I really enjoy watching movies and TV shows from other countries in their native languages; with the English translations in the subtitles coming from the creative studio itself from native English speakers who live immersed within the host country. It gives such a unique insight into how that culture reacts to certain stimulus in ways very different from us. No less valid, mind you, just different.
A program I just finished watching had the main character trying to decide if Fate, or Free Will ruled the universe. It must be remembered that Japan (where this show was from) does not share the same cultural root as the Western world. There was no great empire in their past in which they were living in the ruined shadows of. No historical legacy of greatness, decline, and greatness again. They had their share of ups and downs but they were internal in nature.
In their culture, obedience to their Emperor and his lords (Samurai), and to duty is what drove their mind-set. The absolute terms of Good and Evil were not as sharply defined as they were in Western philosophy. In their culture, good men can do very bad things out of duty to their superior. Likewise, very bad men will do good deeds out of obligation to a debt or their honor. Concepts that many Americans struggle with. This is why we can watch their movies, especially those from the 1960's, 70's and 80's and really have no clue as to what is motivating the main characters. We shrug and change the channels not understanding that we are the ones acting shallow by not trying to understand what drives their decision process.
The main character struggled with the last round of fighting, killing, and bloody destruction that he and his allies had just completed. It was not the first time, either, that their group had lost friends while taking down the enemy. This enemy did not care if they lived or died as they were immortal and simply tired of living. They had lost the love of life because they had seen the same things happen over and over again throughout their long lives. They only had each other since any other relationship they could form always turned to ash and dust in their hands. After the main bad guy is defeated, it dawns on the hero that the bad guy really did not care if his plans for revenge were successful as success still meant his death. This got him to thinking about his last few rounds of adventures. The names were different, the opponents different, but the process and the results were the same. He wondered if the gears of the universe propelled him along to his fate or if he was just a grain of sand being ground down by those gears.
In other words, does he really have a choice? Does honor, duty, and obligation bind him to his actions? That is pretty deep for a Westerner to really understand. We always feel that we have a choice, regardless of whether that choice is to sit on the floor and whine about the situation.
In many ways, this thinking is tied to the Transmigration of Souls concept that some cultures believe in. In the Catholic/Christian world, your soul is "created" in heaven and born into a body where it lives and dies, learning, growing, and serving their fellow human being. When their time is up, they are called home to heaven to be with their loved ones in a place of undying beauty, waiting for the day when God's Kingdom can come to the material plane of the Earth.
It is a lot more complicated once you start mixing in other belief systems. The modern spiritualists believe that souls routinely move from the "other side", or state of pure energy, into the material plane to be born again and again to learn and grow. Time has no meaning on the other side and that they can see history roll before them like the Norman Scrolls. They can choose the period they wish to live in and craft the adversities that they wish to endure. To me this flies in the face of physics, entropy and all that. Long story that I will not get into right now, but either way you look at it, you are going to be an actor on a stage, playing a part, hopefully correctly, that was laid out for you (by you and your friends) else-where and else-when. No room for much free will there. To them, time is a known, linear thing that can be entered and exited through birth and death.
The Hindu and others feel that time is infinite and only seems to repeat due to similar conditions rising over and over and that every life is unique and yours to live. Upon death it may take centuries (or just hours) to be reborn into someone (or something) else. Fate is not a wheel but an arrow, where you do have the ability and responsibility to improve yourself and the world around you.
I think the reality is different then we all believe. I do believe in choice, not predetermination. That is a good thing about Christianity that I like. We choose to serve, or we choose not to. We either follow the teachings of Jesus and do good by our fellow man; or we do not. Islam is a twisted parody of Christianity in that their afterlife is a place where you can be allowed to live out your most debauched fantasies. You'd think is was written by a bunch of macho men who wanted the right and obligation to mistreat women written into their religion.
Anyhow, the main character decided that he didn't need to ponder those higher order universal processes as long as he got to live out that process with his friends and allies. Come what may, he would face it with dignity and honor. That is a surprisingly Stoic way of looking at things.
Deep down, people are people regardless of where or when they were born. Culture is something we make up for ourselves and we should always seek to understand, and be understood, by those we are dealing with.
There, I am now feeling better upon the Stoa. I hope you were able to stay awake, though I truly hope that this has been the starting point for some deep thoughts of your own.
Live well.
--Zavost
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