Are We Who We Think We Are?
Introduction
“Who am I? What an absurd question. It’s obvious who I am to me, as must who you are be to you. I only have to look in the mirror and see the image of myself there to know the answer. I only have to listen in to my thoughts, my values, my hopes and dreams. I only have to remember what’s happened in my life.
“Failing that, I can ask my friends to tell me who I am, or I’m sure my siblings will kindly remind me.
“But I don’t have to ask someone else to know who I am, really, do I?
“This whole ‘who am I?’ question is quite absurd, it really is…”
Well, let’s see. I give you a “Who am I?” VIDEO SERIES and POEM to intimately explore this theme of ‘personality’ using me as a guinea pig…
(Find more videos below!)
Who Am I? – Not An Absurd Question, After All…
It turns out that “who am I?” is actually a very interesting question. To ask of yourself. And the answer takes you to a very interesting place. And when I say you, I mean YOU of course, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
By way of somewhat intimate example, let me ask this question of myself and share what I come up with.
So, I’m starting to see that I’m not who I think I am.
Whether this has come to me via the teachings of Sydney Banks and the Three Principles, or it’s via The Work by Byron Katie by Byron Katie (“Who would you be without your story [of you]?”), or it’s via non-duality teachings by the likes of Rupert Spira or Adyashanti or even the rather lovely laughing ‘unit’ that goes by the name of Fred Davies it doesn’t really matter.
Truth is truth.
Enquiry is enquiry.
And a question is a question.
“There are many paths up the mountain, but there is only one mountain.”
– Swami Kripalu.[Seems I think I’m someone who likes inspirational quotes 😉 ]
And I simply want to enquire into the ‘truth’ of who I am, by asking myself this question, in a variety of ways. Specifically, I want to explore some of the personality traits I have (beliefs about my behaviours) and explore how ‘true’ they are.
Not so I can fix them, or change them, or move past them – so I can simply enquire into these so-called behaviours and ask myself, simply, is this really who I am?
As I ask myself this question, perhaps you will ask yourself your own questions; perhaps you will see that we humans are much more alike than different when it comes to how we experience life, how we experience ourselves.
Who Am I? [A POEM]
Who am I? What sort or boy (girl) am I? What sort of man (woman) am I? (Who, exactly, wants to know?) What am I gonna write next?…
(I don’t know. Yet!)
Am I My Job?
Am I my job, my marital status, my bank balance?
Am I my accomplishments, my vision, my drive?
Am I a brother, a father, a son (a sister, a mother, a daughter)?
Am I a lover, a friend, an acquaintance?
Who am I?
Again. Who Am I?
Who am I? (Who are you? Who is anybody, really?)
- Am I the sum of all the actions I’ve taken so far, the decisions made?
- Or am I the sum of all the thoughts I’ve ever had – ever taken seriously enough to worry, laugh, love, live and die over?
- Am I the person asking the question, writing this post (or am I the person expecting an answer)?
Am I you? (Are you me?)
Who the hell am I?
Seriously. I’d like to know. (Wouldn’t you?)
Am I frail, or am I invincible?
Am I fear, or am I love?
Am I no-one, or am I everyone?
(Am I just someone who asks questions that do not need an answer?)
(Who am I?)
Who am I?
What sort of person am I?
What sort of human being?
(Who, exactly, wants to know?)
(What am I gonna write next?…)
(I don’t know! Yet.)
END
Who Am I? [VIDEOS] – Personality Traits You Might Recognise
Some of these traits might feel familiar to you, I’m sure, and some of them not so. Hey ho! 7.2 billion of us, we can’t all be EXACTLY the same… Can we?
- I like taking on the role of WISE ADVISOR (See not ‘getting it’, below!)
- I LIKE TO COMPLICATE THINGS (Turn a ‘practice’ into videos and blog posts.)
- I’M A FAN OF ‘META’ (I like to write about what I’m writing about!)
- I DON’T LIKE BEING CRITICISED (I don’t like being ‘wrong’)
- I DON’T LIKE NOT ‘GETTING IT’, not understanding (I don’t wanna look foolish!)
I came up with 33 – yes, 33! – traits or behaviours that I identify with. Eeek! And I chose several of those traits at random and spoke about them in a series of un-rehearsed videos
Who am I? (Or who do I think I am?) Let’s find out, shall we!
“To realize it’s your own creation… your own misery is your own creation. That’s pretty humbling. It changes everything to see that. How seriously can you take yourself in the light of the fact that you’re making it up.”
– Jack Pransky
Who Am I? Video Series MENU
Introduction | 'Wise' | Controlling | Like to Understand | Don't Like Criticism | Perfectionist | People Pleaser | Grumpy | Don't Wanna Look Foolish | Not a Persuader | 'Complicated' | Not a 'Pretender' | Don't Like Conflict
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Who Am I? FULL video playlist on YouTube
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"What I most want is to spring out of this personality, then to sit apart from that leaping. I’ve lived too long where I can be reached." – Rumi
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Serious question: if you don't know who you are - and really you don't! - then how on earth can you know that you are happy or unhappy?