We have an advertising spot here that says: Wenn du dein
Leben noch einmal leben könntest, würdest du alles noch mal genauso machen?
Translated
that means: If you could live your life over again, would you do it all the
same again? The answer in that spot isn’t too serious. Something about “I would
buy my glasses right from the beginning at [insert name of optician here].” But I think this question is very interesting and not at all easy to answer.
Would I do
it all the same again? Well, at first, it depends on the interpretation of that
question. If I just turned the clock back, I guess I would do it all the same
again. Because I would still be myself and most of the time I acted the way I thought to
be the best. Of course I made a lot of mistakes, but still, the time I made
them I didn’t recognise them as mistakes.
But let’s
say I stay the person I am right now, with my current knowledge and experiences
and I could change anything. Would I do it then? Still the question isn’t
easier at all. It raises more questions.How far did my past experiences influence the person I am right now? Would I act differently now, make different decisions, would I have different opinions on the same topics if I had had a different childhood? Would I even be someone else? And the more important question: Do I want to be someone else?
After all,
we are supposed to learn from our mistakes. But do we really do that? Don’t we
make the same mistakes all over again sometimes? After all, we are not perfect.
How much of
our personality is already determined when we are born? And how much can it
change? How much of it is affected by our experiences?
In my
opinion, we have something like an individual basic personality. And this
personality is formed later by our experiences. I think our experiences play an
important role in our lives. Nevertheless it all depends on your given
personality, too. I don’t think that we would all be the same if we had the
same experiences. I think these experiences rather stimulate some of our features
that are already existent. At the end of the day, our actions are still our own
decisions and we can’t blame a difficult childhood for doing the wrong thing or
use it as an excuse for wrong decisions.
So, to come back to my initial question, would I change anything? I am still not quite sure. There are one or two experiences I would like to change. I wish I had acted differently there. But after all, I also think they are an important part of my life. And I am content with the person I am now. Of course I am far away from being perfect, but at least I can say I try to do my best and I am constantly trying to be a good soul. Still am not absolutely sure. Wouldn’t it be better to change bad decisions though?
If you could live your life over again, would you do it all the same again?
Would you?
Curiouser and Curiouser!
ReplyDeleteWith this parody of the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland", Elf tried to direct my attention to your posting:
"If you could live your life over again..."
And succeeded!
I was interested in the subject and in your way to develop it.
I just was about to say that I agreed on a high percentage of your ideas when the goblin raised his hand and told me:
Do not say it! You are wrong!
Before I could even form the idea of asking how he knew I was wrong if I have not said a word, he proceed.
You cannot go back in time following the same patterns you follow coming ahead!
The variables have already changed so much that it is impossible, which make doubly impossible, to reach places where you can take the same (or different) decisions you've taken in its moment.
Even if you could go back to your beginning and the same male gamete fertilize the same ovule, the DNA chain would be different from the one that formed for you!
How come?, you ask.
This is the safety valve to keep free will active. This is taught to us, Elves, in our first year of studies in College to graduate as human helpers.
What are you talking about? you ask.
Well, answer is easy! How do you explain that despite the free will of so many million of human beings The Perfect Plan cannot be altered?
Perfect Plan?, I asked nonplussed.
That's another story, the sprite put a period to the subject.
The Perfect Plan works because there are so many variables in this illusion you call "Reality" that it is impossible to predict the future.
If you have few variables, say a Giant is going to hit with his fist a goat, you can predict that the goat is going to die. Few variables Giant, fist, goat, hit, easy outcome
To know what is going to happen tomorrow afternoon at 5:45 PM may, or may not be guessed, not precisely, may be, but accurately enough.
To know what kind of person I will be 20 years from now it is impossible. This is why it does not matter if you human beings have free will, always there will be enough variables to make the route towards The Perfect Plan again! See?
So you are what you are, and cannot be anything else!
Mr. Carroll was a visionary, or was into the secret, because he wrote several sentences about it, I am giving you three of them:
"I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”
“Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.”
"I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then”
I am sorry for the length of this comment, but when Elf starts to rant, it is very difficult to stop him. (Shuddup now, Elf, that's enough)... Sorry, this was not for you, Kleopatra!!
Well then, thank you for sharing these wise words with me, too, Elf!
DeleteThese are some very interesting and precious thoughts.
You made me feel a bit puzzled and in any case very thoughtful.
I am still not really sure what The Perfect Plan actually is about. But as you already said, that's another story.
I didn't fully consider these conceptions before. I must admit, there is a truthness behind any of your words that I can't deny.
Your are totally right about the many variables in our lives. It really is impossible to predict the future.
Thanks again for sharing this!
Such a hard question to answer and you covered this post very well. I am happy with the way I am at the moment and it was my experiences, my lifestyle my habits, my personality etc etc which brought me to this place right now. If I were to change things then I could end up being a person I didn't want to be or even disliked.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I would like to change some mistakes, I wouldn't be the same if I had not have made them. Now, ask me this same question next week and I just might give you a completely different answer. You gave me a lot of food for thought here. Nice Post.
Oh, I see my lovely blogging friend Untony has been here too. Such a cool guy with some very interesting thoughts. Always love to hear what he has to say on topics :)
Thank you for your comment and your opinion on this topic!
DeleteThis is exactly what I think, too. Although it might be good to change some mistakes, I might be a different person if I had acted differently and maybe I wouldn't like this person. But my point of view changes pretty much, too.
I am glad I could give you a lot of food for thought. Thank you.
I can just agree with you, I already noticed that Untony has some very interesting thoughts. :)