Who Are You?

Who am I?

It is a question that everybody is confronted with no matter their race, religion, or geographical location. It is a universal that is unbounded by the structure of culture and more personal than any question that could be asked.

Yet how many people actually ask this question? And if they do, how many actually go deeply into it.

It is easy to say "I am so and so" or "I am this or that profession." But is that really an honest answer? We point to our labels. A name is a word, an abstraction that only points towards life, but is not really life. We wear so many 'hats' throughout the day. And, for whatever reason, we believe that what ever 'hat' we are wearing at the time of inquiry is the hat we are, were, and will be for all time.

Yet how many times in a person's life do they have identity crises', large or small, and seek a new definition of themselves. People wake up and suddenly realize the life they've been living, the role they've been assuming isn't really them, isn't true to themselves, and they start resisting it. They quit a job, take up a new hobby, start a new project, and everything in between because they are rebelling against the person they have fallen into playing.

And that's just it. We've been playing this whole time yet we take it so seriously. We think that if we loose our titles then we would lose ourselves. If I am not my name, the balance in my bank account, my job, the car I drive or the house I own, then exactly who am I?

These are the things that are noticed by others. They are the proof of our hard work and right to live in this world; we are contributing to life and society. What we do not realize is that in all this action and striving, what we are looking for is not ourselves but the recognition of others. If others do not validate what we want to be then we say to ourselves "well, then, I guess I am not that thing."

This is absolutely ridiculous. How many writers, poets, painters, economist, historians, philosophers, etc. have aided in the development of mankind through their work yet were not validated as such in their lifetimes. They died without recognition as what they felt in their heart they truely were. Yet they continued to be themselves, as it is, and everyone since then has benefited from it.

We deny our true selves by becoming stuck in the situation of not being the labels we ascribe to ourselves nor in what society says what we SHOULD be.

The point is, for better or for worse, you are what you are doing. The only real activities in life, the only ones that are real for the individual, are the ones that are done for themselves. The ends are the means. Whatever it is you do. Do not do it because you are seeking fame, wealth, power, or status. Do it because it fulfills the true nature of your being. An artist should find fulfillment in the creation of their piece and not it's market value. A doctor should find reward in alleviating the suffering of a patient and not in his wealth or status.

This is not only applicable to the professional realm. It also hold true in relationships. The best mothers, brothers, cousins, friends, co-workers, etc. are the ones that enter into the relationship with complete love and humility. They are not expecting to gain anything out of the relationship. But are happy to participate in the experience itself.

In this universe of infinite potential, and in this time of unprecedented equality and possibility, anything can be. The point is the choice is in your hands. The more one lets society, and others, determine what they should be, the more they will feel out of place and the more they will try and fight life. The point is to take some time, do a personal inventory, and find out what really matters to you. What fulfills oneself? What activity can be done, day in and day out, without any extra incentive? Once you find these important things. The only thing left to do is to not wait for anything, not society not even yourself, and simply do them.

Take some time and really sit with the question: Who Am I?