Who am I?
So who am I? Am I my body and face? Clearly, if someone changed my hands for a pair of robotic arms, it wouldn't make much of a difference would it? If my legs were replaced with that of a dog, I would definitely feel bad about it, but I would still be there. Am I the face? If they changed my face, oh I would feel quite weird. The face is a big marker of who I am perhaps. I would not recognize myself. I would say "Oh fuck, I look different now"! But that would still be me, after all, I am still Annapragada Krishna Prasanth. What if my name was changed? Well people have many names you see. But if essentially my name were changed, to say 'Rahul Modi', I would feel quite weird and perhaps laugh, but it would still be me wouldn't I. If I am not my name, not my face, not my body, the who am I?
Such a weird question to ask. Who am I. I am not my face, I am not my name, I am not my body. I am more than all of this. I am something behind my eyes I suppose, something inside my ears, underneath the skin. I am something way more than all of this, that can only be extinguished with death. When I am asleep, I loose my sense of I, unless I am dreaming. Clearly a functioning brain means a functioning me. They can do a heart transplant surgery. A brain transplant is still unheard of.
There is something interesting in memory too I suppose. My memory defines me in many ways. My recollection of who I was, helps me be in touch with myself. Somehow I, am a set of experiences, tags, relationships, qualities etc. I am an experience. The first question, a man who has lost his memory asks is "Who am I"? It would be weirdest thing if all my past experiences were taken away from me, you see.
I am not quite sure who am I. But the I feel a lot of things too. I 'feel' a lot of things. I feel angry, frustrated, peaceful, quiet, anguished. Where from emotions come is a slightly difficult matter. What does the I have to do with emotions and feelings is slightly unclear. The hormones have a lot to with emotions they say. But the I experiences, feels and is aware of its existance.
So I am quite unsure of who I am. Oh this speculation.
Trust me.... I feel, even superheroes are unaware of "who they really are".... they dodge this question by passing it to someone else ! I have heard Spiderman and Iron Man ( i m not sure if they were the ones.... but hopefully, i m right !) saying "You know who I am"... and I feel that it pretty much takes the burden off their minds, at least !!!! 😂😂
ReplyDeleteAnd in reference to a line in the second paragraph - I feel, death won't be able to "extinguish" "who you really are ". Because i think, unfortunately nobody except the Almightly can answer "who one really is" .... so, it becomes a subjective affair. You might mean differently to different people (including yourself). So, you will *somewhat* live on, even after your death..... through people and their perceptions about you.
But i seriously enjoyed the light doses of humour in the article !