What if we’re actually all the same person and experiences really do determine who we are?

What makes you YOU?

Thought question

- Chad Burton

What if we performed an experiment? What if we take identical twin babies and place them in identical situations? Every day the parents have a script on exactly how to act towards that child. Their rooms and communities are engineered to be identical. Their language is the same. They have the same religion. Everyone they interact with would be the exact same height and weight relative to them. Their food would be identical.

Then let’s say they never meet or even know the other one exists. So, with their environments and genes being exactly the same… would they grow up to be the exact same person? Would they say the same things at the same time? Would they have the same personalities? Would they be remarkably similar? If not, at what point and age would they start to diverge from each other? 

I guess the real question is: What makes someone themselves? Is it simply the environment in which he or she is placed or is there something inside that make us who we are? 

Without being able to explain why … I believe that the two may have similar personalities, but would, in the end, be different people. Which begs the question: What made the change? What makes a person themselves? If identical genes and environments don’t make them the exact same person… than what would? 

I think about my interests and how they came to be. I was in student government, so pride in my school is something that comes naturally to me. This turned me into a huge sports fan. 

I love teaching. I think religious convictions taught to me by my parents caused me to want to explain them to others. However… deeper… I like to teach others because of something else. I’ve always had a care for the situations of others. I am always fascinated by why people act the way they act, what’s going through other people’s heads, and why. I realized through this desire that several people aren’t happy with their situations. I love teaching because I love helping others find happiness in their lives. But that like for teaching stemmed from my original caring about how others think.

Where did that caring come from? I’m starting to think it’s like this. When we are young, we are shown a menu of thoughts we could entertain. Some choose to think about sports, others science, and others helping other people. I think whichever we decide early on to think about is what we will continue to think about… and thus that will turn us into who we are. So a small decision made by someone very young can determine their destiny. “As a man thinketh, so is he.” 

So basically, we are the product of what each of us chooses to think about… which can be heavily influenced by environment but not necessarily determined by it.