In other words, its variation does not depend on any other factor, such as Trisha’s safety. That being true, we can view Trisha’s decision making—her free will—as the dependent variable. Its value inevitably depends on her surroundings, thus prompting her to keep going through a nasty marsh or to stop at a clearing where there is an old truck that she can sleep in to shield herself from the rain. Furthermore, I am not saying that something like cosmological determinism is not at work in this story, but I am asking you to reconsider how you label it when you take into account Trisha’s actions throughout this story. While Trisha could not determine when and where she would run into food/water sources, she did determine the direction that had brought her there. Not to mention, it was upon her free will that she chose to drink the stream water and ration her food the way she did.

Another great example of compatibilism, and probably the most notable in the story, is near the end when Trisha chooses to face her enemy, the God of the Lost. All this time, she has been traveling through the woods with a sense that something has been watching her and now she stands face to face with the beast. Clutching her Sony Walkman as if she were Tom Gordon about to throw the closing pitch for the Red Sox, Trisha makes the bold decision to be still before chucking the device at what readers can presume was a bear. This truly was the closing decision of her acting on what little free will she had left, but I would not say it was the only attempt at free will we saw throughout this story. That being said, it seems to me that compatibilism is the most appropriate stance to take in this story. As human beings, we cannot control the forces in our path, but we can control how we react to them.

Coffee and Discussion

Sarah and I chatting about this week's read, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Missing our dear third member, Erin, but eager to see what everyone has to say this week. The conversation on free will and determinism continues!

What Jonah Has to Say About Compatibilism

           This week marks our third week delving into the question, “Who is writing the script of my life?” As we continue to seek the answer to this question, I feel inclined to remind you that what we are doing is brave. Our willingness to dig deeper into the unknown and, thus, uncomfortable areas of our lives is something many people never even dare to attempt. So while we may not agree on everything, let us agree on this: the actions we are taking to better understand ourselves are worthy of recognition.

Furthermore, while last week’s assignment was tailored to exploring the issue of free will and determinism in a modernized way, this week we take a look into certain Biblical texts to see what scholars have to say about the issue. Out of the four passages we reviewed, I found myself familiar with all of them, although the arguments presented were very new to me. In fact, I find it intriguing and, in some ways, surprising what scholars have to say about these verses in light of free will and determinism.

That being said, if you have been following along with my posts, you are familiar with the classic category I identify most to and that is compatibilism. Compatibilist consume the space between free will and determinism, believing that neither can exist without the other. In other words, you could say compatibilists are the hippies of this argument as they seek to find a balance between the two. With that said, for the sake of this post, I will be taking a close look at Jonah 1:1-2:10 to help you and I better understand why this is a text favored by those who advocate compatibilism.   

Whether you have heard the tale of Jonah and the whale a million times or not, this is an interesting passage worth directing your attention to. Growing up in Vacation Bible School, I encountered this story many times, but unsurprisingly always got stuck on the part where God sends the big fish to swallow Jonah. Now that I am older and wiser—so I’d like to think—I see that this story has a lot more to offer.

If we take a few steps back, we see that God’s initial calling to Jonah was for him to go to Nineveh, located east of Israel. And yet, what did Jonah do? He did exactly what many of us would do; he ignored God’s command and fled the opposite direction. It did not take long for this act of free will to meet face to face with its deterministic repercussions. While on a ship headed to Tarshish, a city located west of Israel, Jonah and his fellow sea mates encountered a storm. Within biblical context, this storm is attributed to God’s wrath for Jonah for not following His initial command. Clearly, Jonah was given the freedom to decide whether he would go to Nineveh or not and upon choosing otherwise, God stepped in. I think this story paints a perfect picture of what compatibilism looks like and if you consider your own life in retrospect to Jonah’s, maybe you will find that we all share a bit of that same nature. Furthermore, as someone who resonates most with compatibilists, this was an eye-opening text that I can now use in support of my perspective.

Determinism and Free Will in The Bible

Throughout the Old and the New Testaments, there are signs of free will and determinism that play into decisions made throughout the stories in The Bible. Specifically in the book of Psalms, Mark, Jonah, and Ecclesiastes, each of the three perspectives on the seemingly simple question, “Who is writing the script of my life,” are brought to life and begin to prove why there are so many people who strongly believe in determinism and strongly believe in free will. There will never be a definite solution to this question and that is proven through the lenses that each of these books can be viewed through.

As I begin to think deeper and deeper about this question and am provided with more and more resources that allow me to think about why I believe what I do, it becomes harder and harder to stay grounded in my original thoughts. In Psalms we are provided with an overwhelming amount of words that make me believe that God has determined our lives for us. In Jonah, we see the compatibilists viewpoint and the double angle that while God has determined our lives there is a time where we have to choose what is best, using our free will. Finally, in Mark, it backs the idea that we have to make a decision in all we do and the choices we make are not predetermined, but are given to us to make our own judgment.

Of these three verses, I am going to focus specifically on Psalm and Mark because they are such strong examples of our lives being predetermined and of having the will to make decisions for ourselves. While these two can be looked at so strongly on either end I am also going to point out how the other opinion can be viewed in each example.

In Psalm we see strong wording such as, “before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.” These words in their literal sense are evidently pointing out that it was believed by some that God has chosen the words we speak, the actions we take, and ultimately the lives we live. This is a strong statement in my eyes, and while this does strongly allude to the determinism viewpoint, it can be looked at through the lens of someone who believes in free will and say that while the words we say are chosen by us, God understands the reason we choose the words we do because He is our creator and knows us completely.

In Mark, at a literal sense, this verse completely displays a situation where Mark is able to use his free will to decide what he is going to do with the wealth that he has. This is a powerful verse because Jesus is offering up eternal life to Mark and he has the choice to accept that by giving up his materialist things or to deny and live a life of satisfaction from the things he owns and the wealth he has accumulated. Determinists would believe that God had this planned out up until the very moment where Jesus challenges Mark. God would have already planned out the choice Mark makes.

Through these few examples it can be seen that the Bible can and should be viewed in different lenses and from different perspectives. This allows us to understand all that God has written for us and be able to use that to affect our decisions and the way we live.

The Adjustment Bureau: A Comment On Modern Religion?

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of sitting down and watching a movie with just me, myself, and I; a luxury I am often denied simply due to lack of time. However, this particular film made its way into my schedule as a pleasantly entertaining class assignment. The Adjustment Bureau is an action and adventure packed film with a philosophical twist. Its storyline dares to ask one of today’s most debated questions: “Who is writing the script of your life?” In a society full of people climbing the ladder with a do-it-yourself mentality, this film lays out in modern terms what the debate between free will and determinism looks like. It is an issue that has been dividing people for centuries and one that we have not yet concretely agreed on. But no matter how long it takes to reach an answer, whether our actions are freely chosen or otherwise determined is conversation worth having. In response to this film, I will be analyzing how The Adjustment Bureau is, in some ways, like the modern church, and how David Norris and his strong-will to follow the desires of his heart represents every single one of us.

As mentioned before, the issue of free will versus determinism has been on the debate floor for years and yet we still struggle defining what is right versus what is wrong. For David, that’s where The Adjustment Bureau comes in. The Adjustment Bureau is group of men working for a mysterious man referred to as the Chairman. Throughout the film, we see the Bureau tracking David’s every move and when it appears he is about to go off his determined path, they “nudge” him back on. As you can see, The Adjustment Bureau represents one side of the issue called determinism. These are those people who believe that, to some degree, all of their choices are predetermined.

It is interesting to note that while The Adjustment Bureau’s job is to keep people on their determined paths, they, themselves, do not know what the ultimate “plan” is; only the Chairman does. In a way, this picture mimics the relationship between God, you and me, and the church. Just as the church has the Bible to use as a guideline to help “nudge” God’s people onto a better path, The Adjustment Bureau has maps to help them overlook where David is going so they can help determine for him what is the better choice. I assure you this is an earnest comparison not meant to offend, but it does spark a wonder of what the director, himself, was trying to say.  

On the other hand, there are people like David, whom we can relate to, who long for free will. His character personifies the other side of the debate and that is the belief that humans possess the power to make their own choices, in spite of outside factors. Truly, I think all humans have a natural longing to take certain actions into their own hands, but it is what they do with that desire that puts them on either the free will or determinist end of the spectrum. Or, if you’re like Harry and I—Harry is one of the members of the Bureau who specifically looks over David’s life—you try to find a middle ground. These people are technically referred to as compatibilists. Throughout the film, David exhausts his efforts at asserting his free will, but I would argue that maybe he, too, is somewhere in the middle. In a way, aren’t we all? There are questions we can spend our lives searching to find the answers to, but at the end of the day, what is unknown remains unknown and that is something we all have in common.