An erroneous and dangerous assumption is the view of man that dispels his capacity to take a stand toward any condition whatsoever.  Man is not fully conditioned and determined; he determines himself whether to give into conditions or stand up to them.  In other words, man is ultimately self-determining.  Man does not simply exist, but always decides what his existence will be; what he will become in the next moment.

By the same token, every human being has the freedom to change in an instant . . . One of the main features of human existence is the capacity to rise above such conditions and transcend them.  A human being is a self-transcending being.

Viktor Frankel