What Determines The Way We Live Our Lives?

With the new year coming, perhaps it is time to ask a big question : where do we come from? What made our parents come together in the first place and conceived us? What caused our ancestors to mate and produce their descendants? And why were we born in our respective families and not others?

Something like the chicken and egg theory. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? One point of view will say the egg comes first because the chicken has to hatch from the egg, but the other point of view is that the chicken comes first because if there is no chicken, the egg will never come about.

Similarly, if we have no parents, or ancestors, there will be no us. But why were we born into a certain family, a certain race, a certain country? Why were some born with silver spoons into royalty, yet others born in the middle of a war-torn zone?

So what exactly determines how our lives are like? No doubt in much of our adult life, we have to determine ourselves how we lead our lives and make certain things happen, but why do some things just happen more than others? And why do we meet so many coincidences along the way that eventually shape what we do?

The book "Sophie's World" answers a little on how we come about. It delves on the history of all the ancient and modern civilisation that ultimately becomes the society in which we live in and the philosophy of the concept of life and choices in general.

Christian and Jewish teachings would say that humans came about because of Adam and Eve, our first Man and Woman. God created everything in six days, and He created Man out of clay, then He formulated Woman out of a rib from the Man. So Man and Woman are supposed to be joined in matrimony together.

Buddhist teachings (or is it just Chinese mythology?) would say that the first Man was a God (Huang Di) fallen from grace. He created the oceans and mountains. His sister was the Goddess Nu Wa who created the trees, birds, animals. Legend went that Huang Di and Nu Wa married and their offspring became the first humans, forming the very first dynasty of China.

Naturalists would quote Darwin's Thoery of Evolution that man (homo sapiens) evolved from apes. There were even archaeological findings on skulls of Cro-Magnon people that looked suspiciously like the skulls of apes. In which case, why do we not see any apes evolving into humans now?

So after being born into a certain family and raised by our respective parents, what really determine how we lead our lives? Why do some people do so much, yet never get any recognition, but others do not need to do so much yet got all the recognition? Why are some people able to marry their first loves, but others have to do through a series of failed relationships before finally finding the one, and yet some others never meet the right ones and get married their whole lives?

Is it fate or faith that determines the way we do things? Some will say it is God's Will that things happen, or that God will find the right person for you. Some will say it is fate you end up doing certain things a certain way and end up with a certain person. Some others will say it all depends on ourselves how we do things that determine our own fate. Even the most non-religious and non-believers end up doing certain things and with certain people. What determines that then?

I see the lives of the people around me and wonder why it is their lives are that way. They do not necessarily lead unhappy lives, but everyone has a different life. Like the children of my dad's elder sister and brother. Even among siblings in the same family, their lives and marriages are so different.

Maybe some people are just luckier and some people are just not as lucky. Shall we aspire then to become lucky? Is it within our control or has it already been determined by forces greater than us how our lives are going to be like? Just like why do some people have such a big abundance of wealth to last them three lifetimes, yet others were born into poverty and starvation?

Shall we then be satisfied with what we have without needing to achieve more, or shall we just give it a shot and see if our lives can be better? Or shall we just give up any excess and let those poorer ones have a go at leading a life where there is enough food to eat and clothes to wear?

Or perhaps I should not dampen anyone's spirits by being so negative. So have a happy and prosperous year ahead with a better life to look forward to!