ABSTRACT
In both cases autonomy, except perhaps, in the most formal sense, is impossible. The intention of the present argument is the assertion of the possibility of substantive rather than merely formal autonomy. Determinism has a long history, and is found in many different forms. The variety of forms depends primarily on the notion of causality employed. If there is a condition of internal freedom, an Epicurean swerve so to speak, it rests on that very peculiar capacity that occurs at rare moments when the self teeters between what appear as genuine internal and external alternatives. To be in accord with one another, with oneself, with one’s customs - this is the state of being a proper Huichol and is sacred. It is a dynamic condition of balance in which opposites exist without neutralising each other, a tension between components that does not blur their essential separateness.
