Who am I? The question of existence...

Before assigning a gender given by nature (or changed later) or a name by your parents (biological or otherwise), why not delve deeper for once, and truly ask yourself.

"Who am I...?"

Here are some inspirations for the inquiry to be as meaningful as intended:

Time

Time is the witness of history, light-bearer of truth. It is the only power that can give justice to the I, defining in the entirety of what I was, as I am cannot fully recall even my obscure genealogy including what I will be, my pedigree...

"I was..." 

A sum of memories of past; success and failures both, of happiness and sadness and boredom in-between, I was once naïve and young yet I remember those times most, for they are unburdened by the questions when time takes all the innocence and the world wants us to take responsibility for ourselves

"I am..."

Present, fully immersed in the reality of 'now'. I relive my past and can laugh at its foolishness. I make plans for my 'future' self and if I cannot, I live at the moment by moment. It might be too late, but I treasure my time more as I can feel the tickling of the clock in my mind, so I need to work harder for my future self to live more comfortably, I am responsible for more people and with increasing responsibility it is sometimes a tad difficult to enjoy life but I am doing the best I can

"I will be..."

Future, It is the result of numerous probabilities. I aim to be one thing and if it so happens, will I feel fulfilled. The future self could be as stupid as I am now or maybe a bit wiser, that is a question for the future self. Perhaps all I ever want my future self is to be wealthier than I am now, healthier too before the final end, death.

I was, am, and will be never are all same. What I will be next Friday or what I was last Friday and what I am this Friday, it is not the same. Circumstance and choice under the limitation of the said opportunities of probabilities always keep the existence of 'I' keeps it one its toe. Consciously it may not be realized but the reality of our existence or the way we define ourselves changes over time as our identity changes with the things we do and with the changing perspective on ourselves. 

 

Duality

In Western philosophy, Ancient Greeks assumed we have dual nature of body and soul.

 The body is the house for the soul and the soul is the essence. Be it, brave warriors who die in battle or normal people due to disease/age, their souls depart to the underworld. Thereby, "soul" is the non-physical or mind whereas the body is distinct and material. 

Aristotle shared the idea of Plato's view of souls as multiple holding hierarchical structures with distinctive functions of the plant, animal, and human. Though they have differences, the focus is on the soul. As said 'I' as the soul is immortal and destruction of my body does not mean the destruction of self.

 Even the oldest religion of the world, Hinduism claims reincarnation, or rebirth of the soul, thereby advocating "Dharma" for better rebirth. Whereas Buddhism advocates the "salvation" of the soul by freeing oneself from "Maya" "Samsara". 

But there is the question, if I am a combination of body and soul if the body is destroyed how can the integrity of 'I' remain the same with just the survival of the soul? That is indeed the question. 

Balance in Duality

Eastern Chinese philosophy of Taoism advocates dualism in everything, including the question of I. Man/Woman, Day/Night, Life/Death, and so on, in the surface they look contradictory but in reality, they are complementary. I can be biologically a woman but my will can be equal or greater than the strongest man or I can be a man but my empathy may be equal or greater than the kindest woman alive. Each of us has a dual nature within us, what we need is a balance of the heaviness of Yin and lightness of Yang, thereby leading to harmony. And as life is in constant motion, it is a paramount necessity that we need to cultivate harmony of inner duality in ourselves. Find the balance...

"o accept that night gives way to day, sadness to joy, light to dark, etc. Don’t try to make everything positive. Instead, admit that duality exists. This is the Taoist path to a peaceful life."

Romanticism of Existence

Love and family are an integral part of life for individuals and society. 

 Romanticism refers to "a movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th century, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual. I.e. focus of romance as a central idea in life and relationship."

Love is the idealism of a relationship. According to the romanticism of existence, an individual has half of the soul and his/her partner remaining another half. By further examining, there exists a kind of magnetism-like attraction between any two individuals regardless of sex, thereby they find a mutual connection, a kind of resonance. I am thereby transcended to "we". The physical coitus is thereby the final effort to be complete and the process of 'dating' per se is familiarizing the need to find commonality/conformity with the further exploring and discovery of self i.e. between the two individuals. Of course, flings and one-night-stands may or may not be an exception. Furthermore, as an individual is like a piece of a puzzle, the breakups may be due to the puzzle not being completely solved, the partners may not fit and the other half is not it. However, when the self does find itself in another, the tying of knots and birth of new life is the beginning of more exploration of self and extension of self through replication of those two individuals in a new life form

As Expression of Conscious

 René Descartes, who believed in the primacy of consciousness led to the definition of existence as something more personal, something i.e. inherent to a particular human subject, not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual. According to him, Cogito, ergo sum"

"I think, so I am"  

If  I can think, then I can realize the existence that I am, be it biological, non-biological or even energy form, if the ego exists with its own nuances, unique essence/characteristics, then so does an existence different from the ordinary so exist. 

Existence as an idea, the starting point has been called "the existential angst" (or, variably, existential attitude, dread, etc.), or a sense of disorientation, confusion, or anxiety in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world. We are not purely rational beings but are subjective, thereby anxiety and dread are what we feel in the face of our own radical freedom and our awareness of death. Existential problems such as that are insufficiently addressed when rationalized within human boundaries. We need the expression of our inner existential angst in a more subjective form, some show it in the form of art, solace in the outpouring of feelings (perhaps physical anger, crying, and emotions) or accompanied by some gist of rationalization, the quest for answers in forgotten pages of boring philosophical musings of old. 

"What is the meaning of life, if it cannot express its will?" 

Existence as idea

People die physically but their ideas endure. Exceptional people can never die. People like Lord Buddha, Albert Einstein, Mother Teresa, Marilyn Monroe are still iconic to this very day. They represent an entire facet of humanity that can never be forgotten. They may turn into myths, legends, and distant memories of human consciousness in the future, yet still, till their influence remains, they are alive. Their existence is beyond even the metaphysical, for they live unlike how we are living as epitome idea of ideas, in the hall of immortality, man has so created

AI, clones, and Virtual World

As the existence of I is closely related to the conscious and memories, it is not impossible that I can exist in the form of algorithms in the virtual world which is still in the making. Uploading the entire information of who I am and creating another me is far-fetched, but it is possible. However, if two of us exist so, who is the 'me'? Perhaps it is irrelevant as the 'me' in the virtual is not as limited as the biological me, and perhaps totally unique as well

Cloning of humans is a possibility emerging now and then in Sci-fi movies and books. As the question of morality and human values clash with this technology, it is controversial. Even if the clone exists it may be a different being, for it does not carry the experience, imprinting, and various details of what makes me who I am. Though the clone may be younger, faster, and better in every facet the unique nuances is still nearly impossible to replicate. The spark of life and freewill are making us so different from all the wonderful miracles man has created so far and aspires to outdo.

Or perhaps I am just one who is hooked in the virtual world like in Matrix, doomed to be harvested as energy and slaved by the reality created by machine.

Evolution

As humanity evolves, so does the definition of its existence. Are we a speck of existence in the near-immortal time made of stars that are fleeing farther from us? Are we duality of mind and spirit or just a spark of consciousness that goes through the cycle of rebirth and death? Or are we just a body that lives its moment and is dying as every second goes by? Are we incomplete being in search of our other half from lifetimes after lifetimes? Are we just an idea, a dream of a higher being, forgotten in the next moment of his/her existence, or just a side character in the novel of life? Are we just pure data that could be replicated by future science, indeed that is a question? Whatever we are, for now, we alive, with or without a prime objective, lets live to the fullest and be happy exploring the possibilities...

Reference

https://exploringyourmind.com/yin-and-yang-the-duality-of-existence/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism

https://society6.com/product/body-and-soul644688_print

https://giphy.com/

https://www.tumblr.com/search/aysrin%20cant%20art