Monday, February 7, 2011

Who are we really?

We live in a world fabricated by everything we observe and experience from our own perspective. Everything and everybody we come into contact with has the potential to change our knowledge of our surroundings, our personalities, and emotions at any given time. Let's ask ourselves a very provocative question: If we actually wanted to, what does it take to change us completely at a genuine level? Does the core of us ever really change or is it just an external masking of how we interact with our perception of reality? What I'm proposing is that perhaps maybe people are afraid of changing themselves for the better through fear of inauthenticity. Maybe the reason we're so afraid of changing ourselves is that deep down we know we're still the same and on the outside it may even seem genuine, but internally we're only programming ourselves to abide by external stimuli that condition us. All of this leads to one massive realization: Are we really as in control of own lives as we think?

14 comments:

  1. Hmm I don't know, some people never change, they don't let others change them...but there are also people in this world who change their behavior all the time because they want to fit in and be accepted.

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  2. I took a psych class in college and it touched upon this subject. It just caused weeks of argument, and changed noone's beliefs. I dunno what the right answer is here, or if there is even a right answer.

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  3. I have no clue if life is real or not. I play it as a game, with not continues, save points, and nearly cheat-proof.

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  4. Maybe we are living in someone else's dream and they are also living in another persons dream and so on.

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  5. Well, I believe that adaptation is necessary for us all, and because of that, changing can become so dramatic that we ourselves might believe this adaptation is a permanent change. What I am saying is that we can delude ourselves into thinking adaptation is permanent.

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  6. I often wonder if my dreams are reality and vice versa!

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  7. Reminds me of the movie "A million in the morning" in a way. Especially with what Mr. Hate said. A quote from the movie: "If you're seeing and hearing things that aren't there while you're awake, you're mad. If you're seeing and hearing things that aren't there while you're asleep, you're normal and having a dream. So it's the question of whether you're awake or asleep that makes the difference." They're not allowed to sleep in the movie so they start talking about if what you see is fusing with your "reality". It's an interesting film and that's only one part of it. Check it out.

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  8. I am not my thoughts. I have thoughts.
    I am not my feelings. I have feelings.

    I am the one who experiences my life.

    I believe that we live in the "realities" created by our minds. Much of what we take for given are just conventions we've agreed upon a long time ago - and forgotten about it.

    Still, I believe that everyone of us has a core - a set of intrinsic drives and dispositions that remains unchanged.

    We may drop old beliefs and ways we went about fulfilling our core needs - but there IS something that remains unchanged.

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  9. Ah the classical existential crisis. Every troll has one... often multiple times per day.

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  10. I think its really our paste experiences that make us into who we are so sometimes we feel obligated to hold true to what that person in that past would have done. In a sense we are sacrificing our present for our past to continue our self perception even though we are always changing. Its better to keep your eye on the horizon in my opinion

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