Who am I???
It's a rather strange question to ask yourself, and one which encourages multitudes of answers. Who, actually, am I?
There's the range of superficial answers which one might provide to a vague acquaintance: daughter of so-and-so, pupil, friend. Maybe a few descriptions of your interests, likes and talents. Delving deeper you'd discover your hopes and dreams for the future, life-shaping experiences and feelings. But it still doesn't answer the insatiable question. Stripped down from everything we've become, who were we to begin with?
Everything we've acquired over the years of life- teachings by our parents, brain-washing by the media, the influence of our friends- has shaped 'who we are'. There's no possible way of knowing who we would turn out to be had we not encountered all of these things. And for me that's why this question is so paradoxical; because we don't really know ourselves in a pure and uninfluenced form. Maybe nothing we believe, feel or know is actually from ourselves, but from the world around us. Maybe our views aren't actually our views, but what we've been trained into thinking. And so when we ask ourselves- "who am I?" can we, in fact, answer?
The only possible truth we can draw is that we are nothing. Nothing without God. If no other thing in our existence is truly our own, God surely must be. What purpose would we serve otherwise? Everything about each one of us changes constantly and irrevocably. We are easily swayed by the world around us, fickle and flighty in our opinions and views. Therefore God must be the one constant in our lives, the one thing that will never change, the one thing that we can always hold fast to.
Our amazing creator gave us our life, a life that will be shaped by everyone around us, twisted and tweaked by changing fads and ideals. We are nothing without the love, forgiveness and guidance of God. Though we can never know what exactly is God's will for us, we can give back to Him the life He has given us. We can devote our whole selves, body and soul, to the carrying out of God's plan for us in the world. And that is when we will truly know who we are. Stripped bare of what we've acquired. A pure, untainted soul, created by God and devoted to God, holy, perfect and courageous. Ourself.
There's the range of superficial answers which one might provide to a vague acquaintance: daughter of so-and-so, pupil, friend. Maybe a few descriptions of your interests, likes and talents. Delving deeper you'd discover your hopes and dreams for the future, life-shaping experiences and feelings. But it still doesn't answer the insatiable question. Stripped down from everything we've become, who were we to begin with?
Everything we've acquired over the years of life- teachings by our parents, brain-washing by the media, the influence of our friends- has shaped 'who we are'. There's no possible way of knowing who we would turn out to be had we not encountered all of these things. And for me that's why this question is so paradoxical; because we don't really know ourselves in a pure and uninfluenced form. Maybe nothing we believe, feel or know is actually from ourselves, but from the world around us. Maybe our views aren't actually our views, but what we've been trained into thinking. And so when we ask ourselves- "who am I?" can we, in fact, answer?
The only possible truth we can draw is that we are nothing. Nothing without God. If no other thing in our existence is truly our own, God surely must be. What purpose would we serve otherwise? Everything about each one of us changes constantly and irrevocably. We are easily swayed by the world around us, fickle and flighty in our opinions and views. Therefore God must be the one constant in our lives, the one thing that will never change, the one thing that we can always hold fast to.
Our amazing creator gave us our life, a life that will be shaped by everyone around us, twisted and tweaked by changing fads and ideals. We are nothing without the love, forgiveness and guidance of God. Though we can never know what exactly is God's will for us, we can give back to Him the life He has given us. We can devote our whole selves, body and soul, to the carrying out of God's plan for us in the world. And that is when we will truly know who we are. Stripped bare of what we've acquired. A pure, untainted soul, created by God and devoted to God, holy, perfect and courageous. Ourself.
Comments
Post a Comment