- The document discusses how individuals shape their own destiny through their actions and beliefs, rather than accepting what life brings without trying to change things. It argues people miss opportunities if they do not take control of their own lives. - It describes how, for someone born into a strict Hindu Brahmin family, their life would be limited to praying, yoga, and spirituality in isolation from society. Societal rules and expectations have often regulated people's lives. - In such an environment during adolescence, teenagers naturally feel a need to rebel and examine the world, find their own identity and goals in order to live harmoniously with their soul and not become enslaved mentally or spiritually.

1. Ultimate Question Reflection Paper

2. We are the masters of our own destiny. What we, as individuals, input in our present is
what determines shaping of our future. The destiny is foreordained to us since birth. If a
person lives with a belief that it is better to accept everything that life brings to us, than
trying to change something, they have many chances to feel that they miss important
opportunities and do not own their life. Unfortunately, this could result in a loss of sense
of existence.
Being born in a staunch Hindu, Brahmin family, one’s life is limited to praying, yoga and
spirituality. All the contact with the society is minimal and one lives a socially isolated
life. Moreover, the state, church and society have always regulated human life. Rigid
requirements and taboos, rules of morals and standards of behavior “operated” peoples’
lives. Thus, “we tend to define the center of our world as that special place where we
are known, where we know others, where things mean much to us, and where we
ourselves have both identity and meaning; family, school, town, region, culture, and
religion” .
Moreover, a person always experiences influence of the group to which he or she
belongs. Therefore, in an environment like that a teenager is bound to rebel.
Adolescence is the time of examining the surrounding world, the time of rebellions. The
time of searching one’s own self. The necessity to find yourself and your goals is

3. important to live in harmony with your soul. Soul is meant to be free, because life
requires opportunities to grow, in order to experience the world and not become a slave.
Thus, mental and soul slavery is worse than physical detention.
The real life is however not that easy and requires a lot of effort to survive. The taste of
this new life is enjoyable, it brings the feeling of freedom and the ability to make one’s
own decisions, which is overwhelming. Our “wants” and “needs” are often inconsistent,
we always want something that we do not possess now, but we could easily lose an
interest to what we have already reached in life . We feel that we need something
different, something else. The psychoanalyst Joyce McDougall considers that a person,
who is obsessed with standards, often hides the internal chaos of their soul and mind .
Nevertheless, people are usually frightened by the fact that their live does not conform
to imagined standards. However, under pressure of the standard stereotypes (for
example, university and several jobs) it is easy to lose one’s unique personality and fail
to notice one’s own personality. If one is ordered to pray and devote his or her life to
spirituality, this will not do any good. Without the desire and a profound understanding
of what and what for we are doing something, life is worthless.
To sum up, a person cannot be expected to do what his or her ancestors practiced or
followed for generations, as time has changed. I consider that …