I, at this point in my life, am under the belief that there really is no such thing as choice. It is an illusion. You may think that you are "choosing" which brand of bottled water you pick up at the corner store, or which college or university you apply to, or which religion to believe in, or which morals and values to follow, but you really are not. What is happening is the neural network inside your brain starts firing and weighing each choice, and once it is satisfied with the amount of information it used to weigh each choice, then the heaviest weighted choice will come out on top. So the choice in the end is a product of the actual configuration of the neural net in your brain. That neural net is formed, and is always being re-shaped, by the experience you have had in your life, big or even seemingly insignificant experiences. Also genetics are responsible for how your brain forms at the time that you are too new to have any experiences, and, Im assuming, it also plays a role throughout your life as the brain develops. It is all Cause and Effect. There is no choice. Did you choose which human being, or other form of life, that you where to be? Did you choose which society to be born into and brought up in as your young brain developed? The only place that I think it could be possible that actual choices are being made would be in your soul. If there really is, which I like to believe there is, a spiritual aspect of our existance that goes beyond our physical bodies then I am willing to believe that there is A POSSIBILITY that the soul can make choices, but even the soul, I am so far assuming, is governed by cause and effect and the same principle applies to it causing it to also not have the ability to choose. It would be a product of the souls experience gathered over passed lives. Once you realize that this is the truth, that there is no choice, it can be an epiphanal experience. You can release all of your hatred, every last drop, towards all different forms of life. And you can look back at someone you hate, and take a look at their life from their perspective, and understand why they are a person that you used to hate. And you realize that part of the whole purpose of life is to have an infinite realm of all different life forms and personalities. Even things you used to hate, that are grotesque, or immoral, or outright terrible, can become beautiful. It is the nature of the universe and life. It is beautiful.
Now just because I have come across this belief, that I have no choice in the whole matter, does not mean that I am all of a sudden going to give up on life and go into some kind of vegetative state and not care about anything. No. I still want to make a positive change in the world for the human race, I still want to overcome my challenges in life, and I still understand that my actions determine my future and control my destiny. Because that is who I am, even though I didnt choose it.
