Why we do what we do?

In my last post I detailed out how our reactions to circumstances create circumstances of the future.

This may give a reader hope that he/ she can determine his/her own future. This belief can be attributed as partly true. Though the fact is that we can only aim at a target future and the actual may be very different based upon external factors. It is like shooting an arrow on a desired target but the wind deviates it course.

Taking this target and arrow conjecture there are two questions that arise.

1. How do we determine our target?
2. How do we aim?

The questions seem simple to answer but they are not.

Take a moment and think. Determine two points in the future- One should be in the very near future- Today 5 PM perhaps and second is say 5-10 years later. Now think about what do you want your circumstance to be during both those points.

Suppose the answers are

1. I want to be back at home today at 5 PM
2. I want to be a multi millionaire in 10 years

These two being the desired circumstances the question I want to pose is why these two only? Why should it happen that everybody will have a different (atleast slightly different) answer to these questions.

This leads me to a conclusion: The sum total of all our experiences in the past have a major effect on our present thought process.

I would like to explain experience in my framework before carrying on. An experience is the impression made by a circumstance, reaction and event on the human thought. For every cicrcumstance we react in a particular manner, which results into something +ve or -ve. This whole cycle creates an impression on our mind. We call this impression an experience. All these experiences collect somewhere back in our minds and we subconsciously refer to most relevant experiences whenever a circumstance presents itself.

The above answers of mine are a distillation of what I have interpreted from my experiences. It all distills down to these. This is how I and you decide our targets. Now I will explain how we aim.

Close your eyes and imagine that you are on top of a very high building. What else flashes? I bet all the similar moments when you were standing somewhere high. What do you think? You will think based upon whatever your experience was during those moments. They will be either dread or joy based upon whatever your experiences were. Then there will be another round of experiences - you may think about your loved ones and experiences with them and so on.

You will feel a huge push behind you. This is a push created by all the experiences brought forward to you by your subconscious. This push drives you to one particular action. However there may be another set of experiences which may lead to another contradictory action. For example your experiences which may lead you to want to discard any fear of height. Its now you get a choice. The choice you take is the aim you take and determines what is your desired circumstance (the target).

Thus our experiences in the past suggests to us the options that we can take, makes us decide on what we think we want to be. Its Us who has to choose. How we choose also depends on our experience but still I believe that humans have enough will power to choose otherwise.

Please note that the targets (desired circumstance) we set for ourselves may not be perfect and our aim (choice) maybe completely wayward, but these are the end results of how we (and the world) have programmed ourselves.

This is how we evolve our so called destiny. It is just a programming of our past, choices in the present and the effect of external factors  (guided by the unity of the universe) in the future.

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How Past affects the Future

This is a little bit in continuation with my previous post. I have my oddities and you have your oddities. We are all different characters. If in an experiment we were put inside and exactly similar situation we will definitely react differently. Why is that so? Why are you and why am I different?

Now i remember a movie dialog from some obscure movie I saw in the good old days of Doordarshan: "मैं पेट से चोर पैदा नहीं हुआ था. "(I was not born a thief). The thief tells us what I want to reiterate today-' Its our past which frames our present, our future is shaped by our past and the present'. This may not look like a huge conclusion to you, but think about it in little detail as follows. Look at your present- Why are u sitting/lying at the location you are, why are you in front of this particular computer reading at this particular blog. For example if you are in Mumbai (what were the events that led you to Mumbai? What were the events that lead you to those events?), Why are you in front of computer? Why do you have a computer? Why did you search for this blog? Why did you end up on this one?

If we create a backwards issue tree in detail we will reach to one particular conclusion all of us: " This moment is the sum total of results of all (Yes ALL) events of the past". This implies that your present circumstance is nothing but a consequence of our actions in the past.

What about the future? The future as a corollary will be a sum of all events in the past and all events from present to the future. We can react positively, negatively or lethargically to the present circumstance. The circumstance arising from past events in our life.

(How does an event result: You have a circumstance, you react to it and the result is an event. For example I had free time, I wrote and I have this blog- an event. An event may just not be a circumstance * reaction- The event may also be affected by external events- other people's actions or climate etc.)

Even though the circumstance is not in our control anymore we have the option of reacting to it in a way we like (I have a theory on why we react the way we react) and trying to come up with an event which will better our future.

We are like people and our destiny is a ship. The direction the ship takes is based on our reactions to present circumstance. We can only try to control the direction though the direction may depend on host of factors. The whole thought is as shown in the diagram below:

The figure below shows how we navigate our lives:

So the conclusion is that the time of action is NOW and NOW only. There is no other time. Being Inactive now affects your future. 

The above is my line of thought. I would like to know what you would think of it? Please comment.

My next blog will be on why we react in a certain way to any circumstance. 

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