Free will is a commonly disputed topic throughout the religious world. Some say that we have complete free will while others believe in predetermination, or everything we do has been planned out already. Well, not so surprisingly, I heard the best explanation of free will from Noah Levine on one of his podcasts. Before I can explain it though, you will need to know what the Buddhist idea of impermanence is. This idea states that nothing can always be the same. If there is something that you really hate, it will go away. Same with pain, something you like, etc. Noah says that impermanence is a force of nature much like gravity that we can't do anything about. Free will comes in when we decide how to react to the impermanence. If something is happening that we do not like, we can either choose to just roll with it, or we can be miserable and try to stop it even though we can't. Same goes with things we like and things that cause pain. Free will is our opportunity to react to what life throws at us. How will you react?
I have been keeping very busy at the International Wolf Center. The crowds have started to pick up and so has our program load. This weekend is the 25th anniversary of the wolf center and there are many cool events planned. The best by far was tonight when David Mech, a renowned wolf biologist (who just happens to be a board member) talked about his studies on Ellesmere Island. Check out some of my pics of the wolves here.
