This philosophical essay offers the possibility that our destinies are our own to shape. It is a paean to free will, free thought and personal responsibility. The author connects our destiny to our beliefs, positing that our beliefs about the world help to shape our choices and, therefore, our destiny.
Skeptical of established religions, Lloyd E. McIlveen holds open the possibility of a world untethered from superstition and false beliefs, where all spiritual and religious views may be evaluated freely. He favors the notion that one’s destiny is driven by the spirit within us rather than by a Supreme Being.
At least, these seem to be McIlveen’s themes. His views are difficult to summarize in light of the fact that his central conception – destiny – is ill-defined. His view has something to do with the future course both of individual human beings and of humanity as a whole, but his best attempt at a definition qualifies “destiny” as “where, when, how and why one will exist and remain or progress with and end up as.” From that and other statements about it, the reader is left confused about the subject of his argument and what the title phrase “paradoxes of destiny” might mean.
The author delivers a rambling monologue without presenting evidence sufficient to substantiate his claims. For example, he appears to hold that the leaders of “conventional religions” are often agents in enforcing social control. However, he presents little evidence to buttress this claim from such disciplines as history, sociology or psychology.
The numerous errors in spelling and punctuation, as well as his tendency to indicate emphasis by placing words in quotation marks, rather than in italics or bold text, do little to further the book’s clarity. McIlveen’s open-mindedness is laudable, but he hasn’t delved to the depth required to fully expand his theories into a cohesive narrative.
Also available as an ebook.
