How does one define self?

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   mischeviousmeposted 11 years ago

   I have a basic idea as to what I am, a human being with all of the working parts. But what is this "I", which resides within? Am I my name, my job or my title? I know that everything I see is an electrochemical response to light entering my eyes and that every feeling likewise. But who is this "I" that experiences said sensations?

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      move2moveposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Your Question:
      "But what is this "I", which resides within?
      My answer:
      Maybe "ME", just from another perspective, same the other way around ...
      One is everywhere and Self is multiple, not completely aware of  "One" ... ;-)

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         mischeviousmeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         It's all one thing, that I can assertain for certain. The idea that "I" am the sum result of my experience, is another matter all together.

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            move2moveposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Before the experiences everybody does, start here on earth .. you "ARE" already ... So our experiences are what we experience but not what we are ... we come with "apparently" nothing & we go with "apparently" nothing, and yet  ...
            And I really make the difference between that part in us that feels pain, joy & all the rest of it... an this other part that is more in the background of our experiences and kind of  .. Observes & learns. That is the part that comes in this world and is "Constant" from the beginning to the end of this lifetime down here and is far away of being at the End when our flesh says/goes "Byebye"!
            What however goes "Byebye", like I just told is the "I am  Peter, Mark, Nancy, Clarisse, Tyron ..." ....etc...etc... as this are just aspects we adopt or better said, we're given by our parents to identify us down here. But what is our Name before that? Do we already have one before the start of our experiences here or not? That would be a very interesting question, wouldn't it? But bottom line is, nothing is really separated. It just looks like.

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      LewSethicsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I don't know, but he smokes all my weed.

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         mischeviousmeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I sometimes find my situation is much the same.

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            couturepopcafeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Oh, man, I wish I was still a pothead. Those days were so fun.

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               LewSethicsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Haha    What?

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   knolyourselfposted 11 years ago

   My I is not definitive. It can be anybody and anything both material and non-material.

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      mischeviousmeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Going beyond traditional thinking; psychology, religion, meta-physics... How can one even breach the absolute meaning of consciousness. How can I define what clearly does not exist, yet is so blatantly apparent? Knowing that I exist is one thing, connecting a meaning to "I" is a bit more of a challenge. How do I know what "I" wants? How do I feel how "I" feels? We make all sorts of judgements about ourselve's based on what we experience outwardly and we define ourselve's by what we think we know of "I".

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         couturepopcafeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         IMO, it's not that complicated. Nothing and everything is apparent. There is no meaning to 'I' yet 'I' is the sum of all its parts therefore that is its meaning. Experience and feeling is what we are. Discernment is a way we can create and manage our experiences. What we think we know, we do know. Whether this knowledge will be added to later (making it seem like we didn't know something to begin with) is all part of 'I'.
         
         The question for me is, once known, can we unknow something? Or do we change the sum of our knowing by causing it to evolve with further knowing?

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            mischeviousmeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Being truly enlightened, is forgetting that one was enlightened at all. I think I know what "I" wants and like a child, I think I know. The true self has no needs, only that which sustains existance. All other things and aspects are but conjecture, placements of meanings which do not exist.

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               couturepopcafeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Point taken and I agree. So 'I' is or should be like the child who lives by instinct and 'knows' nothing outside of its own (need for) existance. Children have life, as defined and experienced by their parents, etc., drummed into them and spirit driven out.

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                  mischeviousmeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  Exactly... Life is best defined by the unbiased mind of a child, for them the only meaning is life.

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   knolyourselfposted 11 years ago

   The way I have it - there would be one body I, which knows what it needs, wants and feels. And there can be any number of Identities I, created by the mind like butcher, baker, candlestick maker, each of which will interpret the world differently. I do not consider my I, as any of these in particular, but all of them. The outside I, as looking at all of them from the external, may be a creation of my mind, or it may be representative of a spiritual self that knows what it is doing hopefully.

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      mischeviousmeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      From what I understand, the true self feels nothing, sees nothing and is but dream. The nature of self is almost completely undefinable, "I think therefor I am" is but an attempt to define said theory. "I" is a theoretical concept, for in my mind, "I" only exists by concept and is a perceptive reality.

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         couturepopcafeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         What is seen or known (externally) exists solely for the sake of identifying the distinct nature of the seer.

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            mischeviousmeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            To an extent... I could easily believe that I am powerless to define my true self, but then the meaning would most certainly be my own.

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               couturepopcafeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Then that belief identifies one's nature if that is the current definition one is giving oneself.

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                  mischeviousmeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  I am the sum of what I believe I am. My perception is mine alone.
                  
                  
                  at·ti·tude
                     [at-i-tood, -tyood] Show IPA
                  
                  noun
                  1.
                  manner, disposition, feeling, position, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, especially of the mind: a negative attitude; group attitudes.

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      couturepopcafeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I chuckled when I saw knol's last word, 'hopefully'. It's been said that hope is the human spirit. Without it we perish.

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   bri36posted 11 years ago

   It has been said "I think, there fore I am" or "I am that" which the Sufi's believed was the ALL of life. What you are looking for is something that cannot be summed up in words my friend, It is a part of the whole that is undefined by being singled out as just one part. "I" is the sum total of ALL the parts when they are joined together in a coherent form. i.e. You.
   
   Your brain is just one more organ inside your body, like you heart which pumps blood, or your kidneys that filter the impurities out of your blood system. Your brain "thinks" that is what it does. This is not you, you are that 1/100000000000 of a volt(the Divine spark)that the whole universe revolves around. If "I" were to say you are the most important thing in the universe would "I" be wrong?
   
   How about this, the life you have is for "I" to experience ALL in it's various forms. In other words, to love, to feel, to see, to breath, and all that comes with being human. Because when the time comes for your material self(body) to return to the dust it came from "I" will still move forward into the ALL of tyhe universe, The vastness of G-D is what you seek, "I" is just another question...

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      mischeviousmeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      To me, all things are one. My eyes, my teeth, my arms and all other parts are one thing. Just as I am the universe, the universe I percieve is part of me.
      
      There are no words to explain what "I" is, but we only have words.

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         bri36posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         See now you are getting it. just think ALL

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            Druid Dudeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I is all that exists. I know I am here...not sure about the rest of you. But, I do know I am.

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   TheLoanConsultantposted 11 years ago

   I maintain that the "I" is the self and that the "Me" is the personality. The word personality comes from the Latin word PERSONA, which meant "mask or character in a play." Thus the personality is the mask that we wear around others or the character that we play when we interact with other people in a social setting. Contrary to popular opinion I propose that you are not your personality and that your personality may be changed by the "I" if it so chooses. The I is the center of your being, the life force that animates your body.

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      Disappearingheadposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I agree.

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         bri36posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I also agree to this and would like to add, That if you learn to still the "noise" inside your brain then switching the "Mask" on and off becomes second nature. Being connected to your higher self is the goal and when you find the Golden thread that does this it is life changing

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