At the moment, you think to yourself that you're a unique and individual person and that all your actions are justified (otherwise you wouldn't do them), that you're in control of what you think and do, and that you have control over your destiny.

Well what if...everyone else is thinking the exact same thing? When you pride yourself on "being the only one" to do something, in reality everyone else has done it too. All your morals and aspirations that you believe only YOU believe in, are in fact shared by everyone (or a great majority)? That you are a walking stereotype, a zombie unaware of the fact that you have no free will (even though you think you do). Let me give you an example;

Let's say your last name is Smith, and you think you're a different person with a different set of beliefs than your parents, but at the same time, your parents believe they're different from their parents and so forth. But in fact they (and you) are almost exactly alike, and you could've predicted exactly who you are now when you were a baby, and that you could predict who you're going to become just because you're part of the Smith family.

Anyone else?

I can't say I've ever thought of that.

with as many people as there are in the world pretty much everything has been done, i don't pride myself on being unique, i pride myself on being an individual, my goals are entirely my own, i went against what my parents wanted and stuff...

But what if your goals, which you THINK are your own, were in fact your parents when they were your age...what if I could predict exactly what you were gonna be thinking in 20 years, simply because you belong to a certain group of people (genetically, socially, etc)

I don't think all my actions are justified. Hell, I often think to myself just what a horrible person I am for doing certain things, and how the fact that I KNOW that these things are terrible only compounds how terrible they are.

Nor do I think I'm the only one to do thinks. The few things that I think I'm somewhat unique in doing them, I usually mean that I am one of few, but that I shouldn't be, and feel refreshed when I find others of like mind.

Anyway, alot of the problem you state is really something that was accepted long ago, but in somewhat recent time, with our rejection of tradition, do we see a problem with htis as we attempt to break away from it. Yet, in breaking away from it, we actually just fall into something more base than we were before. When you are part of a tradition and system, you know what there is to ACTUALLY change, from within, and you can do something, and usually you do it intentionally with others as well, thus no problem with not being the only one to do so, in fact it makes you feel more determined and justified. Also with such a tradition, you already have available what has been done before and so, if you choose, you can build on top of that, rather than working on the foundations that were already made long ago. Again though, with such an idea, there isn't much need to be so entirely unique, only to fulfill your role which is different than some others in the society, while possibly the same as many as well, but you know you are intricate to the overall fabric of the whole.