That's only your experience and interpretation, which is encapsulated in the "you" to begin with.SplishSplash wrote:I think you first have to realize that there is no specific "YOU".
"You" is just a label for your body and it's past actions. As someone who has taken antidepressants for several months now I can tell you that there is no constant "I".
At least for me there isn't. Personality is more of a liquid that is kept in different jars, and fluctuates between those jars. The jars give it shape, and that shape is what others perceive.
The jars can be described as 'moods' but to be honest i think a more proper definition would be 'chemical cocktails'.
What's more important
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[xeno]Julios
- Posts: 6216
- Joined: Fri Dec 10, 1999 8:00 am
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[xeno]Julios
- Posts: 6216
- Joined: Fri Dec 10, 1999 8:00 am
sounds to me you're setting yourself up for disapointment.
Who you think you are is the way that you should act, it should define the things you do, or else you're creating a little jail cell for your true self through your missleading actions.
In effect, if what you do is not who you are, like it has been mentioned here before, your self will begin to change/cator(sp?) to what you do. I believe that who you are is more of a passive action than what you do, which requires a concious action from your part.
Another big variable in the matter is your age, which I would think greatly affects who you are, what you do, and just how much one affects the other.
So in short, what you do SHOULD be more important
Who you think you are is the way that you should act, it should define the things you do, or else you're creating a little jail cell for your true self through your missleading actions.
In effect, if what you do is not who you are, like it has been mentioned here before, your self will begin to change/cator(sp?) to what you do. I believe that who you are is more of a passive action than what you do, which requires a concious action from your part.
Another big variable in the matter is your age, which I would think greatly affects who you are, what you do, and just how much one affects the other.
So in short, what you do SHOULD be more important
What you do doesn't define who you are, only who you are to other people. To oversimplify, your reputation.
Who you are determines what you do though.
You may say that what you do can have effects on you -- directly or indirectly, physically or emotionally -- but even those effects are a consequence of who you are, because the way you react to anything is governed by the filter it passes through in order to create those effects; namely, the essence of you.
For instance, if you make the stupid decision to climb a light pole without a harness, and you fall off and are paralyzed from the waist down, that will not change who you are. It will probably change the way some people see you (as a paraplegic, or as an idiot perhaps).
Circumstances such as this do not directly affect who you are, as much as they manifest themselves in ways that describe who you are.
Life-altering experiences only occur when people decide - either consciously or subconsciously - that they want such a change to occur. The choice was always there to not want such change.
It is my opinion that this is the only freedom humans have that separates them from other animals - the freedom to choose their attitude toward anything that happens around them, and therefore change their own reaction to said event. This happens every minute of your life, whether you are conscious of it or not, and this mechanism has such a profound impact on your life, that simply being aware of it can allow you to determine your own level of happiness and fulfillment in life.
I read this doctrine from Viktor Frankl, the man I quoted above, and I believe it to be true. He was a Jewish psychologist in Germany before WW2, and was sent to the concentration camp. The last thing he had left in his life, stuffed into the lining of his coat, was the book he had been writing for years - the culmination of his life's work and research - which was promptly taken from him and destroyed at the camp when he arrived.
After months and months of suffering in the camps and surviving, these are the observations he made about human existence, and what ultimately causes some to persevere and others to give up all hope.
Who you are determines what you do though.
You may say that what you do can have effects on you -- directly or indirectly, physically or emotionally -- but even those effects are a consequence of who you are, because the way you react to anything is governed by the filter it passes through in order to create those effects; namely, the essence of you.
For instance, if you make the stupid decision to climb a light pole without a harness, and you fall off and are paralyzed from the waist down, that will not change who you are. It will probably change the way some people see you (as a paraplegic, or as an idiot perhaps).
Circumstances such as this do not directly affect who you are, as much as they manifest themselves in ways that describe who you are.
Life-altering experiences only occur when people decide - either consciously or subconsciously - that they want such a change to occur. The choice was always there to not want such change.
It is my opinion that this is the only freedom humans have that separates them from other animals - the freedom to choose their attitude toward anything that happens around them, and therefore change their own reaction to said event. This happens every minute of your life, whether you are conscious of it or not, and this mechanism has such a profound impact on your life, that simply being aware of it can allow you to determine your own level of happiness and fulfillment in life.
I read this doctrine from Viktor Frankl, the man I quoted above, and I believe it to be true. He was a Jewish psychologist in Germany before WW2, and was sent to the concentration camp. The last thing he had left in his life, stuffed into the lining of his coat, was the book he had been writing for years - the culmination of his life's work and research - which was promptly taken from him and destroyed at the camp when he arrived.
After months and months of suffering in the camps and surviving, these are the observations he made about human existence, and what ultimately causes some to persevere and others to give up all hope.
But you can condition yourself to notice it, once you decide to start looking for it.Memphis wrote:It's not just what you do, it's what happens to you also. Things beyond your control can and will change who you are and how you act. Even contact with other/new people can change you. You'd not even necessarily notice it.
