Power of Choice

Within the framework we have established there is a fundamental governing principle: causality. By controlling our actions we control the effects that will be brought about. The effects of some actions are individual happiness. The effects of other actions are individual misery. A basic tenet of eternalism is that of consequence. By our actions we fully merit and deserve the associated consequences. The eternalist believes in the freedom of and accountability for individual choice.

By saying that the doer of an action fully merits the consequences of that action we imply that the doer has full freedom to choose his action. This is true. The eternalist is a doer, an active participant and controller of the events around him. The eternalist is an optimizer, ever working to optimize his circumstances by his choices to adhere to the laws of well-being and provident living. All of these principles are completely contrary to victimhood. The eternalist is never a victim of any kind. Unfortunate or tragic things will befall him but he is not a victim because of how he chooses to respond to such opposition. The eternalist values his power of choice more than any other. Eternalists may even thrive best in states of constant opposition because such an environment is most conducive to the constant re-evaluation of beliefs and behaviors that the eternalist craves. The environment of opposition continually reinforces the truthfulness of the principles valued by the eternalist. He will always be right and happy because when he discovers himself to be wrong or unhappy he immediately busies himself with discovering the cause and needed change and expeditiously executes the required change of belief and behavior.

Choice is the source of all power for all rational beings. Because rational beings have the freedom to choose and moreover the freedom to learn and make continually better or more informed choices, the rational being naturally merits what he gets, happiness or misery. The justice of the optimizer living at peace with himself and the perpetual misery of the victim is a natural law of reality predicated on the power and accountability of choice of the individual. A rational being will increase in knowledge and power as he chooses to do so. The same rational being will forfeit power and freedom as he chooses to do that. The state of any rational being is a result of the use of that being's power of choice. Choice is the great governing power of intelligence. Intelligence is intelligence because it possesses the power of choice.