Ultimate questions: Is the examined life worth living?

[shnarkle]

I'm not sure they've figured out who they really are which is probably where one ought to start before examining their life. After all whose life is one examining? If one doesn't know who they are, why examine their life at all?

The question is: Have you discovered who you are, and if so; who are you?

If you haven't figured out who you are, why not?

This is not a question of identification. It isn't about the roles one plays, the persona presented to the world, your attributes, achievements,goals, etc.. It isn't a question of what you have or what you possess. This is not the question: "What am I?"

Can anyone answer the question; who are you?

Has anyone here asked themselves the question; "Who am I?"

Does anyone here know who they are?

[jgh7]

It is such a vague question and all you have said is what it isn't. I think a scene from the movie Anger Management sums up my feelings on this topic rather well.

[shnarkle]

It is such a vague question and all you have said is what it isn't. I think a scene from the movie Anger Management sums up my feelings on this topic rather well.

That looks like a perfect example of my question, and here I thought I finally had an origianal thought run through my head. Great clip. I'll have to check that out. I can't believe there's a Jack Nicholson movie I haven't seen.

[ThePainefulTruth]

I'm not sure they've figured out who they really are which is probably where one ought to start before examining their life. After all whose life is one examining? If one doesn't know who they are, why examine their life at all?

The question is: Have you discovered who you are, and if so; who are you?

If you haven't figured out who you are, why not?

This is not a question of identification. It isn't about the roles one plays, the persona presented to the world, your attributes, achievements,goals, etc.. It isn't a question of what you have or what you possess. This is not the question: "What am I?"

Can anyone answer the question; who are you?

Has anyone here asked themselves the question; "Who am I?"

Does anyone here know who they are?

Given a little thought, the question is actually a good one. Who we are is a function of what motivates us beyond the animal instincts for our basic needs for survival--and if you don't have even that, you'll be dead in a few days, or minutes.

Look to the other end of the spectrum, what are your most important desires and wants. What is your god or gods. Many are driven to achieve material success desiring money, power, sex and status; either with or without regard for the violation of the rights of others in their acquisition--are they achieved honorably, that is, morally, or not. For many, these are enough, especially the quest for status or power. I consider those who are nothing more than this, to be shallow individuals.

Then there are sentient beings who are more than this, those for whom Truth is God and who pursue it through its aspects: knowledge, justice, love and beauty--from purely objective Truth to purely subjective Truth. For us in this universe, whether a supernatural/spiritual God is the embodiment of Truth or not appears to be unknowable, deliberately hidden even, and is thus irrelevant for us here and now. I believe these are the only paths to truly profound fulfillment--that which the shallow can never achieve.

That is who I am, or at least who I want and strive to be.

[Divine Insight]

Can anyone answer the question; who are you?

Has anyone here asked themselves the question; "Who am I?"

Does anyone here know who they are?

I have answered this question for myself. And the answer truly is simple.

I am that I am. Period.

That's who I am.

In other words, I am that which I am. Period.

I am the conscious living entity that is experiencing life.

I have wants and desires. There's no question about that. And therefore my wants and desires are necessarily a part of who I am. There's no getting around it.

Can I change my wants and desires? To some degree yes. But that simply means that I can change who I am to some degree. I already knew that.

Do I have "Free Will". Even I cannot answer this question. Or perhaps I can. My answer would basically be no, I definitely do not have total free will.

I cannot "will" myself into desiring to become a nasty viscous criminal.

Could I 'will' myself into acting like a nasty viscous criminal, probably. But that doesn't mean that I would desire it or want to be that way.

I truly don't see where I have much freedom at all when it comes to choosing my true desires.

Therefore "who I am" does not necessarily include having free will. At least not in terms of choosing my desires. I can choose my actions, but not my desires.

I consider myself fortunate to naturally have what I consider to be "Good Desires". In other words, everything that I desire would pretty much be considered to be "Good" by just about any human moral, or ethical standards.

Did I choose to have "Good Desires"?

If I did I'm not sure how that worked. It may very well be that I just lucked out to have "Good Desires".

If that's the case then I can't even say that I'm responsible for "Who I am".

I would actually be glad to take credit and full responsibility for "Who I am".

But did I ever really have a choice in the matter?

That's something that even I can't know.

I've never had any desire to do nasty things. So why is that?

Was I responsible for having willfully chosen to not desire to do nasty things?

I'd love to take credit for that if possible. But I can't say that I ever had to work at it. I simply never had any desire to do nasty things, so it's not like I had to fight off the temptation of desire to do bad things.

What I can report, is that if there is such a thing as "Temptation" to do bad things, then I must have been given a "Get out of Temptation Free" card when I was born. Because I simply never had the temptation to do bad things.

If that's part of "Who I am" I certainly can't claim credit for it, insofar as I know.

If I am responsible for only desiring to do good things and having no desire to do bad things, then that's great. Good on me!

But I have difficulty believing that one myself. It seems to me that I was just lucky to be born with no desire to do bad things and only a desire to do good things.

So "Who am I?" I'm one lucky human bean.

That's about all I can say about it.

[ThePainefulTruth]

[Replying to post 5 by Divine Insight]

I am that I am. Period.

That's who I am.

In other words, I am that which I am. Period.

I am the conscious living entity that is experiencing life.

I have wants and desires. There's no question about that. And therefore my wants and desires are necessarily a part of who I am. There's no getting around it.

Your last sentence contradicts the rest. A pure receptor does not project.

A rock, is that it is.

[Divine Insight]

[Replying to post 5 by Divine Insight]

I am that I am. Period.

That's who I am.

In other words, I am that which I am. Period.

I am the conscious living entity that is experiencing life.

I have wants and desires. There's no question about that. And therefore my wants and desires are necessarily a part of who I am. There's no getting around it.

Your last sentence contradicts the rest. A pure receptor does not project.

A rock, is that it is.

How do you know it's a projection?

It could just as easily be a reflection.

So you're making an unwarranted assumption.

In fact, isn't that the real question?

Am I projecting my desires? Or are my desires just a reflection of who I am?

Insofar as I can tell I cannot change my deepest desires. So if that's true, then neither can I change who I am.

[shnarkle]

[Replying to post 5 by Divine Insight]

I am that which I am. Period.

I am the conscious living entity that is experiencing life.

That alone would have been sufficient and accurate. The rest was contradictory and had practically nothing to do with the question.

[Divine Insight]

[Replying to post 5 by Divine Insight]

I am that which I am. Period.

I am the conscious living entity that is experiencing life.

That alone would have been sufficient and accurate. The rest was contradictory and had practically nothing to do with the question.

If the second statement I made is "sufficient and accurate": I am the conscious living entity that is experiencing life.

Then please explain to me how my conscious experiences would be contradictory and have practically nothing to do with the question?

[shnarkle]

[Replying to post 5 by Divine Insight]

I am that which I am. Period.

I am the conscious living entity that is experiencing life.

That alone would have been sufficient and accurate. The rest was contradictory and had practically nothing to do with the question.

If the second statement I made is "sufficient and accurate": I am the conscious living entity that is experiencing life.

Then please explain to me how my conscious experiences would be contradictory and have practically nothing to do with the question?

Because they are the object of your consciousness. Pure consciousness has no object, and can be conscious of nothing. You are conscious of your experiences. You are the subject. Unless you are claiming to be the object of consciousness, but then that would be to claim you are the object of some subjective consciousness. You claimed you were an entity. Unless you are undergoing some sort of multiple personality disorder, you can't be both the subject and the experience itself. You can't be the one who experiences and the experience. You can't be the thought and the thinker. If you are thinking then you have thoughts. If you are driving, then you are a driver, but you are not the car you are driving. If you are the thought, then someone else is doing the thinking. Take your pick.