A few days ago I was having lunch with some colleagues and the conversation took a fascinating turn. One person in particular was sharing some thoughts, mostly a one-way communication with the group. At times, only one of the other people was engaging. The conversation was already quite deep; people were sharing some personal experiences.
I decided to step into the conversation by asking “What makes an individual unique? What makes an individual THAT particular individual?” I knew this was not an easy one but I’m always curious to pick the collective “brain” of the group on such things. Although we, as human beings, share some experiences in our lives (the human condition?) I think it is important to understand what makes an individual unique. I threw the question in the round not expecting anything and I was surprised to see that no one entirely grasped the depth of such a question.
The most compelling answer I received was that “choices” define an individual. I certainly agree to some extent. The choices we make, even the smallest everyday choices, define our lives and what our experiences will be; we actually “create” our lives through the choices we make. Still, I think that the choices we make are a consequence of what we experience or, better, perceive.
The context in which we live (external stimuli in this case) greatly influences our choices. This kind of context, however, is an external factor and we get influenced by it only to the level that we can perceive. See it this way: something might happen around me but if I don’t perceive it at all, and I am oblivious to it, would this influence any decision I take? I doubt it. Our perception dictates what we “allow in” from the surrounding context we are immersed in. This sensory data constitutes information that drives our thoughts - thoughts are generated and emerge - and this helps us make decisions.
Some people might need more information from senses and perception (rational process?) before making a decision; others might make decisions with less sensory information (emotional process?). I am not sure there is such a hard dichotomy between the two processes and, to some extent, I think we all balance the two approaches when it comes to decision-making. Yet, I think the common denominator here is “senses and perception”. Perception is tightly coupled with awareness - here we are again, back to awareness, why am I not surprised? - and awareness is a necessary condition for consciousness. As I’m writing this, I realized the last paragraph alone could be expanded even further; for the moment I just think that ‘consciousnesses’ is what makes an individual unique.
Picture created by the author using GenAI