In my childhood I was told that one's life is governed by his previous life's actions;that whatever he is today is the result of his Karma.As I grew up, I found this persepective full of ignorance;
something that could have been believed in medival times but certainly not today atleast not by any rational thinker.I ridiculed people who held this view and easily categorized them as dumb & irrational.I was a firm believer that through motivation,everyone can have a reasonable control over his destiny.I say "was" because my views have undergone some drastic changes.
In my first semister in IIT Kanpur ,I signed up for a psychology course.Of the many wonderful things I learnt,there was a fascinating debate over Nature vs Nurture.It claimed that our actions
and our personality is function of genes we possess and/or the environment we grow up in.This springs an interesting question:How much control do we have over our life?Do our parents and the environment we grow up in determine our future ?What about our individual choices?Is that too shaped by our genes and our surroundings?If that is true then are we really making a choice or choosing a predetermined option?This greatly disturbs me for it suggests that that we are not making choices even when we think we are.Is this true for all individuals? I sincerely hope not.
However, for a majority of humans this analysis is correct and this is not a good news for the human race.
