Dumbledore's Philosophy (WAS: MAGIC DISHWASHER: Spying Game Philosophy

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 81223

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jen Reese" <stevejjen at e...> wrote:

Jen Reese wrote in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/81187  :

<< how to reconcile the Dumbledore who believes "our choices make us
who we are" with the Dumbledore in OOTP who appears to *orchestrate*
Harry's life from the moment the prophecy was made. That seemed
completely contradictory to me: How can Dumbledore buy into this
prophecy, a form of predestination, when he clearly states in GOF, 
"it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!" >>

The Dumbledore quote (from CoS) did not say that our choices *make* 
us who we are, it said that our choices *show* who we truly are. 
That statement, "show", can go along with either free will or
predestination. (There was a *gorgeous* post explaining that, which I
will quote below.) 

So Dumbledore can talk about choices and still believe in
predestination and prophecies, believe that Harry is predestined to
grow to be the hero who overthrows Voldemort, and do everything he 
can to help that destiny come about -- he can tell himself that his
actions may be part of the predestiny revealed by the prophecy. 

As an aside, I sometimes wonder why people who believe in some form 
of fate or predestination ever bother to struggle so hard: I like to
think that if I believed that the future was already plotted out, 
then I would just goof off and have fun, and whenever anyone got on 
my case about goofing off, I would just tell them that me goofing off 
was obviously destined or else I wouldn't be doing it.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/23598
From:  "Aberforth's Goat" <Aberforths_Goat at Y...> 
Date:  Sat Aug 4, 2001  12:47 pm
Subject:  Re: [HPforGrownups] Re: Calvinism

<< Not so fast! The CoS passage actually has some of the most
"Calvinistic" passages in the canon. In fact, it was that passage 
that got me thinking about this. Let's pull it out for exegesis:
 
*  "Exactly," said Dumbledore, beaming once more. "Which
*  makes you very different from Tom Riddle. It is our choices,
*  Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
*  Harry sat motionless in his chair, stunned. "If you want proof,
*  Harry, that you belong in Gryffindor, I suggest you look more
*  closely at this." [....]
*
*  "Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the hat,
*  Harry."
 
So: Harry's choices *reveal* something--they peel the layers off the
onion--they show us the person he actually is. His true identity, his
soul, his platonic essence. And that person is, fundamentally, a
Gryffindor. He may not even have known it, but there's a white hat in
his soul and when it comes to a crisis, he'll wear it. >>