Where do choices come from?
Observation
Choices are
not always visible from the start.
Even when in the same place,
or encountering the same event,
sometimes only one thing is visible,
and at other times,
several possibilities can be seen.
The environment changed.
Knowledge increased.
I encountered someone's words.
Previous history connected in a different way.
Because of one of these,
a path that seemed not to exist until then
can suddenly appear.
However, was that path
truly newly born?
Or,
did the conditions for seeing it just change?
Structure
Choices are
not things that are suddenly born right before an action.
What can be seen?
What can be touched?
How close can you get?
Who can you connect with?
Depending on the combination of such conditions,
the range of selectable options is shaped in advance.
History
↓
Current connection conditions
↓
Visible possibilities
↓
Touchable possibilities
↓
Selectable paths
Even in the same situation,
if the stored history,
the people you can connect with,
or the time and words you can use are different,
the possibilities you see,
and the paths you can actually choose, will change.
That a path exists.
That the path is visible.
That the path can be touched.
That it can actually be chosen.
These are not the same.
Choices are
not completed paths lined up in the world,
but perhaps they are possibilities connecting to current conditions,
emerging as reachable paths.
Implication
Therefore,
even if you think later that 'I could have chosen otherwise,'
within the conditions at that time,
that path was not necessarily
established as an actual choice.
What you knew as knowledge
and what you could actually choose are not the same.
There was no time.
There was no room to lose the relationship.
There was no way to put it into words.
There was no place to return to after failing.
When such conditions overlap,
even paths that exist in theory
fall out of the realm of realistic choices.
On the other hand,
A small record.
Someone else's perspective.
Room to start over.
A new connection.
By adding such conditions,
paths that were previously invisible
can appear as tangible possibilities.
The abundance of choices
cannot be measured solely by the number of paths presented.
It changes depending on how many conditions
for connecting to those paths remain in reality.
Even in places that appear free,
if the conditions for connection are lost,
there are few paths that can actually be chosen.
Conversely,
even in places where almost no paths are visible,
connections that have not yet been observed
may still remain.
Question
So, where do choices come from?
Is it when you gain a lot of information?
When you are given freedom?
When you make a strong decision?
Or perhaps,
When a little time is left.
When you learn a different word.
When you have a place to return to even if you fail.
When your connection with someone changes.
Is it within such changes in conditions?
If choices are not paths lined up from the start,
but rather things that arise
when possibilities and current conditions connect,
then,
in the places where you feel you 'cannot choose' right now,
are there connections that you just haven't seen yet?
Or,
are there conditions that have already been lost,and
is that loss itself
becoming difficult to see?