The Illusion of Choice

Religion edition

Most of us were born in a box and most of us will never see outside of our box due to the powerful strings that keep us in the box.

During a casual chat about religion, my friend, Joel told me that he could give 7 reasons why he “chose” Christianity.

I asked him,

“Which other options did you have”?
He was startled, of course, because choice entails having other options to pick from. To be sure to pick the best, you must study and weigh the other options.

Let us take the example of someone who was born in a majority Christian country, to a Christian family, baptized at birth, studied in Christian schools, and presently working in a Christian institution.

This person was born and groomed into his religion and by its very own nature, religion requires belief without questioning. But we must ask, did he really choose Christianity?

He can’t claim to have chosen his religion considering that there are at least 4200 other religions besides Christianty such as Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism e.t.c which he may not know anything about and which never had a chance to feature in his lineup.

If he were born to a Buddhist family and groomed in Buddhist traditions, he, like my friend Joel will be giving 77 times 7 reasons why he “chose” Buddhism.

Choice in this scenario is an illusion.

Oftentimes, our boxes are chosen for us by family and society. Sometimes you don’t see the box because you are inside the box and thinking inside the box.