Harold and Oedipus

In the movie "Stranger than fiction" the following questions are answered: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8- all of the above questions are answered in this movie. I choose to answer the following questions: #1, #2, #4, and #7.

Question: "Does the world shape how we think or what shapes our lives?" The world shapes both how we think and also shapes our lives. Things that happen in the world shapes what and how we think which in turn shapes our actions which then affects what we end up doing in our lives. But then again this is believing that we have the freewill or the choice to decide what we want to do with our lives. If you take out the idea of freewill- then the whole equation changes. With that in mind- even though the world may shape how we think, it won't affect what we end up doing in our lives.

Question: "Do we really know who we are and what our role is in the world?" Yes and no. The movie "Stranger than fiction" begins with Harold following the same pattern everyday and not really having any individuality and as a result not really knowing who he is. Towards the end of the movie, Harold started learning how to play the quitar and as a result he becomes more of an individual and therefore knows himself better. I think that once a person or a character knows themselves better then they know what their role is in the world better. Then again, the person could think that they are someone else entirely than who they really are and as a result things get really confusing. In that case, the person would have to find their true selves in order to know what their role (or goal) in life is. In other words- having your own goals sets who you will be in life.

Question: "Do the choices we make lead us to our fate even though we are the ones making the choices?" Yes the choices we make lead us to our fate because I think that any one person had multiple "paths" laid out before them based on the choices they could make in any one situation. So I guess, the answer is yes- that the choices we make lead us to our fate even if we're the ones making the choices.

Question: "Can we change our fate?" I think that yes we can change our fate. In the movie- "Stranger than fiction" Herald is able to change his fate because he finds the author and tells her not to kill him, but then after he finishes reading the book he tells her to keep that ending where he dies. In the end, him telling her to keep the ending where he dies, affects her in a such a way where she changes her mind and Herald doesn't die.

-katthegreat08

What I believe

3 possibilities: complete freewill, destiny and determinism.
Freewill and determinism seem the most plausible to me- maybe because I've seen these things in my life and have experienced them for myself. I've grown up as an only child and as a result I've always been pretty close to my parents. Well, growing up my mom and dad never got along that well, in fact about 3 yrs ago my parents divorced. For the longest time I was having the hardest time dealing with the divorce and only just recently have things started to patch up between my Dad and I. Anyways- at that time I was going with this guy in my neighborhood (around the time my parents got divorced). I had the freewill to choose to be with him, I was also determined for my relationship with this guy to not end up anything like my parents relationship had and this also included any future relationships with any other guys. Thinking about it now though, I think I was destined to be with him and be friends with this guy because he was and is the kind of person where just being around him can get your thoughts flowing to where it can affect you in a profound way if you let it. I'll admit it- he did affect me and I think it was a combination of freewill, destiny, and my own determination that led to it.
For the longest time I've been questioning whether there really is a "God" out there and whether or not there are other "higher beings". In a way there must be a god somewhere out there but I think that even if there is another "higher being" or god that they only affect our lives at a minimal. I think that our own free will and determination have more of an affect over our destiny that anything a god decides, along with our DNA. Our DNA has a huge affect on our daily lives but that doesn't mean that we'll let it keep us from going on. Like for example, my grandfather has 2 different eye diseases that are hereditary and that have made him almost completely blind but this hasn't kept him from living a somewhat "normal" life. Both of my grandparents have had cancer and many doctors have said that your chances are doubled for getting cancer if someone in your family has cancer or gets cancer- but knowing this fact won't keep me from living my life or keep me from doing what I want to do (ex: dying my hair weird colors, eating the foods that I want to eat, or lazing around in the sunshine).
-katthegreat08