How much of who we are is decided by us?

reply to post by MamaJ


Appreciate your thoughts, though I can't say I agree with them. I feel like this is veering off topic a little but I'll tell you what I think. I believe part of the human condition is not knowing all the secrets of the universe. I believe before we came here, and after we leave, we were/will be in a state of knowing everything, while life is a state of experiencing within the confines of the human condition. As such, there'd be no point in living in human terms if we possessed complete knowledge of God/Universe. We already know all the secrets; we deliberately forgot them for the sake of experiencing this form of existence.

Reincarnation? I think so, not in the way you speak of however, and not because the goal is to transcend to a God-like being. It's simply about experiencing everything there is to experience. We're one, and we experience life through billions of lifeforms all at once. When we leave here, we'll return to the source, return to knowing everything we forsake in order to make our Earth lives meaningful.

But that's just what I think.

Enjoyed your outlook.

Although, it's my understanding that the Bible does not support reincarnation, and pretty much states once you're dead you're dead, death of the conciousness as well, until comes time for final judgement or something along those lines?

reply to post by namine

Hi and thank you for this nice post..

I believe we are for ever changing beings we, like everything else, change because nothing stays the way it is in our universe and every positive or negative discovery you have made, could later change due to your experiences. However in regards of our free choice, well i believe there are natural talents within us all that will stimulate how we start out and not necessarily how we end up.
What points of view we have and how we react to encounters of all sorts, especially when we meet them for the first time is all stimulated by our talents.
The way i see it these talents involve things like painting or music skills, but also preferences.
If you are talented (i havent got a better word for it in Englisch at the moment) in having a taste for mushrooms, you will like them. But over the years you change and the talent will probably have grown into something more elaborate than a simple favour for a specific taste. You might have become a cook, and actually started to like all sorts of different tastes and sensations regarding flavours and texture.

In life some of us have a rough start, and don't seem to get a fair chance, but i believe that following your most positive and productive talents will at least give you a choice and a chance to grow as well as you can.
Of course beeing talented in a negative way, in for example violence or drug abuse, will make you more likely to have a less then happy life. But, you can choose to disover what talents you have, and youll probably discover there are many talents within you that will be positive as well. So in the end you have a free wiill abou at least one principle, you can choose which talents you would like to stimulate and which ones you would rather keep dormand in your life.

So in my book, you are constantly growing, chosing and learning, sometimes things will we easy to learn and sometimes they will be hard, but in the end its all you, and its all about the choices YOU make in stimulating all sorts of talents and you can choose if you are dominated by them or not.

I hope my view is of help somehow, if not ..well, than i hope youll find a better answer to your questions

Although, it's my understanding that the Bible does not support reincarnation, and pretty much states once you're dead you're dead, death of the conciousness as well, until comes time for final judgement or something along those lines?

reply to post by namine


How I read the Bible is multilayered and yes, reincarnation is preached by some but not many. I see it in the bible many times over but the seeker will without being lead by anothers teaching of the word/ words.

" Before Abraham, I am". Is one of many.

It's not off topic as we are talking about how much of who we are is decided by us.

It doesn't matter to me if you agree or not, just opening minds passing info back and forth without a need to be right. :-)

It is my view we decide our path and goal through each incarnation.

We chose knowledge. Knowledge then transforms into wisdom. Once the wisdom becomes the revelation within we no longer have to be confined to earth but can travel the universe as we have inherited it to do so, hence back at the garden when we choose " life".

Above are my thoughts from the knowledge I've obtained over the forty years of this life. Take it, leave it, whatever you may is completely ok with me. :-)

Eta.... For the record..... I'm not Christian. I'm a representive for all religions and none of them as I believe they are all a derivative from the one philosophy that has become the many philosophies throughout " time".

reply to post by namine


It depends how strong you are, the ocean can push you into a certain direction with its waves but if you are really strong, you can resist it...


Your main beliefs will be determined by your parents who teach you things and by your life experience.

So what is wrong with basing beliefs on life experience? That just because you experience something that doesn't mean that your belief is true 100% of the time - so even that is unnecessary control.

What about your thoughts and emotions? Those are also programmed. Society programs you to "want" certain things and to not-want other things, even sometimes tricking you to believe in stereo-types which aren't true all of the time.

Your emotions and thoughts will cause you to take certain actions, or if you are a more logical person - your beliefs will cause you to take certain actions, so no matter what you do you are controlled.

You can't even imagine something you never saw before, if I tell you that something called a "ringo" exists, you'll probably won't be able to imagine it since you don't know what it is, but now if I tell you that it is an "apple" in Japanese - you will understand, so even your thoughts are limited.

So do we have ANY control over our lives ? Do we have ANY free will at all?

Yes, BUT only if we realize that we are not our thoughts, emotions, intentions, and beliefs - then we can choose to detach from them in order to gain freedom from suffering - freedom from acting like a robot from your own programming - but if you want to do that - then even that is an intention, right?

So maybe we have NO free-will... who knows...

I would just like to point out that not ALL programming is bad but almost ALL of it is.

Simple programming like avoiding pain is something that is necessary and produced by nature -
and even things produced by nature isn't good sometimes either...