Thought for the Day: How Do I Choose to Behave? How Do I Use my Free Will?

I've been re-reading People of the Lie by Scott Peck. I don't agree with everything he writes, but as I neared the end of the book in the last chapter but one, I came across this absolutely true statement about free will:

Each of us is ultimately free to choose how we are going to behave. We are even free to reject what we have been taught and what is normal for our society.We may even reject the few instincts we have, as do those who rationally choose celibacy or submit themselves to death by martyrdom. Free will is the ultimate human reality. 

Whether free will is the "ultimate human reality" can be debated, but that it is a central human reality is undebatable among reasonable people. Of course, those who embrace the philosophy of determinism would disagree. Believing that everything can only happen in one pre-determined way, they essentially deny free will. Scott Peck obviously doesn't. He goes on to write:

Let us remember what so many theologians have said: Evil is the inevitable concomitant of free will, the price we pay for our unique human power of choice. Since ours is the power to choose, we are free to choose wisely or stupidly, to choose well or badly, to choose for evil or for good. Since we have this enormous -- almost incredible -- freedom, it is no wonder that we so often abuse it....

Evil is a choice. Those who call themselves pro-choice divorce the act of choosing from the choice. That is a human rationalization that lets them pretend evil is good. One can make choices that are morally neutral. What will I have for lunch? What brand of peanut butter will I buy? (Choosy moms and dads choose JIF.)

But to divorce the act of choosing from the outcome of the choice is just an excuse. It allows those who choose evil to: 

• kill babies in the womb in the name of reproductive freedom,
• abuse or kill vulnerable individuals calling it mercy,
• seduce or rape for sexual gratification, might makes right,
• invade churches in the name of freedom to protest,
• loot and burn and injure police officers in the name of "justice"
• etc. ad infinitum for anyone rationalizing their evil behavior.

Peck himself brings up the issues of abortion and capital punishment:

Does a woman have the right to bear to full viability an infant whom she neither wants nor has the capacity to care for? But does she have the right to kill that same potentially holy fetus? Is it not strange that many pacifists are advocates of abortion? And for that matter, what ethical sense does it make to kill a murderer as an example to convince other that killing is morally wrong?

I'll intervene here to say, as a pro-lifer who supports capital punishment in rare cases, it is not about "convincing others that killing is morally wrong." It's about protecting the common good. If someone is in prison with a life sentence for murder and kills a guard or other prisoners, what happens? Another life term? If a rapist murders his victim to prevent her identifying him, how do you protect other rape victims? Some crimes call for capital punishment to protect society. It's not about revenge, it's society's self protection, self-defense at the societal level. 

Wouldn't it be great if we didn't need capital punishment or legislation protecting the vulnerable because people always choose the good? They don't. Evil entered creation when Lucifer and his followers rebelled against God. Evil entered the world when Adam and Eve, with full knowledge and consent of the will, ate the apple. Evil is with us until Judgment Day. The question is, "How will I behave? What choices will I make?" 

One choice I've made, which is the title of my substack account is "I Choose Gratitude." Cicero called it the parent of all the other virtues. 

To be grateful to God for everything is a tall order. I ask my guardian angel for the grace to be grateful, not only for the happy times, but for all the suffering, especially that inflicted by those close to me. God is so big, He can turn evil into good, suffering into an opportunity to grow in holiness. May I always act in gratitude and never let sorrow engulf me in self-pity or despair. Today I'm grateful for Scott Peck  who didn't always practice what he preached, but helped many people. May God have mercy on Him and welcome Him to paradise.

Lord Jesus, have mercy on us.

Mother Mary, Queen of Angels and Saints, pray for us.

St. Joseph, Pillar of Families, pray for us.