Your choice?

Have you ever watched a Collie dog herding sheep? Although the shepherd provides direction, the dog is born with an innate ability to herd. Have you ever watched any animal for any length of time? It sounds obvious but lions behave like lions, tigers like tigers, sheep like sheep and worms like worms. When you watch an animal through alien eyes the character of their kind is obvious. So does the animal that is man have a behaviour of its own kind? Of course we do but it is difficult for us to see, for in this circumstance we do not look through alien eyes and our behaviour is modified by learning and experience.

The scientific community estimate that between 40% and 70% of our personality is inherited. That is to say no matter what our perception of freedom of thought we are programmed to behave in certain ways. We are programmed to behave like human beings for that is what we are. We have also inherited elements of our parents and our grandparents personalities.

And what of the remaining 30% to 60% of our personality that is not inherited? We know that early life experience is highly influential for this is when we learn to behave within our cultural boundaries. We learn the very basics such as language and human interaction. We gain experience in our early lives that shapes our adult development. Although we are aware that we have all been through this process rarely do we feel that our early years are at some level guiding our adult lives.

Naturally we look out from our eyes with the thoughts of free men and women for this is how we have evolved. We do not feel the confines of being human or the mental influence of previous generations. We are not aware of the circumstances which shaped our personalities in our earliest years. Our unconscious selves have been proven to make decisions before our consciousness is let into the secret and still we have the illusion of free will.

So I am faced with something uncomfortable. I have never been one for believing in fate or destiny and yet through our biology and early experience it seems as though I have little real ability to consciously decide what I will do in life. Perhaps this is one to ponder late at night with a cup of coffee... .you decide?.

The author has worked in academia and the biotech industry for over 20 years. He is a contributor to .Natural Insight.
writing articles on our natural history and the human condition.