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RE: The equation of understanding
I don't jump into the religious realm too much on here... but this incredibly well written and hit home for me. I have always had a knack of thinking the way you describe when it comes to kids. I expect them to make mistakes so it is incredibly easy to not hold anything against them. Sometimes, they just come out to "5"... but they are learning and maybe I can help them to figure out how to be a "7". For some reason, this magically stops for me when they reach their 20s. I have been looking at adults like they should "know better" and not make mistakes. Your post has caused me to think about that position a bit. A post that makes one think is probably the highest compliment I can pay. So thank you.
Thank you too.
Btw, the child analogy is always a very fitting one to demonstrate the same issue.
For the human condition, all our problems are a result of our immature state. Obviously, if you ask a 4yr old if they are immature, they don't know the answer. Neither do we (as humanity). We think we are ok. That's why when we fall it seems like a disaster. We believe that humanity is in an adult state and can't fall, yet it is in its childhood. It is only expected that one that doesn't know how to walk will fall a thousand times before they can build their balance. We've created huge expectations and obviously we can't meet them.
A "God" (real or imagined), in all his wisdom, would never have an attitude to humanity compared to a father and his child. If the parent can expect the child to fall a thousand times and see nothing punishable in this, then how can God see humanity as a race that needs punishment for its falls - while humanity, as a collective, is growing up and learning how to walk?
On a social level, about the 20 y.o. adults that you mention, yes, even our teens and young adults, are subject to the same determinism. A person at 20 yr old doesn't have the data (life wisdom) of a 50yr old. Their body might have grown but their equations lack data (personal experience counts towards that data) and methods to process their data. A 50yr old can sit and judge the 20yr old, but it is useless to do so.
The 50yr old can just make a thought experiment on himself on whether his own thinking has evolved compared to when he was 20 and how he would have made different choices based on the wisdom he accumulated in life. Once this is done for one's own self, one understands that it's counterproductive to judge others. The accumulation of knowledge, experience and wisdom cannot be cheated. One must go through life to earn these. And these, in turn, will change the output of one's equations.