Who am I?

The voyage of self discovery starts within. It starts by looking at ourselves objectively and understanding who we are. When we understand this, our mind is opened to many possibilities and answers will fall into our laps.

Lets start with the basics, We all have a name. Our name has been with us since we were born but it was only really given to us as a label by our parents. Our name is not who we really are.

We all have friends and family who we love. Even though the people closest to us do help to partially define us, they do not define is wholly. If they were all taken away from us, we would still continue to exist, admittedly in a different frame of mind to which we exist at the moment.

A lot of us spend a third of our lives at work. Some try to make the world a better place through their work whilst for some it is just a means to an end - a way to pay the bills. Some people die when they retire as they don’t have anything to keep them going, for them their work is their life but its not really who we are.

Some say that our possessions define us. The fact that we’re wearing the latest fashion, living in a nice house or driving the latest model of car is important to some but it is not our true essence - far from it.

I hope you’re with me so far. I’m saying that things that are external to us do not define who we are. Now lets look at ourselves.

Are we our bodies? Its an interesting question, many people when asked to point to themself would point to either their hearts or their brains. The truth is that every single part of our bodies can be replaced due to the wonders of modern science. Artificial limbs can replace our arms and legs and we can even have an artificial heart.

So then, are we our minds? Are we our brains? Again another interesting thought. Most people would say ‘Yes’ to this but lets think about this a little more. We know that people can be brain dead, their bodies can still be functioning but their brains have died. Therefore, surely we can’t be our brains can we?

So whats left? What are we? Who are we? What is at our core? What is the changeless reality amongst the changing nature of our world? Do we know? Is the answer even important? Only you can decide….