“Who am I?”
Is it an important question? A wide variety of answers can get from your friend circle if you ask this. You will get a similar response for most existential questions (“Why am I Here?”, questions on purpose and truth, etc.). The majority of friends will suggest (a particular) religion can answer these questions. Some say asking these types of questions itself a luxury (another way to say that you don’t have any work). The popular view is that solitude is the reason to pop up these questions. Your friends may suggest you socialize as a response to your existential quest.
We don’t find a debate or two-way conversations on these topics in our society. Why can’t we have an open discussion on these topics? What could facilitate a meaningful discussion? This blog is a humble attempt to explore these questions.
Challenges
Books are the first attempt to answer these questions. I think now it is changing to videos (searching on YouTube). Typically search videos/books related to religion, philosophy and self-help categories for the answers. Books and videos are helpful. However, the episode of interest on the topic fades away (in most cases). This could be due to some understanding gained from the books (or videos), or change in priority, or distractions in daily life. Books are an essential part of learning, but this alone is not an effective way to pursue existential questions.
Let us focus on discussions. Historically, if we look at old India or Greek, a culture with discussions and debates playing a vital role in establishing a knowledge centre. We are going through a tough time not having an open discussion on religion, politics or ethical issues. It is the same with existential topics. Here are some of the challenges that potentially stop a meaningful conversation:
- Environment (Judgmental): When the questions are tagged under religion, one may face these responses “You are not qualified to answer these questions?”, “You need to experience GOD first”, “It is beyond you”, etc. There is a criticism from the non-religion angle like “There is no point of these discussions as nothing can be proved”. Metaphysical statements are nonsense if we analyze in terms of language (Logical empiricism). A religious conversation usually one-sided, and the questions can silence using the devotion path (I believe devotion is a powerful catalyst in one’s spiritual journey. However, devotion with a judgmental attitude is destructive for individual and others).
- Individual (Decline in the interest): We often priorities our tasks. Even though the search is started with high energy, after some time on, this task can be looked like a distraction or non-value adding activity or lesser priority task. It is normal. The intensity of the quest depends on the time one think about the topics. It is the individual’s choice to feed the interest on these topics.
- Resources (Ignorance): This can be a natural challenge. As society progress, this can become a lesser challenge. In the digital world, it is up to the individual to use the resources (“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear”). Also, online forums and discussions can engage the discussions.
The 2 & 3 part can be reduced if we can establish the worth of discussion on existential topics. We all can agree that understanding our mind or consciousness is tricky. There is something special differentiating us from robots/animal. The quest for existential questions can give clarity to an individual’s life. Beyond this, the answer can be subjective. For some, the process of looking answers for to the existential question is the primary purpose of life. A community with healthy discussion on these topics can enhance trust, humanity and harmony (a big statement!). Thinking more on these topics can preserve individuality in the presence of the digital and social media world.
Minimum Assumptions required to have a healthy discussion
We need a common ground where everyone would like to participate in the discussion. The best situation is if everyone is with good intention and sincere effort to learn on the topics. We don’t need any rules or assumptions in this ideal case. In reality, we may need some rules and assumptions to start the culture of discussions.
One can argue that the discussion and writing will not help to understand these questions. “You will not learn until you have the feeling. It is all about the experience” or “meditation is the answer”. This will not be the case. Even if the solution is meditation or devotion, thinking about these topics is essential. The discussions can amplify the intensity of the search.
I would like you to think about this situation to establish the assumptions. There is a group of people, let us call them Seekers, not aware of any religion. However, they are curious and genuine intention to know “Who am I?”. Most of them grew up as a sceptic and would like to travel to the other part of the world. They found the prescriptive responses are arrogant (solution without explanation). However, they are open to answers/ideas even if illogical or irrational if it satisfies the following assumptions.
- A1: All humans are the same in terms of the spiritual journey. The ideas or argument applies to anyone. It is not limited to particular religion or caste.
- A2: It is independent of genders
- A3: The ideas will not be time-bound. The answers make sense in the stone age, bronze age, iron age, and digital age.
- A4: There is nothing special about a location. Ideally, if the same ideas are developed independently in different geography is worth exploring.
- A5: We can improve our understanding or add knowledge. Tweaking the interpretation is an opportunistic approach (e.g., tweaking the theory/text by new interpretation to incorporate the latest scientific discovery).
I am sure these rules are very crude (I will update these rules over one month). It is possible to question these assumptions. It will be interesting to listen to those arguments.
Part2 is planned to discuss specific questions (like “Who am I?”) and various views.
To be continued.
Postscript: As I was reading more on this topic, I was not confident to write anything. However, I believe that I will learn more from the conversations after this blog post.
That Dear Delight 