Does personal existence begin before an identity is formed? For example, as a baby I had self-consciousness, but no personal identity. Was I 'me' or 'that baby which later became me' in this state?
2007-03-23 13:19:03 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
soul- was predesitned outside of the context of time and therefore eternal in nature
body- the moment you were conceived you were "you". You were unique from that moment!
2007-03-23 13:23:21 · answer #1 · answered by whatisthetruthhuh? 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The personal identity cannot exist without the self-consciousness; it arises naturally from having awareness and memory.
If I was not 'me' when I was a baby, I was not 'me' twenty years ago either, since my personal identity was so radically different.
2007-03-23 13:24:59 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your personal identity is in your genes. That, not personality, is what distinguishes you from every other human being on earth, and would enable a forensic laboratory to identify you out of the billions of people on earth. You received that unique identity when a sperm cell from your father penetrated an ovum from your mother. The resulting zygotic cell was YOU, in the first moment of your life.
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2007-03-23 13:26:05 · answer #3 · answered by PaulCyp 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is seen that, for example, when there are twins in the womb - if one accidently kicks the other the latter may cover his/her eyes or flinch by putting his/her head down. If the second case happens (the flinching), thus, they may grow being that one twin (the former) is dominate over the other for the rest of their lives.
Just to add interesting detail: The fetus put the head down inside the womb... in the future (particularly as a child), (s)he runs to a room and puts the head down on a pillow because it was started so early on in the womb.
In conclusion, personality starts even in the womb.
2007-03-23 13:23:21 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
"The human body is like animals subject to nature's laws. But man is endowed with a second reality, the rational or intellectual reality; and the intellectual reality of man predominates over nature.
All these sciences which we enjoy were the hidden and recondite secrets of nature, unknowable to nature, but man was enabled to discover these mysteries, and out of the plane of the unseen he brought them into the plane of the seen.
Yet there is a third reality in man, the spiritual reality. Through its medium one discovers spiritual revelations, a celestial faculty which is infinite as regards the intellectual as well as physical realms. That power is conferred upon man through the breath of the Holy Spirit. It is an eternal reality, an indestructible reality, a reality belonging to the divine, supernatural kingdom; a reality whereby the world is illumined, a reality which grants unto man eternal life. This third, spiritual reality it is which discovers past events and looks along the vistas of the future. It is the ray of the Sun of Reality. The spiritual world is enlightened through it, the whole of the Kingdom is being illumined by it. It enjoys the world of beatitude, a world which had not beginning and which shall have no end."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 53)
"1699. The Souls of the Prophets are Pre-Existent
The soul or spirit of the individual comes into being with the conception of his physical body.
The Prophets, unlike us, are pre-existent. The Soul of Christ existed in the spiritual world before His birth in this world. We cannot imagine what that world is like, so words are inadequate to picture His state of being.
We cannot know God directly, but only through His Prophets. We can pray to Him, realizing that through His Prophets we know Him, or we can address our prayer in thought to Bahá'u'lláh, not as God but as the Door to our knowing God.
We find God only through the Intermediary of His Prophet. We see the Perfection of God in His Prophets. Time and space are physical things, God, the Creator is not in a 'place' as we conceive of place in physical terms. God is the Infinite Essence, the Creator. We cannot picture Him or His state; if we did, we would be His equals, not His Creatures. God is never flesh, but mirrored in the attributes of His Prophets, we see His Divine characteristics and perfections.
"Shoghi Effendi advises you to study 'Some Answered Questions' and the 'Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh' which help you to grasp these questions."
(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, October 9, 1947)
"Regarding your question concerning the passage in 'Seven Valleys' referring to pre-existence. This in no way presupposes the existence of the individual soul before conception. The term has not been absolutely accurately translated, and what is meant is that man's soul is the repository of the ancient, Divine mysteries of God."
(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, January 5, 1948)"
(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 505)
2007-03-23 18:50:07 · answer #5 · answered by Gravitar or not... 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
At the moment of conception you became you.
2007-03-23 13:35:10 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the 'I' is not the person...the person is a body-mind organism...the 'I' is transcendent...which means that it has no beginning and no end.
It's expected that the soul doesn't actually begin to occupy the body until about the 3rd trimester though.
-Rob
2007-03-23 13:29:39 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
You officially exist when your soul is created....but, I don't know when that is because I'm not God! :-)
2007-03-23 13:30:32 · answer #8 · answered by Greenwood 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
old maxim, "I think therefore I am."
I like to think that I always existed, I just now recently discovered it.
2007-03-23 13:22:32 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
never. none of us do.
2007-03-23 13:43:33 · answer #10 · answered by cementshroom13 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋