desicions..is 'you'
Friday, 17 July 2009 08:05
Each of us is born, we live lives of various lengths, and then we die. Each of us has, or perhaps develops, a separate nature and existence, a being, which is unique to us and sets us apart from every other person who lives or has ever lived. Indeed we share similar characteristics, but no two of us are the same person. As humans, each of us is distinct, each of us is an individual being.
What makes
each of us unique is the fact that we perpetually make choices between alternatives. Our choices seem to be far more than mechanical selections based on some complex biological decision making scheme. Rather, your choice seems to be based not only on what you believe will happen if you make a certain choice, but also on what you "want" to happen. You, as all of us do, possess the ability to engage in what we will call “rational thought”, whereby each of us weighs many variables in a process that includes concepts of good and evil, right and wrong. “Rational thought”, as we define it, is reasoned thought that presents us with choices between alternatives. You ultimately reach a point in your rational thinking where that certain quality of being which is unique to you takes over and you make your free choice among the alternatives.
What makes
each of us unique is the fact that we perpetually make choices between alternatives. Our choices seem to be far more than mechanical selections based on some complex biological decision making scheme. Rather, your choice seems to be based not only on what you believe will happen if you make a certain choice, but also on what you "want" to happen. You, as all of us do, possess the ability to engage in what we will call “rational thought”, whereby each of us weighs many variables in a process that includes concepts of good and evil, right and wrong. “Rational thought”, as we define it, is reasoned thought that presents us with choices between alternatives. You ultimately reach a point in your rational thinking where that certain quality of being which is unique to you takes over and you make your free choice among the alternatives. We note that no matter how predetermined your existence may be, it can be argued that "you" make freewill choices even if it is chemically determined what those choices will be, simply because "you" are the product of your biochemistry. While that argument, and variations of it, may be true by definition, it seems if we are to be held accountable for our actions we should have a freedom of choice that can be anticipated to be found only in that which is beyond human chemistry. We ask that you keep an open mind about the possible existence of individual control which makes your decisions truly your own.