Self-Determination

This is somewhat of an important post. It's the crux of the practical portion of my argument so I hope I don't screw it up. I apologize for it taking so long but I want to make sure that my thoughts were all here. It all begins with a question.

When you think of what defines a man, what do you think of?


From a historical perspective, it's the actions a man takes and the consequences these actions have therein. From a spiritual/metaphysical perspective, it's the passions he has and the thoughts that drive him to achieve a more definitive state of being. From a biological perspective, it's flesh, bones, tissues and memories imprinted upon others. All of these things and more can describe what a man is.

Yet, I would like to take this a step further and, with my next assumption, claim a relation between the definition of a man from all of these perspectives to the constitution of reality.

Events in a man's life, thoughts that he has, actions he takes can all be considered as some of the components of reality.

Within out definition of existence, we can take not to the fact that other entities can and do observe these components of a man's existence. As a refresher, our definition of existence is relative between an entity (the existor) that perceives the existence of an entity (existee). I would go as far as to say that these components of a man can, and do, trigger additional components within reality as a whole. This is observable but, as I must state, assumed. It is one thing to claim that components interact on their own and are observed / perceived by other components and a whole other matter to say that, through these interactions, effect the components to which they exist. I feel this is, however, a necessary but minor assumption.

Moreover, these components can go beyond the finitude of a man's biological existence. This, I feel, is not so much of an assumption but a logical conclusion to a chain reaction of existence upon existors but, again, I must say, in good faith, it is an assumption I use.

On a related note, fairly recently, I watched a lecture on TED talks about quantum mechanics entitled Making sense of a visible quantum object and it made an interesting point that I wanted to share.

You hear a lot of talk about how quantum mechanics says that everything is all interconnected. Well, that's not quite right; it's more than that, it's deeper. It's that those connections, your connections to all the things around you, literally define who you are.

I realize that I may be bending O'Connell's words at this point but I do see a parallel between his words and my philosophy. Seemingly, an entity (existor) that perceives an existing entity (existee) and therefore has defines the existence of the existee in such a way. If you begin to remove the existors from the picture, the existee becomes a little more ambiguous, a little less well-defined. Add existors to the picture and the existee becomes bounded to the existor's definition.

I know, I'm reading into this a little much but it brings me to my next important assumption.

Regardless of free will or lack thereof, man can control these components within some capacity of his abilities.

A man is made of stuff. We've established that. This stuff includes events in his life, actions he takes, and thoughts he has. It's not too difficult to make the leap to him being able to control the components within some capacity of his abilities. Some of the objections that may be raised, in my experience, have been: What about free will? If he doesn't have free will, how is he really in control, in any capacity, of these components that make up his being? To that I say, doesn't matter.

This is somewhat of a brash statement. I mean, we encounter this idea of "free will" in philosophy and theology all the time. However, from a practical perspective, whether we truly choose what we do or if we are controller by a set of determinable components, we still interact with the reality in which we exist. Whether the components that we see ourselves as controlling are controlled by some movement of a mysteriously unknowable force called free will or by a knowable albeit complex sequence called logic, the components in our reality that make us up effect the remainder of reality.

And so it is. A man is bounded by the definition given to him by the existors. A definition which he can help mold with his actions and thoughts to some capacity of his abilities. This is a measure for him. Let me leave you with that hint about my next post, which, hopefully, will come soon.