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From: woods@hao.UUCP (Greg Woods)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: choosing/possibilities
Message-ID: <1682@hao.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 7-Aug-85 15:54:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: hao.1682
Posted: Wed Aug  7 15:54:54 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 10-Aug-85 22:28:00 EDT
References: <2582@ut-sally.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: High Altitude Obs./NCAR, Boulder CO
Lines: 43

> There seems to be some confusion in this group
> with respect to CHOICE and POSSIBILITIES.
> Choice means a conscious decision, which also
> implies being informed.

  Maybe whoever pointed out that this whole debate is about semantics is
right after all. This is not what *I* mean by choice. A choice, by my 
definition, does *NOT* have to be conscious. *DECISIONS* are conscious,
but choices may be either conscious or unconscious. 

> Yes, if someone turned me down for a date, it
> would be possible for me to feel several things:
> (1) rejection, (2) anger at being rejected,
> (3) despair that no one will ever like me,
> (4) relief, (5) joy that someone is that honest
> with me to say no.

  Then if you could choose (5), why would you ever want to choose (3)? That's
all I've been trying to say. There is nothing *wrong* with choosing (3) if you
want to believe in your own worthlessness (I'm not saying *you* do, Pooh, but
I know lots of people who *are* like that!), but my point has been merely
that you *could* choose (5).

> If someone steps on my foot it is also POSSIBLE
> for me to

  No one has ever claimed during this discussion that PHYSICAL reflexes or pain
can be controlled (although some yoga masters might have something to say about
that! 1/2 :-). Some of them are truly hard-wired, usually for protection.
If you have ever noticed, when you touch a hot pot, your hand jerks away 
before you ever feel any pain. I doubt that any increased level of awareness
would allow you to override this, since it is a reaction that happens before
the nerve impulse gets to the brain. This is emphatically NOT the case with
emotions, and even less so with our REACTIONS to emotions.

--Greg
-- 
{ucbvax!hplabs | allegra!nbires | decvax!noao | harpo!seismo | ihnp4!noao}
       		        !hao!woods

CSNET: woods@NCAR  ARPA: woods%ncar@CSNET-RELAY

"Comes a time, when a blind man takes your hand, says don't you see..."