The Sum

[Argus]

Another night lost my sleep.

Freewill and destiny seem to oppose each other, valiantly fighting the most profound of wars. Yet in order for them to oppose each other, each must exist. Again we're faced with another paradox in this great journey of life.

Purpose. Noun - 1: the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used. 2: an intended or desired result; end; aim; goal. 3: determination; resoluteness. 4: the subject in hand; the point at issue. 5: practical result, effect, or advantage: to act to good purpose.

The notion that you create yourself is foolish - indeed, we are the sum total of our experiences, and indeed we have choices.

You don't have to look at too many babies to realize inborn dispositions are there right from the start. We are born with a certain personality, sort of proto-character, and consequently there's not a whole lot we can do in terms our changing ourselves. So the question must be asked, how much control do we have over our lives? How much are we victims of fate and the contingencies of our birth? To what extent are we molded, shaped, determined by the larger forces of society and history?
What ever the world does with me, however the world shapes me - what I do with that is in some sense up to me.

On the one hand we are all born with certain inborn talents, abilities, capacities, dispositions, personalities - but at the same time the idea is to not just except what we are, but to make something of ourselves. But of course what we are able to make of ourselves is in large part determined my our times and up bringing and so on.

"Become who you are." It's an interesting phrase. Very often parents tell there children, supposedly to help them, "just be yourself dear" and I think the proper response is "What's that supposed to mean? How is that supposed to help? Who else could I be?"
But after thinking about it I realize I could be a lot of different "selves". In fact just within me and my inborn talents and abilities I could push myself in a number of different directions.

The kind of choices I make do indeed determin what and who I am and is not simply a tautology that I simply "be myself" but that I have to choose, in a way, what I will become.

But of course this idea of free choice has been stretched beyond the bounds of plausibility in philosophy. For a long time philosophers talked about "the Will". The essence of the Will is that kind of push that we give to ourselves when we decide to do or not do something. It's Will power not to eat the piece of chocolate cake, or sleep with that person, or take a life. If you have enough Will power you have the ability to, in those cases, refuse.

That notion of the inner push raises a bunch of interesting philosophical questions, but first I must ask if it even make sense to talk about such a thing?

Looking back to Heraclitus, fate is character. So fate isn't something mysterious and outside of us, some hand determining the outcome. But rather just the person we have become and the person we were born to be. Fate is acceptance of our limitations and it's rather trying to make something of ourselves in accordance with who we already could be.

What is important is to be passionately aware of yourself and your choices and to determine who you're going to be.



Practical questions for myself:
1. What do I want?
2. Why do I want it?
3. What am I willing to sacrifice?

 

[Absent-Minded Alecto]

Question three. "What am I willing to sacrifice?"

I think that is easily the most important and overlooked question there is.

Most folks I know can readily identify what they want, and with a bit of thought why they want it. However, when pressed into a situation where they would have to take a risk or lose something to gain something things quickly become tense. The idea of risk or losing to gain seems to put people on edge, and when asked or posed with a hypothetical situation- it is amazing how many people cannot fathom the idea of exchange. This is something I have always taken into account.

When you make a choice naturally some doors will close as a consequence of that action. By the same token every time you close a door a window will open, so you always have options- even if the options are not pleasant they are present.

I firmly believe, rationally anyhow, that you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Although my inner optimist will fight tooth and nail to say otherwise.

 

[Argus]

I think I should clarify that the driving force of these writings in extremely personal. It is more than mere philosophical rambling. These questions, inquiries, mental meanderings, and prodding is quintessentially connected to my sanity. I am undereducated in philosophy, no doubt resulting in reinventing the wheel, but the process must remain organic; uncontaminated by mere regurgitation.
I am not satisfied merely existing and am indeed dumbfounded by those that are; judgmental, perhaps, but it is a form of fuel nonetheless - fuel for an engine that drives along the labyrinthine road with the illusion of truth around every corner.

Maybe this is out of character for an ENTP, but each individual defies stereotypes within their type.

 

[Absent-Minded Alecto]

Relax.

I think that is the only useful thing I can say in this instance.

 

[neptunesnet]

I completely agree with you, this.
But I'm surprised that I do.

Most ENTPs I know (three irl/one online) like to go all existential on me and rave on and on about "creating oneself," and I always end up looking like the lone naive NF who believes in (Pfft) the essence of being (double Pfft).

Yeah, whatever, I know not all ENTPs are the same, but for a moment there I really thought all most of you guys were just image/identity seekers.


I like being proved wrong.

 

[Guest]

Practical questions for myself:
1. What do I want?
2. Why do I want it?
3. What am I willing to sacrifice?

Yes. Anything beyond this could be over-analyzation. Free Will is supposedly an empowering path - Predestination is supposedly an enslaving path. The critical significance of either is : you are imbued by God by either one. He gives you the journey itself, whether you are bound by a predestined point or not (all semantics aside). Think of it like this...

If you wind a toy car up and let it loose, it makes no difference whether you intend for a specific goal to be attained or not. What we know is: there is a launch and there is a finale. You were given this opportunity to be yourself. Make the most of it and confide in faith.