Who Are You?

[JayJayDee]

I think we are the sum total of what we choose to believe as we mature. Adults can validate or invalidate the beliefs of their parents that were inculcated in them as they grew up, and can become whatever they wish to be inwardly, if not circumstantially.

We all possess the freedom to become whatever our heart desires. Sometimes indecisive hearts make bad choices, but every experience can be a learning curve.

Hearts can be free and soar, even in a prison. Who I am is not dictated by where I am or in what circumstances I might find myself.

 

[John Karter]

I am personal)

 

[Manna]

peace you all

i have a question if someone were to ask you who you were

not your username
not your occupation


what would be your answer?

I would reply a person seeking truth in life and aiming to live one's life the right way.

 

[BSM1]

The lone survivor of a war with myself.

 

[Monk Of Reason]

I am the universe expressing itself as me...for a little while.

 

[Straw Dog]

I am the universe expressing itself as me...for a little while.

I thought I was the universe expressing itself! You copy cat!

Like the Highlander, there can be only one!

 

[Monk Of Reason]

I thought I was the universe expressing itself! You copy cat!

Like the Highlander, there can be only one!

Not necessarily. We are both the universe. At different places and time.

 

[sarek]

Who am I?

I havent a clue. But I would like to find out.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Are we the body? What if we lose a limb or get a transplant, we are a different person now, right?

Are we the brain? Then who are we when this brain shuts off?

Are we the memories? So those with amnesia have no identity?

Are we the ego? Still, there is no constant you, in fact there's so many of you that you might as well just admit that you don't exist or shouldn't apply yourself to existing at least.

I'm nothing, and if that's a problem to me, then it's a problem to nothing

 

[idea]

I am a mother and a daughter, a believer and a skeptic, an engineer and a musician, a lover of books and an author, a philosopher and a simpleton, and a lover of nature.

 

[bobhikes]

I am finally me.

 

[nazz]

peace you all

i have a question if someone were to ask you who you were

not your username
not your occupation


what would be your answer?

I am I

 

[Amechania]

A scared little girl trapped in a smokin' hot body.

 

[Ablaze]

I am not my-self.

 

[NobodyYouKnow]

peace you all

i have a question if someone were to ask you who you were

not your username
not your occupation


what would be your answer?

My reply would be simple: "I do not know".

 

[raw_thought]

Consciousness!! I am not my personality,beliefs,job or title (name). Those can change and I will still be me. If I die (lose conscious awareness ) I will not be me until I become conscious again. Similarly, I am not my ideas. I am not the thought "1+1=2" even if I think it.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Consciousness!! I am not my personality,beliefs,job or title (name). Those can change and I will still be me. If I die (lose conscious awareness ) I will not be me until I become conscious again. Similarly, I am not my ideas. I am not the thought "1+1=2" even if I think it.

What is the consciousness? Isn't the consciousness always changing? Different thoughts, different perceptions, different memories, different states of consciousness? If the consciousness if not constant, how can you be the consciousness?

Rant that I got carried away with that doesn't really matter: I believe the consciousness is the mind itself, which consists of your senses, memories (which are senses that you remember), and thoughts (which are memories bundled into something new). Senses are everything, experience IS sensing. You "experience" this world, you are sensing it, hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, feeling it, all in one. Many do not consider the senses to be the same as experiencing, it is popular belief that the head resembles one's ego because they forget that our eyes are up there, and both seeing and hearing are our largest used senses (besides feeling of course). In fact, it's also because most of our sensing organs reside on the head. What if our consciousness is our senses? What if we aren't conscious as how we imagine consciousness, what if we're not really alive? What if we're just a giant, biological machine that, with these multitude of senses, make it seem that we are conscious. Or maybe it's the thoughts that make it seem that way.

 

[raw_thought]

So if I am conscious of a flower and then an ant, those are actually two different people? What I am saying is that I am not the thought "1+1=2" even while thinking it. I am that which observes my thought (1+1=2 in this example)

 

[The Sum of Awe]

So if I am conscious of a flower and then an ant, those are actually two different people? What I am saying is that I am not the thought "1+1=2" even while thinking it. I am that which observes my thought (1+1=2 in this example)

But how are we sure that there is someone observing the thoughts?

 

[raw_thought]

Great question. Can awareness be aware of awareness ( I acknowledge the difficulties in such a seeming tautology )? Descartes would say,"yes"! As a matter of fact (according to him) it is the only thing we can be certain of.* (that we are conscious )
I cannot prove to you that I am conscious.However, I am absolutely certain that I AM!For example,I cannot objectivity prove that I am in pain (because pain is subjective.Reality seen from within looking outward as opposed to objectively, seeing reality from outside looking in). Similarly, I know that I can visualize a triangle. Unfortunately, if you open my brain you will not find a triangle. You will not see neurons firing in a triangular pattern..etc.
* We are all aware of Descartes phrase, "I think therefore I am." However, a careful reading of him reveals that he believes that "I am" is intuitively obvious and not in need of an argument. Phenomenon ( things we sense,feel etc) can be doubted, but (according to him) we cannot doubt our own existence.
Google "qualia" it comes from the word "quality" as opposed to quantity. Quantity can be measured. Quality cannot. Unfortunately, the current paradigm is that that which cannot be measured does not exist. Reminds me of,"he knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Without something having a quality, how can a bunch of them have quantity? 0 x any number =0!