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

[slgazit]

No: HPFGUIDX 81255

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Catlady (Rita Prince 
Winston)" <catlady at w...> wrote:
> 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.

I can't answer the general question but wrt Harry Potter, the 
prophecy does not say that he will defeat Voldemort, only that he is 
the (only?) one with the power to do so. So Harry's and Dumbledore's 
struggle is to keep Harry alive long enough to acquire the skills 
needed for the eventual faceoff. There is nothing in there that 
contradicts the issue of choices. Also the prophecy never said that 
the person with the power to defeat Voldemort is evil or good. I 
think Dumbledore's other goal is to nurture Harry so that he stays 
the good person he is and does not turn to the dark side.

Salit