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Raymond M. Smullyan. Is God a Taoist?

"Is God a Taoist?" from The Tao is silent by Raymond M. Smullyan.
1977 by Raymond M. Smullyan. Reprinted by permission of Harper Row
Publishers, Inc.

MORTAL: And therefore, O God, I pray thee, if thou hast one ounce of
mercy for this thy suffering creature, absolve me of having to have free
will!
GOD: You reject the greatest gift I have given thee?
MORTAL: How can you call that which was forced on me a gift? I have
free will, but not of my own choice. I have never freely chosen to have free
will. I have to have free will, whether I like it or not!
GOD: Why would you wish not to have free will?
MORTAL: Because free will means moral responsibility, and moral
responsibility is more than I can bear!
GOD: Why do you find moral responsibility so unbearable?
MORTAL: Why? I honestly can't analyze why; all I know is that I do.
GOD: All right, in that case suppose I absolve you from all moral
responsibility but leave you still with free will. Will this be
satisfactory?
MORTAL (after a pause): No, I am afraid not.
GOD: Ah, just as I thought! So moral responsibility is not the only
aspect of free will to which you object. What else about free will is
bothering you?
MORTAL: With free will I am capable of sinning, and I don't want to
sin!
GOD: If you don't want to sin, then why do you?
MORTAL: Good God! I don't know why I sin, I just do! Evil temptations
come along, and try as I can, I cannot resist them.
GOD: If it is really true that you cannot resist them, then you are not
sinning of your own free will and hence (at least according to me) not
sinning at all.
MORTAL: No, no! I keep feeling that if only I tried harder I could
avoid sinning. I understand that the will is infinite. If one wholeheartedly
wills not to sin, then one won't.
GOD: Well now, you should know. Do you try as hard as you can to avoid
sinning or don't you?
MORTAL: I honestly don't know! At the time, I feel I am trying as hard
as I can, but in retrospect, I am worried that maybe I didn't!
GOD: So in other words, you don't really know whether or not you have
been sinning. So the possibility is open that you haven't been sinning at
all!
MORTAL: Of course this possibility is open, but maybe I have been