Are we who we are because that’s just who we are?

Or are we who we are because that’s what we’ve become?

The nature versus nurture debate is one of the great mysteries of the mind, and one that I’ve always felt very passionate about. Not least because I have brothers who are twins (non-identical), who grew up in exactly the same environment and circumstances, but who are polar opposites in every way, physically (one is a small, blond, adventurous extrovert; the other is a tall, brown-haired, shy homebody) and mentally: their likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses.

How can two individuals, born and raised in the same way, by the same parents, grow up to be so completely different?

Were they different characters from birth, or did they grow apart?

Some scientists believe we behave as we do according to genetic predispositions or ‘animal instincts’ (nature). Others believe that people perform in certain ways because they are taught to do so (nurture).

But who’s to say scientists know what they’re talking about? I mean, seriously. The only reason we believe these white-coated so-called ‘experts’ is because we’re schooled to believe they are right. But how do we know they actually are?

Why does everything in life have to be verified by expert opinion, scientific proof, methods, formulas, and experiments?

Whatever happened to magic? To coincidence?

We know that heredity and environment are both crucial factors in determining one’s personality: memory, intelligence, creativity, self-esteem. These are some of the things that make people who they are. But people today are too quick to rely on what scientists, doctors, even dentists have to say.

For example, just the other night I was watching a television show called Medicine Men Go Wild on Channel 4, about identical-twin English doctors (Chris and Xand van Tulleken) who travelled to one of the most disease-ridden places on Earth to live with the Bayaka Pygmies in the Congo Basin, a hotbed for killers like Ebola and HIV.

Over the course of a month the Medicine Men lived with the Bayaka, trying to understand how the tribe has managed to thrive for tens of thousands of years in such an unforgiving environment.

Watching the Bayaka’s it was abundantly clear to me: they lived at one with nature, they respected their environment. They didn’t combat it like we do in the West, where the solution for every ailment is hospitalisation and prescription drugs.

Throughout time and throughout the globe natives have employed natural methods to survive, because that is all they know: the power of the mind, folk wisdom, superstition, natural healing. Without modern medicine, would we be better off?

Anyway, I digress. The fact that the Medicine Men are twins was not meant as a convenient tie in to my nature/nurture deliberation, it was just an example of our reliance on modern science. Chris and Xand both share the same profession and a love of adventure and the outdoors, having worked in Vietnam and Guyana (respectively) as doctors. But then they are identical twins and share the same DNA. I think that exempts them from this debate, does it not?

Yes identical twins have a 'nature' advantage. But I have however learnt, thanks to the wisdom of Wikipedia, that although identical twins have identical DNA, the differing environmental influences throughout their lives affect which genes are switched on or off (called ‘epigenetic modification’).

The crux of the matter is: what factors contribute more to the mental development of a person? Nature – their biological and genetic make up? Or nurture – their upbringing and environment?

My point about scientists is that perhaps they should dig a little deeper. The nature/nurture theories may not simply be just about environment and genes. We are who we are because of what is ingrained in us. Not just in our DNA, but in our subconscious too. Could past life experiences have determined our current lives, affecting our relationships, our fears, our soul, and our ongoing spiritual journey? Some theorists believe that certain phobias, like the fear of heights or the fear of water, can be linked directly to painful and traumatic moments just before death in a past life, and that this fear is then carried over to our current life.

As nurture takes our genetic tendencies and moulds them as we grow and experience life, so nature endows us with inborn strengths and traits. But could a past life experience determine who we are today? And if so, would this be considered nature, or nurture? For this is an experience we’ve once had that’s cultivated us, but one that’s also ingrained in our every being.

By Abbey Stirling/MOLI