In "Every Grain of Sand," Dylan concludes that he is hanging in the balance of the reality we all live in. His line is more poetic but the meaning is clear and the sentiment is apposite.

Apposite is a lovely word whose synonyms are "apt" and "fitting."

Any way you slice reality, it's up to us. Any theory we have of society, it is still the individual who holds the scales and determines how things will go.

Responsibility

Addiction and determinism play key roles, which is why we train professionals. But the capacities of we individuals to control and determine our own destiny are largely unexplored.

We are more comfortable believing we are not responsible. But we are. We decide what is the case. We live with our decisions. We can vape or smoke or toke. Or none of the above. The choice is ours.

We live in a world where the doing of Harm, which is Evil, is the province of corporations run by persons who smile and are largely respectable. Evil wears suits and high fashions.

But evil is actually causing someone to be injured and to die.

We can say that the lung-cancer victim is responsible, but the reality is that this is only partly true. We have a community of evil when an individual accedes to the temptations of the corporation.

Everyone who has a hand in things is involved.

Universal culpability

Eventually, it gets to us all. If we have even a few dollars in circulation we are supporting an economy that allows evil to be done. With Certain persons in the government regulations of harm decrease and more harm gets done. What I call Triadic Philosophy is a free, universal method for gaining a measure of control in an evil world.

It provides for a pattern of daily repentance and forgiveness which underlines our freedom. It enables a conversation internally which leads to a decision small or large. It is a daily regimen. It is DIY. In other words, it is universal and doable and needs only to be described to be of help. You can access more on this by searching my articles on Blasting News.

The debate

This page will alert you to the debate about smoking and vaping.

Most arguments are binary exercises where harm and ethics of good and evil are absent. Triadic thinking accepts the reality of a spectrum that is universal within us all -- from worst to best, from most to least selfish, and so forth. If you are willing to give some time to yourself you can, at any age, move into a sense of control. You can be the owner of who you are and what you will do.

Then, if you choose to smoke or vape, you can acknowledge that the main author of the harm you are doing is not anyone else but you.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED