Quote:
Originally Posted by PostScript
Don't you think the implications of this are a bit, depressing? It's like that thread the other day implying that we are but effects of previous causes. Not to get all existential/spiritual but the logical conclusion of this line of thought, is that our identities don't exist. If I see myself as this and that, but this and that are merely inherent biological drives or environmental adaptations, then what room does that leave for "me", what am "I"?
PS
|
It's only depressing if you choose to view it as such. You are indeed a product of your environment, genetics and experiences. That's what makes you "you".
We are biological machines, we're born with a certain interpretive software based on our genetics and that software interprets our environment and experiences as we move through life. It'll be slightly different for each person based on whatever unique patterns their software(brain) follows but that is essentially what makes them.
You're still you. But to believe that you're not a product of everything you experience is just wrong. That's not depressing, it's informed and knowledgeable. It merely means you accept that every interaction you have with others has an effect on who "you" are. You are a fluid and ever changing thing, who you are one moment is not who you are the next. You can change very rapidly to adapt to a sudden environmental change or you can change very slowly based on the effects of some mental pattern of thought occurring in your brain. A good example of that last gradual one would be the change of a religious person from being orthodox to atheist, the change is gradual and due to long term battle of thoughts in the mind, possibly triggered by outside influences.
Why would this be depressing though. What would you prefer "you" or the "self" be? Something spiritually unique? The soul?