This article is based on this Dutch article of Martijn Benders
Yesterday I had a reading at Salon de Hodbomont in the northern Ardennes, at a gathering of Libertarians, a society to which I myself belong. I read a few poems that held symbolic value for me concerning “The Free Will,” the theme of the event that day. My contribution was mainly about the superlative degree of Free Will and the difference between it and Intent, another operative word in our language that often gets a bit overlooked.
It was a magnificent day from which I learned a lot. The lightning-fast poetry analysis by Paul Frijters—intelligence you rarely encounter as a poet. A salon with intelligentsia, as it should be. And versatile, not just people with the same story, which we see so often in the media. Many people think Libertarians are by definition “right-wing,” but it’s not that simple. There is also a left-libertarian branch to which I belong. Of course, that whole scale is no longer useful to describe reality—basically, everyone at such a gathering agrees on the fundamental facts: we are being greatly deceived by the establishment.
A book Paul Freijters gifted me now sits on my reading pile
I enjoyed talking to Kees van der Pijl, a political scientist and historian with a long track record who shared interesting insights about the lead-up to the First World War. Someone complained that it didn’t have much to do with free will, but you always define free will by primarily looking at what it isn’t, and how human free will manifests in the world. So, I found the story indeed relevant. Van der Pijl is a fascinating man who often stood firm where others bent too quickly. Like me, he wrote a book about Corona that I will read soon:
The other lecture that impressed me was by Pierre Capel, the author of this book:
