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This sounds like an existential philosophical question. There is no single concrete answer to this, but try reading some modern philosophy like Kant or Nietzsche. Just to get you started.
Last edited by BrowningPoeFrost; 08-28-2017 at 12:10 PM..
Completely agree. All of our roles define us, and make us who we are.<snippage>
How sad for you.
I, however, fulfill whatever "roles" are necessary in my life according to WHO, not WHAT, I am. Some roles I outright reject, or modify in ways that other people find strange or even offensive. Not that I care.
"Roles" should not define or stifle who we really are.
OP: you can Google your question and find numerous websites regarding the subject or "Who Am I?"
It can lead you into a journey that delves into your psyche (the human soul, mind or spirit).
One could say, "I'm a soul living in a human body", or "I was made in the image of God", "I am a female".
It is a very deep and convoluted subject.
I can't answer as to 'who I am' without that intense personal journey. I can tell you my role at my stage of life; I can tell you my feelings, my beliefs, my personality, etc., but I believe you want to go deeper.
We are not our roles (i.e., mother, father, child, daughter, businessman, shopkeeper, etc.) - so HOW do you define yourself?
What/Who are you?
I have no idea WHO I am . . .
I know what I like and what I don't like.
I know what my values are.
But I have NO IDEA WHO I am . . . not a clue.
How about you?
Why does it matter who you are? A benign or divine spark? In all cases it doesn't matter what we think we are or what was our supposed destiny. We just are.
Hegel certainly thought that our bundle of thoughts were who we were. Our memories our experiences. Combined with our genetic biological predispositions that's who we are as humans.
Simply as a self proclaimed existentialist I am a thing that exists. A being-for-itself. I can decide what I want to be; to use the gift of existence to adjust to the circumstances of the world; through education, through empathy. If I'm lucky my environment, upbringing, science and moral luck can supersede whatever genetic deficits I may have.
The only way to truly answer your question is to take steps to kill the ego. Ironically the question is ego centric, so the answer to me seems to be we are everything and nothing at the same time.
OP, your desire to divorce roles from essential being is rigid and limiting. In many cases, for many people, no such separation is possible. Yes, I am more than merely the sum of my roles, but to a great extent my roles (or some of them, at least) are such an important part of who I am.
For the lucky ones, a role is so all-consuming, so gratifying, so worthy, so intense a use of one's talents, that to call it just a "role" is misleading. Rather, it represents the core of one's being. Some examples:
1. A professional musician. One gets to that position after many years of intense work and practice. The joy of expressing one's self in that way is transcendent.
2. A creative scientist. Take for example the people who designed and built the space probes. How exiting to be at the forefront of human knowledge, pushing its boundaries!
3. A teacher who is a teacher down deep to the core of his or her being. Notice I qualified that one. If being a teacher is simply a means to put food on the table, then that is not the sense I am talking about. Those who have the calling know it.
Important: The foregoing are by way of example, not limitation.
I asked the question to find out how YOU define yourself . . . WHAT do you think you are?
To me, it is a very interesting question.
I feel I AM almost nothing discernable at the core . . .I don't know if this is "true," but it is what I perceive.
I guess this is more of a philosophical question.
Feel free to move the thread, whomever does that stuff.
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