Who Am I

Have you ever had a moment where you look in the mirror and staring back at you is someone completely unfamiliar?
In that split second, it's as if you see your whole life from a different perspective, and you see that you aren't who you pretend to be.
It's almost a realization of seeing the entire world in perspective and you look at yourself and ask the question "Who am I?".
It's as if we're programmed to live meaningless lives and we never really have an opportunity to know who we are.
All we know is what society has molded us to be.
This has happened many times to me, and I'd be willing to bet it's fairly common.

What do you think this is?
An after effect of a controlled society?

Who are you? You are reality.

Originally posted by TruthParadox
Have you ever had a moment where you look in the mirror and staring back at you is someone completely unfamiliar? What do you think this is?
An after effect of a controlled society?

There must be a name for this feeling -- perhaps a type of "dissociation".

en.wikipedia.org...

I don't think it is a societal thing -- I think it is more a realization that the human body is just a shell, and everything that realization implies.

I frequently get this feeling for several seconds when I first wake in the morning, and then it is gone and forgotten. So it is quite strange to read your post -- I briefly got this feeling as I read through what you had written.

It is not a particularly frightening feeling. It just feels -- curious. At least to me. If it would last for more than a few seconds, I could probably describe it better.

[edit on 1-11-2008 by Buck Division]

A who is? Who.

A who? Semicolon.

A who? I.

A who = a wonder.

A false who dwells on reality.

A true who dwells inside actuality.

reply to post by Mabus


I see you also post in this thread Mabus.

Touche... touche.

It is one of those feelings like "Deja Vu", but lasts just a very brief moment, at least for me.

Reading the link I added above, I think the technical term would be "Depersonalization", which is classified as a type of "Dissociation".

en.wikipedia.org...

Depersonalization (or depersonalisation) is an 'alteration' in the perception or experience of the self so that one feels 'detached' from, and as if one is an 'outside' observer of, one's mental processes or body. A feeling of watching oneself act, while having no control over a situation.[1] It can be considered desirable, such as in the use of recreational drugs, but it usually refers to the severe form found in anxiety and, in the most intense cases, panic attacks

I think it is significant in that it is related to panic attacks, something I suffer from (rarely).

Have you ever had a panic attack? Might it be related? Are we even talking about the same thing? It is so hard to describe these brief flickering feelings.

Originally posted by YouAreDreaming
Who are you? You are reality.

yea and according to you reality is a dream. are you saying hes a dream? and that he doesn't exist? but if he doesn't exist how did he type this. something doesn't add up here.

Originally posted by Buck Division
There must be a name for this feeling -- perhaps a type of "disssociation".

en.wikipedia.org...

I guess...
I'm not sure it would entirely fall in that category, but that's probably the best word for it.

Originally posted by Buck Division
I don't think it is a societal thing -- I think it is more a realization that the human body is just a shell, and everything that realization implies.

That could very well be.
It's almost like a loss of ego.
Or maybe that's exactly what it is.
Like an extremely short OBE...

I'm getting damn annoyed more and more every day with all the questions in my mind, who am I really? what is real? what is reality, Why am I here? do I have a purpose here? What does the future hold for me? is there life after death? WTF am I supposed to do!? Somebody or something, please help me.

I'm starting to feel crazy, my mind has always been too curious, haha.

Every day this world gets more and more complicated, a world full of hatred, madness, happiness, love, chaos, violence etc etc and you just start to feel like your mind is going to explode, a lot of people truly feel lost in this present world, no answers, no hope, nothing yet.

One thing I know is, this world needs a hero of hope, why do you think there are so many movies and comics about the idea of a superhero, because the people in this world craves it. A symbol of hope is just what this world needs, the people in this world really want hope right now. Oh well... we have no world hero/hope yet.

Saying all this, I am VERY thankful to be alive, I love life, and these questions maybe makes life more interesting. Thank you god.




[edit on 1-11-2008 by _Phoenix_]

Originally posted by Buck Division
Reading the link I added above, I think the technical term would be "Depersonalization", which is classified as a type of "Dissociation".

en.wikipedia.org...

Good find. That's a pretty good description, though as with any other feeling, it can't truly be captured in a word.

Originally posted by Buck Division
Have you ever had a panic attack? Might it be related? Are we even talking about the same thing? It is so hard to describe these brief flickering feelings.

I've never had a severe panic attack, but sometimes I'll experience some very minor panic attacks, though I don't think it's related.
What I'm talking about could be best described as being unfamiliar with who you are. You forget everything that society labels you and everything you label yourself. It's like looking at yourself from an outside perspective with no bias or prior thought.

It's almost like when you repeat a word long enough, eventually it won't even sound like a word. It will sound strange and foreign.

[edit on 1-11-2008 by TruthParadox]

Originally posted by TruthParadox
It's almost like when you repeat a word long enough, eventually it won't even sound like a word. It will sound strange and foreign.

Yes! Exactly right! It is the same feeling I am referring to.

That is a good indicator of what we are talking about.

Does anyone else here EVER get this feeling? Please respond, if you do.

reply to post by Buck Division


yes I have a couple of times, looking at myself in the mirror in a calm state of mind, looking into my eyes, wondering about my reality, and then that weird feeling came.

Originally posted by _Phoenix_
reply to post by Buck Division

 

Yes, I have a couple of times, looking at myself in the mirror in a calm state of mind, looking into my eyes, wondering about my reality, and then that weird feeling came.

I wonder about this feeling -- whether it is actually something very telling about our existence -- kind of a revelation as to what physical existance actually is. As TruthP mentioned earlier, it is similar (but not identical) to your standard out of body experience.

Still thinking about this. I will check back later, for sure.

reply to post by _Phoenix_


It usually happens when I look in the mirror too.
Sometimes it will just hit me out of no where.
It's a very strange feeling.
I wonder what causes it.

I don't think this is too rare an experience, but I could be wrong. I certainly have this happen to me alot. And sometimes I can look at myself in the mirror for like 3 minutes as if I was not even there as if I was looking at some other girl who was trapped inside a world of matter and light in which she could not escape because of the glass barrier from which I looked at her. Come to think of it, perhaps that girl really is me and there is someone looking at me through the mirror at this very moment. Looking at a girl who is trapped in this reality and cannot see past the glass that entraps her. If anyone has never had a similar experience go look in the mirror and don't focus on you're feelings of the way you look. Just look and see what is there. It isn't much. And if you still don't understand than maybe try pretending that the mirror is lying to you and the person who you see in the mirror is nothing like you at all.

I have no idea who I am anymore....feel like a Husk.....makes you wish you were stupid.

Originally posted by N. Tesla

Originally posted by YouAreDreaming
Who are you? You are reality.

yea and according to you reality is a dream. are you saying hes a dream? and that he doesn't exist? but if he doesn't exist how did he type this. something doesn't add up here.

If you can quote me anywhere, where I say he does not exist.

Please, do so.

Otherwise, how does him being ... anything... make him any less then what he is?

And if you know what he is, please inform the internet audience.

Yes this happens to me once in a while. Sometimes it's a fleeting feeling and it's just a little strange. Twice I got genuinely frightened and I didn't want to look in a mirror for a few hours. It was like there's someone else looking back at me. And that is freaky. But THAT has only happened to me twice in real life.

Now, I also have experienced this a few times in dreams, where I look at my reflection and it's me, but with someone else's eyes. Not human eyes. Scary dreams, thank God they don't happen often.

Yes, and the person looking back seems very, very evil to me. Or sometimes just very lost.

I think it is something like assuming the role of a soul guide and looking down on one's self, seeing the human for what it is.

Frightening, isn't it?

No doubt this has happened to all who have observed, It seems we in our finite state, at a moment realizes our infinite domain. That other person that we seem to see is but our selves, The subconscious reveals itself to the conscious mind if that makes any since to you..................