In literature, the primary factor determining the main character/hero/protagonist is based on the choices he/she makes. In constructing most stories, the main character faces a kind of narrowing pyramid where the choices become more difficult and more defining ... ultimately there's the final, critically defining point where there's no turning back, and the character is "complete." Many authors believe that stories are in fact character driven: character choices determine the plot, the plot is pretty much a map of those choices.
In fiction, the novel ends; however, in life we face endless choices, and each choice defines us, and generally opens the way to other choices. However, like an author, we can pull the strings, we can create the character, we can generate some of the choices that will define who we are. The final choice—well it's not a choice, but an interesting spot from which to survey the choices we've made, the life we've lived. The idea of being "prepared" since we don't know when the end is coming, posed most often in religious contexts, might also be understood as any point in time where we look back over the landscape of the choices that have defined who we are. While things happen to us, who we are is ultimately determined by how we respond—what we choose to do.
Learning how to make better choices that are more aligned with who we are (as well as who we'd like to be) can make the view of our lives' landscapes at any point and from any perspective, more appealing, more satisfying
Fact or fiction
In literature, the primary factor determining the main character/hero/protagonist is based on the choices he/she makes. In constructing most stories, the main character faces a kind of narrowing pyramid where the choices become more difficult and more defining ... ultimately there's the final, critically defining point where there's no turning back, and the character is "complete." Many authors believe that stories are in fact character driven: character choices determine the plot, the plot is pretty much a map of those choices.
In fiction, the novel ends; however, in life we face endless choices, and each choice defines us, and generally opens the way to other choices. However, like an author, we can pull the strings, we can create the character, we can generate some of the choices that will define who we are. The final choice—well it's not a choice, but an interesting spot from which to survey the choices we've made, the life we've lived. The idea of being "prepared" since we don't know when the end is coming, posed most often in religious contexts, might also be understood as any point in time where we look back over the landscape of the choices that have defined who we are. While things happen to us, who we are is ultimately determined by how we respond—what we choose to do.
Learning how to make better choices that are more aligned with who we are (as well as who we'd like to be) can make the view of our lives' landscapes at any point and from any perspective, more appealing, more satisfying
Thanks for the quote John. I'm a believer.
--Alfred