Poetry – I Am Me

Posted on by Opher

I Am Me

I am me.

There is nothing more

Or less.

I will confess.

I swear I am.

Yet I am

Not the same young me

I was.

Simply because

I change each day.

The molecules

That form my body

Do change

And rearrange.

They pass and go.

I am part

Of a cosmic flow

And ebb;

Universal web.

That passes through.

I borrow

And pass on to you

My breath

Up to my death

And then beyond.

Who is me?

This electricity

That sparks

To light the dark

Within my mind?

I am me!

Opher 16.7.2015

I Am Me

The cells in your body are replaced every three months (apart from those in the brain) – some faster than others.

Every three months we have a new body.

With every breath we breathe out zillions of the atoms that made up our body. We take in zillions of replacements.

All our atoms are merely passing through.

Within our bodies are atoms that once resided in every human being who ever lived – Jesus, Hitler, Mao, Mohamed, Pol Pot and Leonardo Da Vinci. I have the full set.

We own nothing. Even after we die our atoms come and go freely. Our body is an open country without borders.

As we age our body changes. There is little similarity between the toddler and the old-age pensioner. It is not the same body.

Yet it is essentially the same me, the personality, the aspirations, mannerisms and dreams. I am recognisable.

Somewhere in the DNA spirals, the neuron firing and the chemistry within is locked the mystery of me.

Who Are We??

Posted on by Opher

Who are we?

 

This was basically a question asked by Stephen Hunter (a writer on WriterBeat) with a nod to Pete Townsend. He advised us to peer deeply into a mirror, put ego to one side and ask ourselves what was the essence of our selves.

We all, I am sure, have a deep sense of identity. We view ourselves as individuals who can exert will. We can make choices about what we believe, what we like, what we associate with. Free will is at the center of our concept of self. It is the basis of our laws as well as our identity.

Religious people might believe our essence is spiritual in nature.

Political people might think that they chose a political stance out of some conviction held by their inner self.

Law enforcers will insist that we exercised free will in carrying out criminal acts and can be persuaded not to do so.

Yet do we really have any free will?

Some psychologists think not. They say our ‘inner self’ is no more than a construct of our upbringing, culture and experience. They also believe that that ‘inner self’ changes with time and experience – that those changes are usually slow so we do not notice. Wouldn’t it be interesting to go back and inhabit the mind of our younger self? I’m sure we’d be shocked. We assume that our views, which we see as naïve, might have changed but our inner self will be constant. But is it?

What seems to be true is that if we had been brought up in a different culture we’d believe in different things. We’d have a different religion and cultural values, different tastes and even feelings. But would our inner self be different?

You know – I think it would. Despite my strongly held views and robust sense of identity I suspect we are all products of our time and place. There is no inner self at all. It’s an illusion.

Being oneself – Who are we?

Posted on by Opher

Arthur Brown 4

Being oneself

Who are we?

Are we merely products of the culture, the family and friends we live in and with?

If I had been born in Saudi Arabia I would be a Sunni Muslim. If I had been born in Iran I would have been Shia. If I had been born in Mississippi I would be going to the Baptist church regularly. If I had been born in Brazil I would be Catholic, India – Hindu. Or would I?

I was born in the freedom of England and brought up in a liberating environment where little was forced on me.

I am a free thinking, alternative antitheist.

I am a product of my own individuality. I am a free man making decisions and choices based on my own preferences and personality.

Or do I?

I value my freedom and individuality and would fight to preserve it. I detest indoctrination and being manipulated by the media or advertising.

I feel I can make my own mind up. Or can I?

When can we ever truly be ourselves? Do we reflect aspects of our personality, likes and dislikes, to the people around us? Does anyone ever see the full picture? Do we always hold back for one reason or another? How much of our behaviour is subconscious.

Two things stand out for me.

The first is the dilemma of holding a party and realising that you have different groups of friends who hold different views of you as a person and the two sets of friends are almost mutually exclusive. You cannot conceive of them having anything in common. Both groups see you as a totally different person.

The second is an illustration from life.

I went for an interview for a management position at school and failed.

On the way back to my room, in pensive mood and trying to cope with the disappointment, I passed two colleagues. They both asked how I’d done and I told them I’d failed.

The first said that they were not surprised because I was always too flippant. I needed to take things more seriously and stop making jokes all the time. The boss had to see that I was someone who was not merely funny all the time.

The second informed me that they were not surprised; I was far too serious and I needed to lighten up a bit.

I realised that both of those people saw me as a completely different person. When I was with them I displayed one facet of my personality. That was all they saw. It wasn’t conscious. It was habit. When I was with them that was the side I automatically put on.

When I was at work I was one person.

When I was out of work I was someone else.

I switched automatically and subconsciously. Few people, if any, received the full gamut of my total personality. I was like a chameleon.

So who am I?

I am the product of everything that has ever happened to me and the interaction with the core of my personality. I am a product of my time and circumstance.

What that core of individuality actually is remains hard to discern or define.

But I’ll still fight for the right to be who the hell I think I am!