Programmed

We think we have free will, but we don’t. We are the product of programming by our families and friends, who shape our lives and thoughts in ways of which we are usually unaware. It happens in childhood, and by the time we are adults we are programmed in ways from which most of us never depart.

Religion is an example of programming. Christian parents have Christian children. Muslim parents have Muslim children. Hindu parents have Hindu children. And so on. Coincidence? No, just programming.

Politics is an example of programming. Conservative parents have conservative children. Liberal parents have liberal children. I’ve seen it repeatedly among friends and family. Parents pass their values and perspectives to their children and their children rarely question or examine those values and perspectives.

I was programmed to be conservative, and in my younger days I was conservative. But I moved away from the influence of others. As years passed, I saw other perspectives and reflected on them. Now I consider myself a liberal—a person having liberal values—though I’m not a “leftist”, which is different. (I have observed that many people seem to misunderstand what liberal values are, so I wrote an article about the subject. Read it here.)

While all of us have been programmed to some extent, we also have the ability to reprogram ourselves. We can change; we can evolve. The world is not black and white. It is, rather, many shades of gray. Understanding requires empathy—the ability to imagine ourselves in someone else’s shoes, the ability to see those shades of gray, to understand both sides of a dilemma and perhaps to find the higher path. Eliminating our programming is our lifetime goal. It doesn’t happen in one lifetime.