Cause and Effect

I've been thinking about the circular nature of existence recently. It's the group of ideas that relate to certain things being simultaneously self creating and self destroying, the most basic of which is life, and the most profound of which seems to be purpose.

In my musings I came upon another interesting way of stating things. Every action I do influences those that I do it to. They in turn act in a way at least partially influenced by how I acted upon them. In this way they are a part of me. Their actions, resulting from my influence, influence those they act upon, so they too are the product of my influence. This cycle continues until all of existence is seen to be nothing more then the grand effect of my sublime cause. All that is or ever will be is the product of my influence.

But what am I?

Max Payne once said that we are nothing more then the product of our choices, helpless to be anything other then what we are. This view of self is a form of predestination that intrigues me, but that is a subject for another discussion. Right now I would have you consider what it is that determines your choices. Even if you believe in free will you undoubtedly also believe in the self, or at least the illusion of self, and even if you don't believe that nurture has any power over nature you must acknowledge that the self is a product of something, and is hence the end result of an endless stream of influences, even if they're just the infinite chain of physical and genetic interactions that lead to its being.

So at the same time I am the singular cause that determines the universe, and yet I am nothing more then the product of the infinite influences that shaped me. Even a creature which has shaped every aspect of the universe is just another link in an existence which is inherently connected to every part of itself. This grand connection, this sublime network of influence, this celestial system of cause and effect is just one of the many ways of expressing the allbeing, or what I know;

As God.