Philosophical ramblings!

So, Who am I? Am I just a character, put on this planet by a mysterious force (lets call it God), to play my part in the script written down by him. Or am I a thinking being who can decide for himself, who is susceptible to influences and who can influence outcomes? Or, is it that I am the ruler of my destiny, the determiner of all outcomes and the ruler of my fate.

Which brings us to the nebulous concept of fate. Is there anything like fate? Eastern thought imparts an automatic feeling of there being mysterious forces beyond the control of a man. However, more often than not, when things go right, they are attributable to a man's wisdom, his attitude, his drive, but the moment things do not work out, it is fate at play. Western thought lays emphasis on the being. Communists for instance see fate as something that the upper classes threw in the face of the poorer sections of the society to keep them in abject poverty. It is the man, in western thought, who can bring about results by his own determination.

Which now brings us to the abstraction of determination. Why is it that a man might show determination to do one thing, while lacking any willingness to do another. Or, why is it that we exert ourselves to do something at one point of time, while showing no inclination for the same thing some other time. If you attribute this to 'mood', then why is it that our mood fluctuates so wildly. Why is it that we are so prone to external influences. Why is it that the mind, sometimes, behaves as though it were independent of the body, while at times, it behaves as though it were a prisoner of the same body? Determination appears to be a function of many factors, most of which lie beyond one's control. Ultimately, do we decide our own actions or not, or is there something more sinister at play, something that we have already called fate.

Is there fate? If so, who scripts this fate? Is there God? If there is, what/where/how/who is he? 

Or, once again, am I just a character put on this planet, playing out my part. Doubting others, when the script asks me to, doubting myself, when the script so commands. Pausing at the right moments and rushing at the right parts… All as per the script!