A very simple question .... or is it?

Question

Who are you, really? Daughter or son to your parents, husband or wife of somebody, a mother, a father, a professional?

Unacceptable!. What a sad thing you are. Unable to answer such a simple question without falling back on references, and genealogies and what other people call you. Have you nothing of your own?

Nothing to stand on that is not provided, defined, delineated, stamped, sanctioned, numbered and approved by others. How can you be expected to fight for someone else when you haven't the fairest idea: who--you--are ?

(based on Babylon 5)

So, the question is open: who are you?

Answer 1

I am that I am. I am the one who says "I" when I speak.

I am a witch.

Answer 2

But everything that you have is a gift from someone else. Your body came from your parents; your knowledge came from other people such as your teachers. The money you have in the bank is valuable only because it is desired by other people -- people who have things that you want. Is that so bad? We are social creatures after all.

But you take all of these things and mash them together into an amalgam that is uniquely yours. The source of the raw material might be from someone else, but the end product is yours.

Answer 3

Not a simple question at all.

The French psychoanalist Lacan identified that people first gain their sense of self from what is reflected back at them by other people, or more literally, from what they see when they first look in a mirror.

Buddhists (as far as I can tell) teach that there are ways of being beyond this.

While I like the Buddhist way of looking at things, as a border collie I have a dog tag with my name and my owner's phone number, as well as a tag from the local municipal council.

I know who I am.

Answer 4

I am but one voice in the great chorus. I fight for those ideal I hold true to myself and those I love. If I should fall, then there shall be others after me as there were those before me, but hopefully while I was here I could stand as an example to others.

Blessed Be )O(

Answer 5

The Navigator

Answer 6

You are right, I didn't create myself, so I am defined by whose daughter I am, whose wife I am, whose mother I am etc.

But the most wonderful title for me is that I am a "Child of God" and enjoy a personal relationship with my Creator and Savior.

The amazing thing is that when I don't understand myself, He still does and helps me out every time I need help.

Answer 7

It may be unacceptable to you,but a doting son,caring father,and loving husband is quite acceptable to me.P.S. I DID fight for someone else,2 tours,and a bullet. A son,father,husband,patriot. Maybe you need more. Those are fine accolades to me

Answer 8

Actually, I do have a very good idea who I am, without reference to arbitrary other things.

Comes with bieng a physics/chem/math nerd, I think.

Of course, I don't think I can translate it into english, but it's a pretty close approximation.

Answer 9

I'm the person I want to be and right now I am a cat getting ready to chase a meerkat

Answer 10

The idea of an "I" or a "self" is a projection of our own mind.
In reality we are only energy. Conciousness that is comming up and falling down.

Answer 11

Tricky question Meerkat. I know I'm not my name or my uniqueness, my perceptions, my roles or my gender, my physical body or my ancestral lineage, my history or my actions, my self-concept or my knowledge, my emotions or my experiences. What does that leave? I guess you'll have to become me and find out for yourself.