YOU NAME IT

"THE GRAND ILLUSION"

I remember I had this R.E class back when I was still a kid, every week boring sessions early in the morning, the teacher trying to answer challenging questions without ever doubting or revaluating his beliefs. It was one of the most comfortable places for me to sleep in, but one day he was talking about the essence of humans and I somehow managed to keep my eyes open, curious how that goes. He was saying how we all have 2 essential elements in ourselves that differ us from all the other beings on the planet. To further explain this he went on to draw a bar on the board, (Ahh god the smell of chalk) and explained to us what we are made of, (If I was a teacher back then I would've filled that bar way better) and it was something like this.

"We are now 40% complete, 10% of which is the ability to think and 30% is the ability to choose.

Our prophet, (Guess which one he was talking about.) was a complete person meaning he achieved his full potential aka his 100%. But we can't do so until we free ourselves from..."

And then I drifted off to sleep. He was probably gonna talk about porn or something.

A few weeks later, I was waiting for my dad to finish watching his boring news so that I could start playing with the T.V, when all of a sudden this came up:

"The sudden and uncontrollable pedophilia exhibited by a 40-year-old man was caused by an egg-sized brain tumor, his doctors have told a scientific conference. And once the tumor had been removed, his sex-obsession disappeared.

The cancer was located in the right lobe of the orbitofrontal cortex, which is known to be tied to judgment, impulse control, and social behavior. But neurologists Russell Swerdlow and Jeffrey Burns, of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, believe it is the first reported case linking damage to the region with pedophilia".

So long story short, this guy gets a brain tumor, turns into a monster, molesting his daughter. They remove the tumor, he becomes a sweet neighbor again. He was completely another person while he had the tumor.

Then this question sparked in my mind; didn't we all have free will? Didn't we have the ability to think? If he knew what he was doing at the moment was wrong, why didn't he stop it then? (I mean I know leaving the toilet seat up is an immoral deed and I don't do that.) Can we put the blame on him, or was it completely the tumor? And if it was the tumor, what role did the tumor exactly play in those actions? Did he have any agency?

And if the tumor was the determining factor leading him to become a rapist, then what drives other rapists to be sex driven animals? Is it a matter of bad soul or just unfortunate factors?

To answer that question easier take a look at the name of the chapter.

"THE GRAND ILLUSION"

Why did I choose this title? Could I have chosen any other name for it? Well, it sounds like I had an awful lot of liberty choosing it, could've chosen why zebras are cute or why morning woods happen, but let's run down the factors of why I went with this title.

1. It's about philosophy so I can't write "Harry orders Zayn to get naked".

2. I saw the word "Illusion" in a book earlier.

3. I was teaching the word "grand" yesterday. (Philosopher/Teacher? Why isn't someone coming to marry me!?!?)

4. I believed that this combination creates an aura of sophistication.

And on and on and on ... I could give you 10 more reasons, but you get the idea. Basically, my beliefs and past occurrences and my desire to talk about philosophy teamed up and left me with this title.

By each factor, my options of choosing another title got narrower and narrower until I was left with just one choice.

"THE GRAND ILLUSION"

I remember back in physics class, (Drastically better than R.E) when our teacher was teaching the 3 laws of Newton's and said: "Every action is dependent on an agent to occur, or simply put, no action happens by itself." But he was probably talking about the physical aspect of the world, like a bird falling down cause you shot it. (Why?!) Or almost every other thing that you see around yourself, caused by something that came before it.

The question is that, are human actions actually free or they happen because something else causes them? Can a guy choose not to eat pizza for dinner and go and eat veggies? Can a teenager stop himself from masturbating 3 times a day, each time more exhausted than the last? Can a rapist choose to stop raping people and be a good person? Or the thoughts that spawn actions have been determined by what has come before? If I was in Hitler's shoes (His exact shoes) could I have become less of an asshole?

But then again if the universe around us is bound by the laws of physics and for example an apple cannot ascend to the sky after getting ripe as hell and it always falls down, how can some 7 billion beings in the universe be any different? How can they be able to be free? Where did this free mind or "free will" come from? (If your answer is God, your house loses 5 points.) Isn't our mind itself part of the physical world?

Or what even are humans? The line between them and other species fades more and more with every sparking thought. (Quote this sentence maybe...?!)

Maybe that's the reason you can't help but to visit the bar again, even though you made a pact with the arbitrary proud side of you that you will never step inside this place again.

Unfortunately, there's not a single thing you can do to stop yourself from ordering all the liquor required to make you blackout drunk, I mean it was meant to happen exactly that day and that moment, ever since the big bang happened. Maybe realizing that we are not free beings but more like encaged souls, life becomes easier without any moral responsibilities.

Oh and by the way, you just had to keep reading my book and you couldn't stop it, just like how you can't help but to order 10 more copies. (Distant evil laughter. HAHAHAHA)

(NOT TO BE CONTINUED)

You might feel like there are some pages left but that's just the credits.

Trust me it is not to be continued my children.