A psychologist once said something like "you give me ten new born babies and I could turn them into anything." Meaning that anyone and everyone has the potential to become an evil and horrible person or a wonderful effigy of good. the decisions we have made in our past situations have shaped who we are today, and who we are today will decide who we will become.

I take this to mean that we all share something in common, even though we are very different individuals. Jesus Christ, any Buddha, Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson, myself and you are individuals but can identify because we could become not unlike any of each other. We are humans, that are what we are only because what we have been through and what we have been conditioned to believe.

My point I want to make is I feel it is very important to not so entirely separate ourselves from bad and good people and avatars of good and evil and each other. I think it is important to reflect on our selves and be able to sympathize with our enemies. I Power (I feel) is helping us look at who we really are and choose what we ultimately want to be.

When we look at all those with the money and the power that we criticize for being corrupt, I think we should put our selves in their scenario and say " would I really do anything different?" if we answer honestly, we should learn something key about ourselves.

This is just an exercise of the first asset of I Power. any thoughts?

If you were still yourself but happened to end up in their place you might act different. But if you had the same parents and upbringing and all that shapes a human you'd probably act the same. Which raises the question: Are they to blame for their actions?

And a completely different question: Would you want to be in their place? Would you want the money and power? Would you prefere to be one of the rich and powerful? Are they any happier?

One reason for me not being rich is that I don't care to be. =)

there is a theory from 500 b.C. which says that there are four kinds of human characters:

1.Sanguis - active person / optimistic
2.Phlegma - passive person / pesimistic
3.Melas Cholé - sad / melancholic
4.Cholé - excitable / choleric

according to this theory there are people that act differently in different situations - lets say hitler was a mix of sanguis and cholé and that he was extraversed (something like an attention-whore), but youre a phlegmatic person

so you would act differently in the question about, if theres going to be a war or not

but there is still the problem of other people manipulating you and whether its your own choice or not

So this is sort of a Nature vs. Nurture thread? I hold a person's Nature to be unchangeable by their Nurturing, it may be influenced by, but I do not think it can be changed.
I'm not sure "Potential" is possible. For example, so and so had the potential to be blank and blank. I reject that, it's a contradiction.

I would rather not think of it in the deterministic way, in my opinion that would be to acknowledge that everyone has their pre-determined role in life and that we are mere dolls living up to our fates.

As to the "what if you were on their place" situation, like lithander said, we'd need to experience everything they've been through and all the choices and decisions that made up their character.

That's not determinism.

Well, whatever you call that concept, might've mixed up the words ... sorry bout that:x
Hmm maybe its calvinism ?

no that's my point, what would YOU do in their position? by YOU I mean what you have become from your life's experiences, to experience their life is to be who they are... so you would be the same person and of course do the same thing.

Well I wouldn't be the same person I am if I was brought up by "that rich guy's" parents, but I also wouldn't be like the rich guy either.

I'd be the person with my genes and his experiences. Well, actually I'd probably even have different experiences due to my making different decisions so I'd be even more different.

Don't know.. People influence as, and because of that we tend to change a bit. Now, if I where rich, people would have influenced me differently, so naturally I'd be a different person.

Example, if everyone tells me I look shabby because of sucky clothes, I'd feel bad and turn somewhat saddish. If I where rich on the other hand, and people'd compliment me on my clothing, I'd probably become arrogant, thus turn bad. Of course, character has a lot to say in this as well. Yes sayin

That ultimately depends on When the person is being Nurtured. Main factors in people's personalities are developed around 5-7 years old, if you put identical twins in different environments during this time they would surely come out much different than one another.

However, adults' mind patterns are usually concrete and unwilling to change, so that would testify to Nature > Nurture.

I was more just mentioning my belief in the Soul.

Ahh, okay.



I would try to use the wealth and power to inform the masses of corporate corruption and make a difference in doing so. Bring down the system, all that sort of stuff. I could go on forever but I think the point is made