do i choose my life path or is it predestined by the very choices that were made for me as a child?

Answer 1

Your question itself leaves out an important part of the puzzle -- the set of traits and genes that you're born with. Both your choices and those of your parents have to act on something to generate an effect. If you weren't born with a set of genes ready to respond to the environment, the environment could have no effect. Make sense?

That being said, I don't believe in genetic determinism. Our genes are designed to be highly adaptive to the environment. Out skin color changes with exposure to the sun. Our rate of violence changes with our exposure to violence.

We're born with a set of traits that seem to leave us predisposed to certain actions (our personality traits -- like extroversion, openness, conscientiousness, etc. -- tend to remain stable over time). I think our genes shape more of our personalities and actions than we'd like to admit. Having read twin studies and seen various programs about identical twins who were separated at birth, raised in different homes, and reunited later in life, it's remarkable how similar they are. From they way they cross their legs and dance, to their careers, there is no doubt that the siblings share some sort of inherent likenesses.

So I guess my answer to your question is that both the choices you make and the ones that were made for you influence your life path, BUT they do by interacting with inherent qualities that were formed the moment you were.

Answer 2

If it is predestined, you don't know what that destiny is. It may look a certain way or like certain things are inevitable, but there's no way to know for sure.
I kind of tend to believe in determinism. I find it absurd to think you can have a perfectly defined set of conditions and have two possible outcomes. If you can't predict the outcome then you haven't fully defined the conditions. But the kicker is you can never fully define the conditions. There's always uncertainty, like the Heisenburg uncertainty principle states. So you can never have 100% confidence in any prediction.
Away from the abstract theoretical, healing can occur and lives that looked like they were headed in a certain direction can be turned around. It happened to me. I wasn't doomed to be miserable for the rest of my life, although my home situation might have looked like I was.

Answer 3

Every person is a product of their surroundings. Parents and friends teach you about the world and their views on society, which you in turn take in and analyze. The things you learn when you are younger impact your choices. For ex. parents have certain political views and children tend to follow their example. There are deeper issues which children also emulate from their parents. Everyone adapts to their surroundings. Yet, people still have the final choice of what to do with their lives. They do not have to conform to what they were taught as children. It also depends what aspect of your life you are looking at. If you are looking at careers, many people follow their passions, while others want to follow in their parents footsteps. Your childhood leads you to your choices, but you have the final decision.

Answer 4

Hello:

In each moment of your life you are free to accept your past and continue along or you are free to recreate yourself completely.

Think about it this way...what stops you from driving on the wrong side of the highway? What stops you from selling everything you own and going to Greece (or if you are in Greece then say...Canada). The answer...only yourself.

I hope this helps

Rev Phil

Answer 5

i am a firm believer that you make your own destiny, you take charge of your own life.

Answer 6

Probably a little of both...

Answer 7

No, past lives etc...

Answer 8

It's all you.