WHO ARE YOU? THE STORY OF IDENTITY

 

WHO ARE YOU?

Salutations dear reader,

Here in the being human blog, I try to explore various themes of the human condition but this has led to some weird questions being asked. I have already written posts about “what is a human being” and another about “Existence and the purpose of existence” and today I bring another weird question we rarely ask ourselves but is hard to answer. Today on the platter is the question “WHO ARE YOU?”

In modern times, Individualism has become mainstream. Wherever you go whether social media or on the streets or wherever, the saying “BE YOURSELF” is treasured and beloved and for many it is taken as a fact, the true way to live life. It’s not only in modern times. In Ancient Greece, at the entrance of the temple of Apollo was the saying “gnōthi seauton”, which is more infamous for its English translation “KNOW THYSELF”.

Humans seem to be obsessed with personal identity but most people cannot answer the question “WHO AM I?”.  It is not that most people are too stupid to answer this question. It’s that this question is too hard to answer. Trying to trace what makes a person who they are is actually hard. So what makes you, you. Is it your actions or your body or your memories? What makes person who they are, is a question pondered by our greatest minds but no one has reached a conclusion.

So do not let this blog post make you reach a conclusion on your own personal identity. From my research, here is what I could get on the issue of personal identity and the answer to the question “WHO AM I?”. Here are two theories trying to answer this question.

A.   BODY THEORY

So a group of philosophers came up with on how to explain personal identity. So these philosophers used a principle that comes easily to the mind. They propose we are who we are because of our bodies. We don’t share our bodies with anyone and no one in the world has our body and we can’t switch our bodies with anyone, our bodies seem like the only constant in our existence.

But problems do arise from this train of thought. Our bodies are not actually constant, they undergo various changes every day, every hour, every minute and every second. Our bodies are subject to growth, I am not in the same body that I was in when I was 12 years old, my body went through various changes since then. So does that mean am now a different person then, to the person I am now.

So are we who we are because of our bodies, not really as we can see. Personally for me and for most people, their identity stretches farther than just their bodies. So here is where the second train of thought comes in.

B.    MEMORY THEORY

Most people take their identities from the experiences and memories they had, that’s what memory theory tries to explain. So in memory theory, PERSONAL IDENTITY= YOUR MEMORIES.

This sounds really simple and true, right? No one has the same memories as you. No one has seen life in your perspective right? So it is true we are our memories. Not actually, memories and perspective are very malleable and can be farther from the truth. For example; Adolf Hitler saw himself as a hero of the superior Aryan race, then if his memories tell him he is a hero does it mean he is actually a hero, NO it does not.

Also memories can be lost completely when a person gets severe mental and neurological illness or trauma, take an example of people with dementia, most forget their memories but does that mean they are different people from before because they lost their memories. They still inhabit the same bodies they had before. The same bodies that cared, that worked, that fought in that person’s life but since they lost their memories, are they completely different people?

C.    MY TAKE ON PERSONAL IDENTITY

The above theories try to explain personal identity but they both have their weaknesses, so does it mean that personal identity is a lie and there is no such thing as being yourself. Most will deny this and will try to explain identity on a plethora of other criteria like;

·       A person’s dreams

·       A person’s actions

·       A person accomplishments

·       A person’s social and economic status

·       And many others

So how about those criteria, are we going to neglect them? Most of the above criteria also have their respective weaknesses. Take for example a person’s dreams, actions and status, these are too shallow to become a basis for creating someone’s identity not only that the above criteria are also malleable and can change. For example, if Kim Kardashian’s social status changes all of a sudden, does it mean she is a different person even if she has the same memories and she is in the same body.

Personal Identity is starting to feel like a real head scratcher. At this point, most of you won’t even care about identity anymore but the thing is personal identity plays a big role in society. Most responsibilities and legal agreements depend on personal identity. Like for example you have the obligation to pay a loan and the bank recognizes you but since there is no real you since your identity is not a constant philosophically speaking, does it mean you can avoid paying the loan since you are a different person from the person who took the loan in the distant past.

Now most of you, dear readers might feel confused or just bored by the long discussion about identity but here is my take on identity. In most Buddhists beliefs, the universe and everything in it including people and their identities are ever changing, they call this “ANICCA” or impermanence.

So trying to stick to one factor as a reason for personal identity might be futile. Maybe we should recognize that we are ever changing and that our personalities are also subject to this change. So my take is that maybe human identity is like a river, rivers have three stages: the upper course, middle course and lower course. These 3 stages have different characteristics like erosional power, etc. But no matter in what course the river is in, it’s the same river. Maybe our lives and identities are like these rivers, we experience ever changing bodies, dreams, actions and even memories but we are still ourselves. Maybe our identities are should be based on impermanence and change. That’s what I think but am not a philosopher or scientist or anything of that thought, but that is my take on personal identity.😅😁

Me 13 years old versus me 16 years old. Looks like two different people because of my bodily changes but also my dreams, ideas and even my understanding of the world are different but these two are all me.

So that is my conclusion on identity, humans change and grow and that’s who we are, our changes and growth. If you want to understand more on the subject of personal identity watch the video below:

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