Tag: humanbeing

  • Masters Of The Stage Or Masters Of Fate?

    I am a novice when it comes to acting. Not only did I hold various assumptions about the talent required, thinking it was no big deal, but I also believed acting was for those who couldn’t do anything else.

    Recently, I had an epiphany, a newfound respect for actors, when I realized that acting isn’t just impromptu. It’s rehearsed. And it’s not just a monologue all the time. There is a group of people working together to present a real-life situation in the most convincing way possible. I now understand why the term “timing” was coined.

    An actor already knows what will come next, yet they still hold the expressions the scene demands. They know their next line, but they wait patiently for their turn, responding as though hearing it for the first time. And while they wait, they don’t look bored or fake their reactions, they seem to be immersed in that character and that’s the mark of a great actor.

    This got me thinking about the mystery in our own lives. What if we knew what was coming next? Could we still stay present and play our part convincingly?

    If we knew we were going to die, get hurt, or lose everything, could we still be as happy in the present moment as we are now, oblivious to the future? Personally, I doubt that about myself.

    If we can’t even be good actors in the small plays of life, how could we expect to be good humans if we knew our fate beforehand? Would living still be as exhilarating if we knew exactly how it would unfold?

    Actors don’t just play one role in their lifetime, they embody many. With each character, they get to live as sinners and saints, lovers and villains. They don’t just recite lines; they feel what their characters feel, diving deep into the emotional and spiritual depths of those experiences.

    Maybe that gives them an unusual perspective, a glimpse into different kinds of human existence. They witness what it means to be selfish or selfless, cruel or kind, broken or whole.

    In real life, they probably get to choose who they want to be, based on those experiences.

    And that made me wonder, as humans, do we experience something similar? If we believe in multiple lifetimes, could it be that, deep down, we remember the lessons from each?

    Maybe not consciously, but somewhere in the fabric of our being, we carry those experiences, shaping the way we choose to live.

    If we could see all the beads on the string of life, every role we’ve ever played, every lesson we’ve ever learned, would we finally understand why we are here? Would it make us better? Or is the forgetting just as essential as the remembering?

    Would we be content knowing we were kings among kings in our past lives, yet choose not to start another hedonistic chapter in this one?

    Would we still be able to breathe if we remembered how barbaric we once were?

    Doesn’t it seem like a blessing that God made us forget what we probably once did, and gave us a seemingly clean slate to start again?

    After all is said and done, if we are just actors with no permanence of script in the grand scheme of things, it makes me wonder;

    are we all simply players in the great theatre of existence, striving for our final standing ovation?

  • Not So Free Will

    I have always felt agitated at the thought of being bound by limits. Being tied down circumstantially made me realize something.

    I am now doing things that I wouldn’t have done if I were not forced to. I do these things, as the rebel I am, because I have not been given the freedom to choose.

    This made me wonder, do we, or at least those of us who view humans as independent rather than co-dependent beings, simply crave free will?

    As thinkers, our ultimate aim seems to be freedom. Not freedom that comes at the cost of others’ rights, but a freedom where we are unbothered and unburdened by unnecessary interference.

    Yet, I began to question,why has living within limits become the hallmark of a civil society? Why does society insist that humans need to be trained or tamed?

    We are told that without rules, society would collapse and human life would spiral into chaos. But is that really true?

    Certain experiments, like the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, suggest that given free will, people can quickly devolve into violent or immoral behavior.

    For reference, this Stanford prison experiment was a study by Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University (in 1971) where 24 male students were randomly assigned roles of guards and prisoners in a simulated prison.

    It was observed:

    1. Guards quickly became abusive.
    2. Prisoners showed stress, rebellion, and breakdowns.
    3. Planned for 2 weeks but ended in 6 days.

    Conclusion: Situations and assigned roles can strongly influence human behavior, leading ordinary people to act cruelly.

    These studies show how easily we adapt to roles without much thought. However, I wonder about the validity of these conclusions. The Stanford experiment may have been serious in intent, but how representative was its sample? A small group of people in a controlled environment cannot reflect the complexity of all humanity. Perhaps the setup itself was flawed.

    Are humans, then, like animals that require training? Even if that’s the case, can humans truly become “inhuman” under normal conditions? Just as an herbivore doesn’t suddenly become a carnivore overnight, can we say humans would abandon their morals and humanity if left unchecked?

    If humans aren’t inherently inhuman, why do we need so many rules about how to live? Isn’t it true that people often perform their best when given freedom and no pressure? Or are we saying that humans are fundamentally lazy, incapable of functioning without deadlines?

    This brings me to another question, is this why we believe in God? Do we need a higher authority because we are born slaves, or are we trained to feel like slaves?

    What are we, really? Are we naturally free beings, or are we conditioned to seek control and structure?

    These questions challenge the fundamental assumptions about human nature, free will, and societal norms. Are rules a necessity for order, or have we simply accepted them as a crutch because we fear chaos?

    Does the existence of structure mean we lack the ability to self-govern?

    And ultimately, does our belief in freedom stem from an innate desire to live authentically, or is it a rebellion against the chains we’ve been conditioned to accept?