Asking the question “Who Am I and why am I here?” does not necessarily imply some universal agenda from an “overarching being.” The answer to such questions can (and in my opinion… DOES) emerge from a very personal perspective.
Ascribing meaning to our existence must not merge with some religious dogma or universal agenda, but it very much provides structure and purpose for our lives. I do not believe the search for my purpose is an effort to align myself with some mythical diety who assigns my fate and renders me powerless. Rather, my search for purpose is an act of self-definition that is best left to the less programmed portion of my brain. While incorporating the left brain into these explorations can he helpful, ultimately we become limited to the serial processing of a higly predictable formula. Our right brain frees us to think outside the box and CREATE whatever purpose we desire.
Although our left brain would like us to live in a black and white world, science is no less married to spirituality than spirituality is unaffected by science. In the words of Albert Einstein, “Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.”
Incorporating a larger spiritual purpose into our experience in the NOW is essential to what makes us human. We have evolved to the point where mere survivial and self-awareness no longer provides enough stimulation for continued evolution. If we do not begin to seek answers to questions about our purpose, we are doomed to our present cycle of self-destruction.
I do not ask these questions because I do not know the answers. I ask these questions because the asking is part of the answer.
Who are we and why are we here?
We are who we choose to be and we are here for whatever purpose we create. Creation can be conscious and intentional or random and accidental. Either way, we are always evolving and creating our reality. I ask the questions not because I seek some guidance from an external authority, but because I recognize my internal power to manifest a creation that reflects Who I Really Am.
In the words of a great man, “Random success is overrated.” My father always taught me that having a plan significantly increases the likelihood that we can create the world as we choose. But a plan without a purpose is like a road map without destination. We must determine WHERE we are going before we can set out HOW to get there. And as I tell my students, we must know where we are to know where we want to go.
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April 16, 2008 at 11:51 am
twoblueday
I was hesitant to respond to this post, fearing that I would appear to be arguing with my kind host who has provided this forum (alluding here to my two responses to the prior post). Fortunately, my host has shown an understanding that discussion is not argument, and disagreement is not war.
I suppose I would explain myself best by saying I do not know what is meant by the term “spirituality.” I just plain don’t. This lack of knowledge is based upon my complete lack of belief in deities, religions (which I judge are dangerous foolishness at best and dangerous venality at worst). I guess those who choose to discuss “spirituality” are unwilling, at least in the context of that discussion, to ascribe their views to religion itself–but are yet unready to abandon the supernatural completely, and are looking for another manner of speaking about what is on their mind. I don’t necessarily object to it, but my mental “eyes” tend to glaze over.
I think Einstein was just plain wrong in stating “Science without religion is lame . . . ” Just because he was smart about some stuff doesn’t make him an expert on everything. In fact, he was not even always right about things in his area of expertise.
So, my translation of the question “Who Am I?,” is this, more or less: “What will I do when confronted with a decision involving moral implications, and why do I sometimes respond in a way different than what, on reflection, I thought/wished I would have?” As for “Why Am I Here,” I translate that to mean: “I’m alive, although I didn’t choose to be, and, absent committing suicide in any given moment (any “now”), what am I going to choose to do next?”
I still say I don’t bother much with those musings, but I honestly would like to have some way of understanding those questions when people I care about utter them, so that I can engage in meaningful dialog with them, or at least put the appropriate look on my face so they know they are not talking to a Sphinx!
I say we are defined (by the World outside us) by our actions, not our thoughts and self-examination. Our actions are the result of our thoughts and self-examination (see further below). Outsiders can interact with us by understanding this: Want to know what Gerry wants to do? Watch and see what he does. (I take no credit for this, I read it somewhere, probably in a pop psychology psychobabble book). To leaven this conversation with a bit of silliness, the following: I am not consciously aware of preferring, as objects of love and affection, brown-haired women over blond-haired women. However, when I look back, all of my serious relationships with women have been with the brown-haired variety. Translation: what a person wants may not be consciously known to them, that’s why their actions tell us the answer.
So, how is it I say our actions are the results of our “thoughts and self-examination” if we don’t actually know we prefer one course over another? Because we have thoughts, make decisions, and then make those part of our “structure of self.” We then, over time, forget we made those decisions, but our “structure of self” motors on, irregardless (yeah, I used that non-word on purpose!) of our forgetfulness. I suppose one could analogize it to programming a computer, and then forgetting what we programmed into it, and being amazed by what it “decides” to do.
Here’s something I think about: I love someone and am glad to be with them. They decide to move on, severing all ties. I become (forgive that passive word for the nonce) really sad, depressed. Is it built into our DNA to have that reaction, or, do we, from birth, accrete experience and make a set of incremental decisions which become buried in our self-programming, so that being left by a lover feeling overwhelmingly painful seems as though it comes from a law of the universe (DNA) and not our own decision-making? The death of a person one loves, and the response, could be similarly examined (as could anything we respond to emotionally, I suppose).
Decisions, decisions, we are protoplasm and decisions.
April 17, 2008 at 12:02 am
Dad
http://www.shareguide.com/Chopra.html pretty much sums up in an abbreviated way my concept of spirituality and my definition of success. I started thinking about this subject in high school back in the early 60’s, and my awareness evolved slowly over the years through three careers, one of which involved more than five years of accumulated time submerged in the ocean. The Law of Least Effort suggests that the harder you seek an answer, the greater the difficulty of discovery. Most great human breakthroughs, inventions and ideas came to their authors during moments of quiet relaxation and solitude when the voices in the mind were calm. There is a lot of that during submarine patrols.
I think you have it right when you said, “I do not ask these questions because I do not know the answers. I ask these questions because the asking is part of the answer.” The answer will appear, according to the Law of Detachment, when you release your attachment to the need to know.
Purpose in life or the Law of Dharma will become apparent as you incorporate all seven of these spiritual laws into your “Being” over time. At 60, I am still not certain what my purpose is in this life, although I am becoming suspicious. It may have something to do with the search for happiness, the process and journey, not the destination.
Love, Dad
April 17, 2008 at 2:20 am
david
After careful syntactical analysis of this post, we can identify 5 terms that are in all CAPS:
WHERE
DOES
NOW
CREATE
HOW
After submitting “WHERE DOES NOW CREATE HOW” to Google (AKA:God), the 1st website from the aptly named http://www.eurekalert.org (AKA: Science) tells us:
“Prosperity is neither the answer nor the cause of satisfaction”
and
“It has been assumed that money increases well-being and, although money can be measured with exactitude, it is an inexact surrogate to the actual well-being of a nation. In a 1985 survey, respondents from the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans and the Maasai of East Africa were almost equally satisfied and ranked relatively high in well-being. The Maasai are a traditional herding people who have no electricity or running water and live in huts made of dung. It follows, that economic development and personal income must not account for the happiness that they are so often linked to.”
April 17, 2008 at 3:30 am
nakedmessenger
Eureka!
The article, published in the latest issue of Psychological Science, suggests that how we measure well-being should move away from traditional economic indicators and include variables such as “purpose and meaning.”
Imagine that… a scientific journal suggesting that the measurement of our psychological well-being should include the intangible and subjective elements of purpose and meaning….
Einstein was a Nobel-prize winning theoretical scientist who unequivocally recognized “strong reciprocal relationships and dependencies” between religion and science. However, I am not moved by the truth of his observations. Rather, I am moved by his observations of the truth.
April 19, 2008 at 8:12 pm
whodoesshethinksheisanyway
Hello! Chili sent me!
For me, it is the now that I am most concerned with. That is not to say that I don’t have goals or a plan for where I would like to be. For example, now, I am going to school. My intention is to get my degree, then begin my practice as a mental health counselor. What I have learned however is that tomorrow I may decide to do something different. I have no issue with that. What I know for sure is that right now I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I will be tomorrow as well, I just may chose something different tomorrow.
As for the question “Who am I?”, my answer comes from learning to sit with myself and just be. Meaning, be present, pay attention to what I am feeling and what I am saying/doing. I have learned for the most part to not attach anything to what comes from within me, to take my ego out of it. I have learned to live consciously.
With the knowledge that we all create our life comes a huge responsibility. No longer can we place the blame on anyone else for “things they have done to us.” Our individual life circumstance are ours, and ours alone. I tell my clients all the time that we cannot chose what someone else says or does to us, but we can chose how we react. How we react is what is most important..
Although I feel like we have a long way to go in our collective consciousness, I feel like we have made some significant strides in coming to a place where we are able to recognize the implications our individual choices have on society as a whole.
I would say that I am sorry that it has taken me so long to get to your blog, but I know I got here when I was supposed to!
- Auntie Chili
May 9, 2008 at 1:56 am
david
New post please! Boring!
May 13, 2008 at 8:04 pm
twoblueday
Apparently an Einstein letter is to be auctioned in which he refers to belief in God as “childish.”
Just thought I’d add that to our prior discussion.
May 13, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Dad
Einstein also said, “Problems cannot be solved with the same level of thinking that created them.” This is just another reason real change occurs over time. You have to wait for the dinosaurs to die off or retire.
Love, Dad