Can we talk of having a destiny?
Nicholas Adamides
The alarming concept of a pre-determined destiny is, in my opinion, a deeply embedded, man-made construct of ancient culture that has significantly moulded our understanding of modern freedom. For instance, Greek mythology birthed three inexorably energized sisters, known as the Fates, who relentlessly weave the tapestry of time for eternity, promoting the societal mantra of consciousness and self-determination as an unrealistic illusion; even human influence over actions in the present are non- existent and uncontrollable. This ideology has been manufactured en masse across a plethora of other civilizations that have become responsible for the belief that we lack agency over every thought that we conceive, reaffirming the neuroscientific perspective of destiny. I think destiny can be defined as the future created by actions in the present and past as a result of cognitive functioning, reaction to environmental stimuli, and one’s mindset within the spectrum from extreme pessimism to blinding optimism. Therefore at any singular moment there are an infinite number of possibilities one could be deliberating that, in turn, translates into physical action, but only a single thought is thought about, due to the factors aforementioned. Research at Columbia University proved the association between low dopamine in the dorsal striatum and negative symptoms such as depression and the flattened affect while studying schizophrenic patients. Neurochemical and neurotransmissional imbalances resulted in pessimistic approaches to diurnal events and dictated the formation of personal opinions, proving spontaneou s or prolonged modifications to one’s mood causes an action difference, but this is regulated by neuronal operations humans are incapable of individually determining. Although the research was conducted monitoring neurodevelopmentally abnormal patients, th e same neurochemical fluctuations modifying one’s dictat in life constantly occur in normal people demanding the metamorphoses of physical responses to events exterior from oneself. For instance, when you observe someone crying, dopamine concentration in several regions of the brain will decrease, while norepinephrine may increase to raise blood pressure which stimulates sympathetic reactions like temporary sadness and distress, as well as a desire to comfort the victim of misfortune. However, such emotions would not be invoked if the inhibition and stimulation of neurotransmitters did not manufacture these responses for oneself through unconscious activities unbeknownst to one since we simply serve as evidence of their effects, highlighting the argument that our actions are at the mercy of cognitive functioning over which we maintain no control: we are slaves to the events of our environment. Therefore, the neuroscientific facet of this discussion establishes humans as the vicarious passengers of our emotional complexity prescribed for us based on neurochemical modifications stimulated by the events of our surroundings. Hence every decision and physical alteration of normal behaviour is rooted in factors external to conscious influence; the path of destiny is fixed, because every human response is predictable within the cerebral arena. We are just oblivious travellers on the bus ride of time, where the endless sigh loiters upon the diurnal screech of inevitable wheels.
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