All right, if you will not sit in front of the mirror and draw me a picture with your pencil, please sit in front of the mirror and draw me a picture with your words. Look in the mirror, right now, and tell me what it is that you see. I will put together my own picture. Every individual always chooses what seems best to them, that no one can set as the object of one’s choice something that seems evil or bad to the individual. Determinism accounts of our human choices and actions that make them into effect of causal sequences—sequences of such kind as to raise a question about the freedom of choices and actions. Many determinists suppose or say we are perfectly free. No one knows what is good can possibly choose anything else. The obvious corollary of wrongdoing or the pursuit of evil must always be either involuntary or the result of ignorance. No, no previous abuses of livestock, at least not any that landed me in the hospital. That earlier hospital visit was due to trying to scale the walls of the Women’s Building and sneak into Alice McGinty’s room. I shinnied up the drainpipe and had almost made it to the top when my hands slipped. My leg was broken and so was my heart, as Alice did not even appreciate my effort. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 7

A thirsty man might choose to drink from a certain cup in ignorance of the fact that it contains poison, or knowing its contents, he might be forced to drink from it. However, he could not, knowing that it contained poison and that this would bring upon him a great evil, voluntarily drink for it.  I can understand her displeasure, as she was nearly kicked out of the dormitory over the incident. And do you know the most frustrating part of it all? I had climbed that very same drainpipe on more than one occasion, often with a jar of grasshoppers tied in my jacket or, on one memorable evening, a sack of squirrels. And our tree (we christened him “Paulie”) is still inching up. We may win this war yet! I was quite shocked when you said you had never read Mark Twain. What sort of education do you get in Scotland? This is a deficiency I shall have to rectify. Please accept this copy of Huck Finn—as a belated Birthday Gift, if you like—excusing its battered appearance. I found it in a bookshop of gently recycled books and it appears quite well loved, if recently kicked to the curb. I could not give it a good house, already having a copy above my desk, but knew I could entrust you with its well-being. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 7

Hence, virtue is knowledge and vice ignorance. If one knows the good, one automatically seeks it; if one seeks something else, it can only be because one is pursuing an apparent, but specious, good—in other words, because he is ignorant of what is in fact good. The best local media (news stations) would never be governed by philosophers—that is, by people who know the good and can intellectually distinguish it from its counterfeits. Oh, I am so horrid at guessing ages. I think with those round cheeks (so perfect for pinching, boy!) and that lock of hair falling into your face, you look about eighteen or so. Men’s voluntary actions are invariably determined by an apparent good; hence, all their actions are determined by this, if nothing else. Freedom, is precisely the determination of the will by what is good. To have one’s will or choice determined by what is bad is to be enslaved; to have it determined by something less than the highest good is, to that extent, to be less than perfectly free. Thus, the wicked tyrant, who pursues what is evil because he or she is ignorant of the true good, as enslaved and an object of pity. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 7

Karma? What a crock of boo boo. When my sister-in-law Alma and her husband Joe needed a co-signer so they could buy a house in Las Vegas, Nevada USA, I had been there for them. I even ponied up $5000.00 I could not really afford to help them with the down payment. And when Rick’s pothead son Kevin was arrested for attempted arson in Sacrament, California USA, I had cabled the boy money for bail and paid for Rick’s plane ticket to Sacramento, as well as a significant percentage of the lawyer’s fees. Not to mention the loan I had given to my Aunt Melissa when her husband ran off with his press secretary, or the “presents” I had given to far-flung relatives who had fallen on hard times, or than many instances when I had picked up barely known offshoots of my family tree at the airport and given them a place to stay. So when I lost my job at the Research and Development firm, I naturally thought that everyone would be there for me. However, when a year passed and I still could not find another job, when I began gently hinting that I could use a little help to tide me over, my brother and sister suddenly started making themselves scarce. And all of those other relatives? Conspicuously absent. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 7

So much for the idea that sending out good stuff brought back good stuff in return. It seems clear to me that sometimes a man’s desires or appetites are in conflict with his reason, precisely in the sense that he desires something bad even while knowing that it is bad, which is the very essence of incontinence. A drunkard well knows that his use of spirits is bad for him, but the mere knowledge of this cannot be depended upon to extinguish his desire for them. It is the very nature of things bad to be shunned, and that is precisely why they are called bad. Perhaps the real issue here is the more general opposition between rationalism and voluntarism. Some people think their appetite or the object of their will is always good. Statements about the future need not be either true or false and hence cannot be know in advance by even gods. I was so surprised when, one early October morning, out of the blue, Paris called to check up on me. She had heard from her mom, who had heard from Rick’s mom, that I had lost my job and been out of work for the past year, and unlike other selfish, self-involved narcissists who called themselves my family, she actually seemed concerned. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 7

I did not want to burden her with the full extent of my financial problems—my savings were practically gone, pension checks were scheduled to stop soon, and I was going to have to sell my condominium (if I could in this market) and move to a smaller apartment in a cheaper area of the Valley because I could not keep up on the payments—but under her determined questioning, I buckled, confessing all. There was a teasing quality to her voice that I remembered from childhood and that made me feel as though no time had passed and we were both ten years old. Paris’s intent was to give me some financial breathing room. She suggested that I rent out my condominium in order to earn some extra money to help keep up the payments. That way, I would still have the place when I did find a job. In the meantime, I could spend a few months in Manhattan with her and her husband. They had over an acre, and there was a shotgun house on the property where they would live while they were building their mansion. I was more than welcome to use it. I thanked her, and told her it was very generous, but I could not. I still needed to look for work and did not think I would find too many engineering position. And I had to show up in person every month, sometimes twice a month to get my pension. #RyanPhillippe 6 of 7

Paris said when my pension was up, I could come and take a break from the rat race because they have plenty of space and would love to have me. And to seriously consider renting out my condo instead of selling it because it was just a temporary setback. Paris did not want me to lose everything that I worked for just because of a little bad luck. I was touched. As much by the reconnection as by her genuine kindness and generosity, especially in comparison with the rest of my family and friends. However, before she got off the phone, Paris invited me over to New York. She thought it was be a good idea to get to know her husband, whom I had only met once. And maybe I would take a sabbatical from real life, drop out of society and live off the grid for a couple of weeks. It would give me a chance to think about my future, to make plans without a gun to my head. I found myself smiling into the phone. There is a little God called Love. Love is a very subtle thing, and, like water, will work its way into the banks that are set up to confine it, if it be not watched, and dammed out in time. Love will subsist on wonderfully little hope and change, but not altogether without it. #RyanPhillippe 7 of 7