Who are 'YOU' really?

The most important question one can continue to ask themselves Is ‘Who am I?’ So, who are you? Are you a person? A male or female? A parent? A child? A teacher? A professional athlete? A scientist? Are you actually any of these identities, or are you something more? What I figured out when reviewing my own life is that all of my confusion in this world came from this question: ‘Who am I?’

As I reviewed my life this person I believed I was continued to change. Who I define myself as today appears much different than it did even just a few years ago. It once caused me great uncertainty about life. I began to understand that all of the suffering in my life was a result of losing an identity of who I believed I was. I finally lost so much of this personal identity that I became very depressed and felt completely lost in the world. It was here I asked this question again: ‘Who am I?’ The initial answers I came up with involved defining myself in comparison to those around me, the job I was holding, and the material belongings I possessed. These people, job titles, and material belongings continue to change and therefore my belief of who I was continued to change.

I realized that who I defined myself as was unstable and at the mercy of life itself. I asked if there was anything in my life that has remained the same and never changed. Is who we are these ever-changing states or are these ever-changing states simply an aspect of a greater totality of who we are? It was here where a true awakening to the authentic nature of self began to occur. I felt a complete lack of thought and simply was present with everything. It was as if I was one and connected with all. It was here where I began to realize that every single thing that is occurring in this life is happening in this present moment. You can read this text or you can look away from it, but both are happening in this present moment.

This present moment is what we have that never changes. Thinking of the ‘past’ or ‘future’ can only be done in this present moment. If we wish to obtain something or get somewhere we cannot do it outside of acting within this present moment. This present moment cannot be skipped or avoided. Every individual person or thing exists within the greater totality of this present moment. In this way one cannot be defined as anything more than a state of being.

Even the body and mind we encompass are temporary states within this present moment. Near death experiences show that there is an awareness of leaving the physical body upon death and therefore we cannot be limited to just the physical body. Thoughts and feelings are always changing yet exist within this present moment. This present moment fits in small crevices and large holes. It is here with every person, place, and situation we experience. When we define ourselves as “being here now” we have let go of any idea of being separate from the world.

There can be no separation in this present moment because this present moment encompasses everything that happens in the entire universe. It is here where all things flow together naturally and effortlessly from a place of oneness. There is nothing we have to do. There is nobody we have to be. We are simply ever-changing within the unchanging. We are the forms within the formless. We are individual sparks of divinity interacting with other sparks of divinity within the divine whole of this present moment.

I like this. I came to this very conclusion. I shouldnt worry about who I was, or who I will become. I should be worried about who I am. I should be thankful for the beauty of NOW. Because now is all that ever is or ever will be. It's the beauty of the complexity in simplicity that compels my thoughts process. Living in the now is the ultimate state of awareness.

"If you was someone else and met your self, would you like your self", my signature.

A silly question that for me changed a lot when i started analyzing my person seen from a different persons perspective.

A question i had to ask after i realized that i had a life long depression, a depression that i was strong enough to ignore and live a somewhat normal life, but had great implication on who i really am/ was or had become, and a depression that suddenly broke me completely from a guy who could manage anything to a guy who disliked everything .

I had to become very aware of who i really am....NOW, to fight the depression.

Today i live one day at a time, just concentrating on my self( and my children, 18 and 21 ), knowing exactly who i am, i don't look back and say i should have gone left instead of right, i just make sure to take the right turn at the right time being very aware of everything that passes me, knowing it's my decision, the one i am today, the one i'm going to be tomorrow.

I learned that positive and negative is not something that is, it's a decision you make, that's what makes me who i really am.

I truly do not know. Plato would be appalled, if he knew the terrible extent to which I truly do not know.

a reply to: Subconsciously Correct

I'm basically a composite of everyone I have come across with a dash of genetics thrown into the mix.

No one really just a shadow or your fantasy doing over time.

I'm a lost traveler born into the wrong timeline or planet , not sure which , when I work it out I'll let you know.

I'm a joy & a treat!!!!
Happy dance! Happy Dance!!!

If this is what you like to contemplate, I highly suggest reading Alan Watts (philosopher, not the conspiracy guy), if you haven't already. He was quite an amazing Western interpreter of Eastern philosophies.

Here is a little ditty that always helps me and I think it's very similar to what you are saying.

"AM I?

In the beginning was the I AM.

Then to experience the I AM,
we became “Who am I?”

And in the brilliance of the unfolding of the Who am I?

some became caught in the Who,

some in the I,

and others, although very few until death, experience the AM.

The I is a matter of the ego awaiting to transform into light.

The “I” meaning the separateness, that which we perceive between one’s self and another person, experience or object.

The who is the experience of asking – it is a state of exploration from that which we think we are to that which we truly are.

The AM is the state of being described as illumined, enlightened or aware in which all things are one, where there is no separation only beingness – a state that mere words can neither go to nor describe.

The life that you are living is similar to the remembering of the AM or beingness of who you are – It is the essence and intent underlying your search for purpose, your quest for knowledge, the exploration of your life and all pieces of the experience of remembering why your soul came to be here at this time right now. This is the unfolding of “Who You Are”."

originally posted by: Sparkymedic
If this is what you like to contemplate, I highly suggest reading Alan Watts (philosopher, not the conspiracy guy), if you haven't already. He was quite an amazing Western interpreter of Eastern philosophies.

I enjoy Alan Watt's work. It is a shame he suffered from depression and an alcohol addiction but he left a lot of knowledge that is still just as useful today as it was generations ago.

a reply to: Subconsciously Correct

I've done threads exploring these types of themes in the past, but don't think mine were as well written nor as well received as yours has been.

It's a deep topic which elicits many fascinating philosophical questions in relation to the self and the nature of reality. Are we our legal names? The status we uphold professionally and socially? Or just clumps of spiritual energy, part of a greater whole that is currently out of our comprehension capabilities?

I do not have the answers, but I do enjoy reflecting on the questions.

originally posted by: Dark Ghost
a reply to: Subconsciously Correct

I've done threads exploring these types of themes in the past, but don't think mine were as well written nor as well received as yours has been.

It's a deep topic which elicits many fascinating philosophical questions in relation to the self and the nature of reality. Are we our legal names? The status we uphold professionally and socially? Or just clumps of spiritual energy, part of a greater whole that is currently out of our comprehension capabilities?

I do not have the answers, but I do enjoy reflecting on the questions.

Thanks Dark Ghost (although that is not who you are

I would say that who we are is no one thing. Everything comes and goes. When I look for who 'I' always am I can never find a separate 'I.' I am this present moment experiencing itself infinitely.

The most fundamental conditioning is that of "I am," the basic sense of self-centeredness. This is the sense that there is a thinker who thinks thoughts and who somehow lives in our bodies. This is the illusion that we have location.
Quantum physicists agree that in the subatomic universe objects exist in quantum nonseparability. Quantum objects are not located, they are not separate. Once having acted on another object, the objects continue to be connected. This connectedness is unaffected by distance, because the connecting force does not move through space. Close and far are the same in this regard.
...

namaste

I tend to think of myself as a bag of meat filled with bacteria

Picture this meat bag doing yoga.

Namaste.