Do We Owe Anything to Ourselves?

The subject of fate may sometimes bring about agitation for some people; how everything is written in the stars and meant to be. But when we speak of fate, we mostly speak of the divine power which orchestrates the cosmos.

But what if we're a lot more helpless than that, even for non-believers. How much of anything that we think or do do we actually owe to ourselves, our conscious-self?

A Subtly Dictative Environment

During the year I spent teaching children, I learned that the key to achieving desired results with the least amount of whining, crying, or tantrums is to make the child believe deep down that he wants to willingly do what you would otherwise fight about. It's perfect mind trickery, even though no one regards it as evil because it's usually for the purpose of cleaning up some toys, or wiping booger off their faces.

But what if it doesn't stop there? Allow me to illustrate.

Have you ever come across one of those viral videos which roll out quite emotionally, and then they wrap up with a message to buy a hand cream, or a car? Personally, it always makes me wish the video were just for the sake of the beautiful emotional message it sends, and it certainly makes me regard the video as much cheaper.

Had it not been for the quite obvious message wrapping up the video, I wouldn't have known that someone is manipulating my emotions to achieve their desired goals. Only other forms of communication don't quite have the same clear message, do they? Movies for instance? History maybe?

We've been taught that humans are social beings that interact with their surrounding world, and live accordingly. And by surrounding world, I mean everything you can lay your hands, eyes, or mind on, be it in accordance with the customs and norms of your culture or otherwise.

How much of the surrounding world is as it appears to be? How much of what we know is true? And if we react to a lie, what does that make of our decisions?

The You Beyond Your Control 

It's fair enough to think that if you can't control the surrounding circumstances, you can at least choose what to do with what is available. And whatever you think, do, or achieve, you owe to yourself.

That may have been true until I read a book that discusses the subconsciousness. According to this book, Incognito, your subconsciousness is what really does all the work, and the surprise is, you have as much credit for its thoughts as your heart beating. Exactly, none!

The author gives a little example to explain the relationship between your consciousness and subconsciousness. He says imagine a city where a zillion things happen, from a mother nursing a child, to kids playing, to a janitor sweeping the floor, and uncountable other events. And then there's the news where you only read about the city happenings which affect your life.

That's how consciousness and subconsciousness correlate, where your subconsciousness is the city with all the activity you're unaware of, and your consciousness is the brief summary of important stuff you need to know.

Accordingly, each witty comment you ever threw, every eureka moment, every moment you took to praise yourself for your incomparable intelligence, that was your subconsciousness. It has been brewing this thought for hours, months, maybe years, and when it was ready for you to know it, it surfaced to your consciousness.

But...

Something feels off, like the pieces don't exactly fall in place. Because I have seen people aching to make something out of themselves. I have seen the tears trickling down a very dear friend's face when she told me how she swam against the tide; how her childhood was particularly the warmest.

I may not always know what to believe, but seeing people like her makes my belief in one's will grow beyond my comprehension of space or time. It can't be that helplessness would ever make way for a person like her.

But there will always be instances when I take a look around, and nothing whatsoever will make sense... And quite many will those instances be.