The sociology class homework assignment, now over-due, is to write an essay about the role of guns in deterministic behavior

Premise:
The act of choosing (or not) to have a gun (or more guns) may be considered a free-will action.

Discussion:
Does the possession of a gun limit free-will choice?
Is the quantity of guns possessed a positive sign or a sign of "possession?

They deny their God, those who reject the means made by men made in the image and likeness of their God.
They fail to see the healing grace of wisdom and knowledge in vaccines.

They claim the creation is a gift of the creator and yet reject the cures made available by the minds, hands and resources within that gift.

The same people who will donate their mortal remains to the benefit of others, reject the donations made available to them by the other.

Serious failures of fact, logic and morality lead to seeing and fearing the snake in the grass.
Rational embrace of fact, logic and morality reveals the mistake of projecting a snake upon the reality of the lanyard on the lawn.

Freedom is so misunderstood.
When one is bound by world-wide-webs of delusions and lies living on the internet, one is not free.
When one is constrained by fears that lahks* of millions, even bits of billions, are not enough, one is not free.

Humans from penthouses to no-houses are nearly universally bound by overwhelming desires, aversions or fears.
There is so much talk about freedom from external restraints and so much ignorance of internal shackles.
We shout for freedom from within self-built fortresses of fetters, fears, challenges and chains.

The freedom to open carry guns of wars seems not to free the one brandishing from their always full bandolier of fears.
The objective truth of excessive over-abundance is missed by the rich tycoon with an overdrawn 'never-enough' account.

*A "lahk" is the Vedic measure of 100,000

There is no end to the illogical loops of the gunners for whom there is no level of deplorable violence upon neighbor and nation that can dissuade them from their delusions and passions.

Want passive defense? Stop being aggressive.

In Christian history, he Gnostics were declared to be heretical by the orthodoxy.
Therefore the Christian religion is officially agnostic.

I personally believe the Gospel of Thomas is a more accurate record of Jesus' teachings than is the orthodox bible.
Thomas is said to have gone to India to teach; likely because that is where Jesus was taught during the missing years.

Why so many people are surprised by this is a conundrum.
I guess 'wants' trump 'wisdom'.

No one acts (karma=action) without expectation of result.
We act because we have desire and think the action will bring desired results.

The wise know that action also brings unforeseen results.
The fool suffers due to the ignorance of limited vision.

The inner-child cries, "I did not do that" once caught in web of karmic comeuppance.

Mental dis-ease is essentially universal. In more benign forms it has been called existential angst, samsara, the blues.
At the other end of the spectrum, mental dis-ease manifests behaviors that are beyond socially tolerable.

"Q-shaman" is an excellent demonstration of the dis-ease problem as explained in the Upanishads.
We almost all and always confuse our 'true-identity' (our constant-conscious-beingness) with all the wrappers of our desires and choices. Our chosen wardrobe (so to speak), is a cloak of many colors woven from our desires and experiences.

So wrapping the self, and identifying as alternative-nonfact identities results in crips and bloods, Democrats and Republicans, criminals and clergy.

What we think "I am" changes over time, youth, grown-up, mature, aged; What we think "marks me" changes, fashion, friends, opinions, desires. Changes can be slow as with aging or day-to-day fast typical of emotions (I'm so pissed off right now).

The human condition is to say, "I am...", my very existential identity is this label or that; male, female, fat, thin, pretty, homely, dull, smart, introvert, extrovert, right and you're not.

Curiously, no matter how crazy one may be, one never seems to identify as insentient.
I personally know my self as sentient and existent. All else is opinion.

I do have many labels that complete the sentence "I am...", and while the labels apply to me at moments in time, I try not to identify with the labels; they are not ME.
I was a child, I was a student, husband, father, son (both parents now dead), a bus driver, kitchen manger. I have had many roles (role-identity) but they come and go. I, the conscious center of my being, is constant and unchanging.

Dressing up is OK. It is encouraged. Variety is the spice of life and we are all other peoples entertainment.
Strutting around identifying our very existence with our ill-fitting costumes is mental illness.

The cure is knowing the "Self" that does not require any 'identities.'
That said, drugs may be needed sometimes.

"Me", "my" "mine" and "soon to be mine" manifest the desire system of selfish souls

Societal sickness exists. The USA is poisoned by the fantasies of extreme individualism and freedom that define the western-white-ways. Both the 'self' of individuals and actual freedom are poorly known so people feel oppressed and seek succor in countless ways and diversions (movies, games, rages and riots). The 'means' seem never to lead to the end of unhappiness.

A societal-selfishness exists wherein 'Me and mine' are valued, while 'we and us' are disparaged and denied.
When any "I" stands alone against the world, fear arises. We often read that the conservative mind is a fearful mind.

My small suggestion for mental well-being would be make Alan Watts book, "The Book," required reading in schools.
That and logic classes.

There is one way of understanding the many hard to answer questions about humans; one organizational model, the vedic-karmic model
Many ways exist to analyze and explain peoples' choices, nature-nurture, biology, neurology, psychology, affluenza, more. All reveal something of truth. The model of karma suggests desires bring actions, actions create habits, habits steer our trajectories.
Our desires and trajectories can be unwholesome. Confused 'self' is the source of self-injuring stupidity.

I suggest we, as though, see some people going up and some down the karmic ladder.
"Me" crowds out the 'we' in humanity.
Sadly downward bound souls demonstrate pashu-mentality, like dogs fighting over a dry bone.
Happily the upward bound trajectory manifests in truth and reality and morality and good-society.

Big egos make big mistakes.