Two Tables... I Mean, Responses
Stacy B.

To the Lady of the Golden Woods, I apologize if I misread you, I am not always up to date on who posts what and for what reasons. I too wish for some clarity on certain issues, and I hope that my contributions don't run afoul of that desire.

To Mark: I agree with you that heroism is a function of freely choosing the good, which I have tried to show previously, though apparently without much success. I am a bit curious about the multiple universes reading of free will, however. If there is free will, then logically it operates in one universe as well as in many, and the idea that all possible states are actualized through the multiple universe scenario merely serves to multiply the problem of destiny: for although in universe "A" one might "freely" choose, say, to remain a Ranger wandering the fair vale of Rivendell, multiple uiverses insures that, one way or another, someone else will *necessarily* take up the burden of reclaiming the kingdoms of Numenor in Middle Earth. Once again, one faces the question of fate head on, only we have multiple Gandalfs, Frodos, and Gollums to deal with instead of just one of each.

Maybe it's a function of diminishing return, but viewed from that kind of God's eye view, the choices of (using Aragorn again) Aragorn prime radically determine the choices of Aragorn double prime, and so on, and so forth. Freedom seems then to be little more than the vehicle of natural law in this scenario, rather than the supernatural force you espoused in the rest of your essay.

Merely curious. Thanks for taking the time to respond to my ramblings.