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Choices – Underlying Definitions of the Human condition
Freedom of choice – as best highlighted in the Matrix Trilogy and its brand of popcorn psychology – is the single most defining attribute of human life. Whether good, bad, destructive or constructive, the choices that we make and the consequent burden of what befall us, or the subjects of those very choices, lying squarely on our shoulders – is in a nutshell, the embodiment of the human condition and ‘independence’.
In this independence, the true value of being a ‘free’ human can be distilled and like all the good things in life, too much can never be enough, or can it? Whispers of the value of limited choice run as undercurrents in the society, much as rats scurry under the streets. Too much choice, too many brands, so many phones, shoes, clothes – you get the gist. The meaningless pursuit of immaterial material possessions, and we lament the excesses of choice in these, so what happens when the choices come together in the things that matter?
The Paradox of Choice
We choose between things that matter more to us and our ‘human condition’ way more often than we stop to think about. There are compromises of time, effort, resources constantly happening around us. We choose to expose ourselves to newer experiences while in some cases, limit one’s self. There are choices between experience A and B, people – different people, and different kinds of people, investment – emotional and tangible investment, and there is a thread of choices intertwining all of these, into one tight ball of yarn that quantifies our existence in time and space.
Coming together to make up the whole coin is the other side, of the choices we didn’t make. The selections that were not taken up, branches of the path we did not choose to explore and these follow us in the shadow of the choices that do define us. Together, they make up a summation of the quandaries, dilemmas and the vagaries that life throws at us, and separates humans from non humans. The value of choice can be understood by one who has not had one and the same is true for excesses. This must be taken with a pinch of salt, because as we were engineered, and this world designed to fit us in; this was the best we were given.
Choosing between Things
Practical choice is easy – a simple pros and cons sheet serves the purpose of most of the problems. When that becomes a complex web of inter-dependent outcomes, the situation becomes slightly murkier. And when the cocktail shaken with the elixir of human emotion, the concoction starts mirroring the choices that we wish we didn’t have to make in the first place. Examples of material choices – A vacation right now, or a retirement plan for 20 years later? That bigger car or that better school for your kids; some choices are made for the higher tangible gain, while some for the greater emotional benefit they will bring us. There is almost certainly no choice, barring forced will that is made for a lesser reward in its totality.
A simple matrix had helped the great Mahatma choose between things in his lifetime. I quote the same here, with an addition of a subject – yourself. As a thumb rule for choice, he suggested that we pull the picture of the subjects of the choices, and write simply what the impact of the choice on
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