The Choice we make.....

I'm not sure how to start this post and it may end up rambling but i'm gonna try because although it probably won't do much good and any help and/or advice it may/may not provide is, perhaps, dubious at best.
I place this thread in the grey area because i don't know where else to put it, fitting as i believe most of us are in the grey area.....

Each one of us makes a choice in life, some of us make one defining choice at some point but most of us make lots of little choices that ultimatly define what becomes each one of our destinies.

For some the choice is fame for others it's fortune, for many others still it's family and/or comfort.
For a few others it's truth.

Consider that this world is not one that exists 'in the light' but one that currently exists 'in darkness'.
Most people, whether they realize it or not, have chosen to remain 'in the darkness' as it is the easier, more conventional path to take. Our whole society and structure of our lives is inherently something that is of the 'darkness'. It is the status quo, the most common way of living.

Most people do not think of themselves as bad or evil, infact, it could be argued that no one does.
But the reality is that, as Led Zepplin said in their song 'Stairway to Heaven': Yes there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, your highway lies on the whispering wind.

Compromise.

Everyone does it, some a little gradually throughout their lives, other do it alot and a few others still choose not to be in a position where compromise to make ends meet is ever nessecary.

Some people willingly choose to be in the darkness, a very few others still willingly choose to be in the darkness with the knowledge of what that really means.

Most (if not all) of us are in the darkness, but very few of us realise this and fewer still are doing it on purpose. It's the trials thrown up by life that guide us down this dark path, forces us to choose the wrong turns and convinces us that it is the right choice. Most of the time it seems like the logical choice, the sane and rational choice. but it very rarely is the right choice.

We don't do it on purpose, i cannot stress this enough, The ones with God and/or Jesus in their lives think they are in the light. The ones with 'new age' spiritualist beliefs believe themselves to be in the light, the ones that love Allah also believe themselves to be on the right path but the truth is that these things do not the right path make, there is no map or structure, no roadsigns. Only choices.

The righteous will preach fervently to those they believe to be on the wrong path and in doing so take themselves down the wrong path as well. Without intending it and without realizing it they have taken a path parallel to those that activly and intentionally choose the darkness.

And the more moderate? they are no better off either. The compromise's that are made are rewarded, and rewards bring about a system of positive reinforcement.

The devoutly religious speak of every man being born into sin and effectivly doomed to hell. The funny thing is that i believe they are partly right about this. The part i feel that they have wrong is the time at which we become 'doomed'.

I don't think it happens at birth, i think that at birth we are a blank template. decisions and choices have not yet been made.

It's not untill these choices get made that we begin to determine our individual fates. And these choices are always made as a result of our desires, whether they seem positive or negative they remain desires and it is our desires that doom us.

The real mystery here is: 'How is it possible to not let our choices be influenced by our desires?'

I wish i had an answer for that. But i do not, no one does (to the best of my knowledge)

I'm not gonna sell you a religion or philosophy, regardless of what belief system you may think i am speaking from.
I'm speaking from what i have observed and the language i have chosen to use to describe what i am trying to say has been chosen based on the kinds of concepts that most people on ATS will understand, though they don't really fit properly they do make for a reasonable analogue.

So to use some common christian concepts i will write this thought:

Consider that when you make a tiny compromise you may well be compromising your very soul, and by doing so you forge your own ultimate destiny. every choice you make that seems reasonable and logical at the time may not be quite so reasonable when those choices begin to accumulate.

A guideline (i think) that may help to determine this is what kind of a reward you will get for making that compromise or that outright choice.

Please don't reply to this with several paragraphs about accepting jesus into my heart or about aliens or whatever else because i don't particulary want to risk contributing to the possibility that you will be typing down another wrong turn in your destinies path.

Just think on what i have said and consider it in your lives and lets hope at least a few of us manage to get back to a place in the light.

And don't ever be fooled into believing that it's as easy as following a given religion as i would be quite surprised if more then a handful of people throughout all of history have ever managed to achieve this feat, this feat of finding their way to the 'light'.

Each one of us does make our own destinies, we each write the story of ourselves, but i'm not sure if any of us really know what that truly entails when things that seem right are often anything but.

Thanks for provoking thought with this. Someone wrote something very wise in another thread yesterday that what you wrote reminded me of. He said that going along (you used compromise, instead) with something we don't agree with but is expedient at the moment only leads us to a place where there are less choices, no compromise, and we agree even less. I certainly haven't said it as well as he did, but nevertheless it spoke to me. Unfortunately, many times it seems to spin backwards in our lives, and we do not know the truth, even, of what we have gone along with, or compromised, until the consequences are upon us.
Enjoyed your words.

reply to post by tetra50


Thankyou. the last part of what you wrote summed up part of what i was trying to say.
Hope one of us shoe wearing apes figures this all out one day, if that is actually the point of this thing we call life.

I was just thinking that maybe all of the accumulated wrongs is what the whole point is... i dunno.

I don't think there's a larger purpose to this. But I think people want to think that. Who wouldn't? Religion and spiritualism are so popular precisely because we want there to be an all encompassing purpose. Not just our children. Not just our institution. Not just our species. But something larger than that, an afterlife, a place that punishes the wicked and rewards the saintly.

At the end of the day, people want to believe that our life doesn't just end here. We're not just physical manifestations that pop into and out of existence. It's not just about passing the baton to the next runner and cheering for your team; your children; your friends and family; your race; your species. I think people have concluded that passing the baton to the next runner isn't enough. All of the passions and accumulated glories of life aren't enough. Maybe all of these things aren't as good as we like to say. We often put our best face on around others, and similarly, when confronted by others about our purpose, we like to tell them that passing the baton to the next runner is all that's needed to give us purpose; our children, our family and friends, our nation; our race; our species. But when not confronted, we have doubts. We try to hide them because we don't want to expose our weak side to others. Maybe it's that tragic events happen which we're unable to stop. Maybe it's despair over past wrongs we might have committed or regrets about choices made. Maybe it's the longing we have to meet our ancestors or those we love that have passed on. Maybe it's in the eyes of a child that dies. Wherever it comes from, it makes us feel that we need a larger purpose.

Most people are well beyond the stage of honestly believing in their heart of hearts that passing the baton on to the next guy is enough. They're either religious or spiritually inclined.

This is why so many people are repulsed by atheism. It's not the disbelief in God so much or the breach of doctrine. It's the idea that passing the baton to the next runner is enough. Atheists send the impression it's enough and thus disturb others on a very deep and emotional level.

reply to post by Raivan31


I can relate to what your saying.

Sometimes it feels like the path is reminescent of being pulled further and further into a deep forest, wondering aimlessly among the darkness in the shade of the trees. You look back and wonder how you got so far adrift. You remember thinking about how you decided to go just a little bit further, you reasoned that you could always turn back. Next thing you realize is that it seems way too far to go back....so you continue on ahead against your better judgement. On and on. Just when you feel you can go on no longer, there seems to be a break in the coverage and you gleam a ray of sun peeking through the shadows. Some hope. You continue on feeling better with this little ray of light bidding you onward......

Originally posted by itsallmaya
reply to post by Raivan31

 

I can relate to what your saying.

Sometimes it feels like the path is reminescent of being pulled further and further into a deep forest, wondering aimlessly among the darkness in the shade of the trees. You look back and wonder how you got so far adrift. You remember thinking about how you decided to go just a little bit further, you reasoned that you could always turn back. Next thing you realize is that it seems way too far to go back....so you continue on ahead against your better judgement. On and on. Just when you feel you can go on no longer, there seems to be a break in the coverage and you gleam a ray of sun peeking through the shadows. Some hope. You continue on feeling better with this little ray of light bidding you onward......

You win some and lose some but keep on fighting for what is right (higher ideals to the whole of reality). You can always start moving in the right direction however far you have gone in the wrong one. Sometimes I wish I was home instead wherever that is. The question is what is worse? Knowing it is there and feeling it pulling you (and you minds/egos extreme urge to go there for the extasy of true pure love) or being totaly without hope feeling everything is meaningless?

But nobody said it was gonna be easy being in between.