1. Is our life predetermined and to what extent?
2. Which are the factors which predetermine our lives?
3. How much are we aware of our fate?
4. Will knowledge of our fate improve our lives, or will oblivion offer us a happier life?
5. We should note here that talent is not inherited.
6. For example the offspring of a genius will not necessarily become geniuses.
7. Therefore there seems to be some factor which lies outside genes or matter, but which somehow predetermines our psychic abilities.
8. What is talent and where is it to be found?
9. We may say that talent is found in the stars.
10. However we should mention that in this case the stars do not exert a physical influence, like gravity or radiation.
11. Rather they are symbols which represent the hidden factor which influences our psyche.
12. In that sense we could equivalently use shapes, numbers or any other notion.
13. In fact there is a notion which can be helpful- that of the archetypes.
14. According to Wikipedia, Carl Jung understood archetypes as universal, archaic patterns and images that derive from the collective unconscious and are the psychic counterpart of instinct. They are inherited potentials which are actualized when they enter consciousness as images or manifest in behavior on interaction with the outside world. [1]
15. Here for simplicity we can compare archetypes with particles or strings in physics. As particles (which in string theory are produced by the vibration of strings) include the properties of matter (e.g. the electron is the carrier of charge, the graviton is the carrier of mass, etc.), so archetypes will include the properties of the soul.
16. Thus as particles (or the vibrations of strings) constitute all the matter of the universe, archetypes (with their vibrations) will compose all emotions or properties of our psyche.
17. The previous image refers to Robert Plutchik’s wheel of emotions. According to Wikipedia, he suggested 8 primary bipolar emotions: joy versus sadness; anger versus fear; trust versus disgust; and surprise versus anticipation. Additionally, his circumplex model makes connections between the idea of an emotion circle and a color wheel. Like colors, primary emotions can be expressed at different intensities and can mix with one another to form different emotions. [2]
18. Together with such emotions we can also recognize other psychic properties such as courage, creativity, prudence, etc., and their opposites.
19. In such a sense talent will be the sum of a certain configuration of the archetypes, corresponding to a definite package of psychic properties, more or less predetermined and different for every human being.
20. Where archetypes are to be found, how we could trace them, or how they interact with the material world, are of course problems which remain unsolved.
[2]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Plutchik#Plutchik's_wheel_of_emotions]
1/8/2020
Image: [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Plutchik-wheel.svg]
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