Who are we really?

Question

If suffering in life is 'human nature', then what would happen if
humans were to be stripped of their beliefs, their knowledge, their identity, their personality, their desires, their sufferings, their morals, their experiences, their achievements and their material belongings... what would we be?

Still human beings?

Or are we just pure consciousness deep down inside hidden away by many, many layers of impressions collected from society and past lives?

Answer 1

This is really the question that Buddhism addresses. All of those things that you talk about stripping away are not the true Self. They are just layers of ego and delusion. The true Self is that pure consciousness you referred to, also called divinity by some (but please don't confuse divinity with religion).

Answer 2

Very scared, its all the baggage we pick up and carry around with us that holds many people from doing what they really want to do. Whilst it would be great if no one suffered its often only by making people suffers that the powerful can continue to do what they want, think about governments and wars etc.
Look at what people have as personal possessions, how often do you throw anything away. It reminds me of ... or I might need it in the future.
How many people let their boss cause them stress etc because they are worried about not finding another job.
Would we be free if we got rids of beliefs, knowledge etc, possibly for a while but there will always be someone who learns something to outdo another and then it all starts again.
Taking a step back from our everyday lives for a while and putting ourselves in an unknown place or situation is often a great wake up call to realise how much baggage we are carrying around.

Answer 3

Suffering in life is not human nature. Human nature is to strive to avoid suffering. Since we first learnt store food, light fires and eventually make wheels it was clear that man does everything possible to avoid discomfort and going without.


Sorry, I do not agree with your opening argument so the rest is irrelevant. But you have several points if you strip the question down and rephrase it.

Answer 4

we would be mealy animals ..like we have always been and always be ..As humans we have evolved into these people who fabricate and hide behind beliefs, their knowledge, their identity, their personality, their desires, their sufferings, their morals, their experiences, their achievements and their material belongings... DO WE HATE OUR ANIMISTIC MAKE UP??ITS KINDA SICK WHEN YOU LOOK AT IT CAUSE REALLY ALL THIS BS DOES NOT MATTER WE THINK WE ARE SO MUCH BETTER AND WISER THEN THE CAVE MEN CAUSE WE DRIVE AND CAN TALK TO PEOPLE THROUGH A COMPUTER ..COME ON

Answer 5

yes i believe we are a collection of learned behaviour - stripped of everything~back to a new born baby? but impressions of possible past lives may be present, although we are not supposed to remember this. Hey make the best of it and dont think to hard

Answer 6

Of course we'd still be human beings, we'd just be different. Humans are what we make ourselves to be.

If you exsist without knowledge of anything prior to your own exsistance, you just have a harder time learning to survive, but I think we'd manage.

If we could start fresh and wipe our history and memories and preconcieved ideas away, we'd still be curious creatures who seek answers, so we'd probably make something up to explain how we came about .... oh wait, we did that already.... and people believed it, until we learned enough to reveal the truth.

Answer 7

What we are really came before the word.
What we are really is not a mere construct of the mind, me, my and I.
What we are really is nameless.
What we are really shows itself as the awareness that is behind all things that you think you are.
Behind everything your concious of is this awareness.
What we are really has to do with silence,space and pure perception of what is.
What we really are can only say I am here, I am, I exist.
The rest is only a story about me its never really me.
That awareness never changes or leaves you. Its the only permanent thing you have.

Answer 8

We would simply not be "alive". We would exist in a state quite similar to that of a rock and with the personality of Joan Rivers.

Answer 9

Sadly the answer is............British citizens! Our government is striving to strip us of all you mentioned, the only one omission is our hard earned money but then that could be covered in 'material belongings'

Answer 10

Non Plus.