Who is that person you are carrying around with you?
Who is that person you are carrying around with you all the time? Most people don’t know who they really are. It is a very difficult question. It is the central question of life. It is the age-old question asked by Greek philosopher, Diogenes, while walking through the streets of Athens trying to find himself.
Take a yellow pad and write that question on the top and start writing the answers. Most likely, you are going to write about your background, education, skills, achievements, relationships, etc. This is how society has taught us to answer that question. Look at obituaries. It sounds morbid, but I am fascinated by obituaries. A few years ago, I did a memorial service for a 91-year-old woman.
This lady’s obituary was long, listing all her accomplishments and achievements. Her father was a county judge, and her mother was the local postmaster in Vermont. She married a doctor. They moved from Vermont to Florida in 1960. She had four children, three of whom are attorneys, and one is a doctor. She had seven grandchildren and four great-grands. She worked as a nurse for 30 years. She was also a member of the County Election Board.
It was all about biology, biography, and geography — her family of origin, where she lived and what she achieved during her life. There was no philosophy in that obituary. Most obituaries are like that. In fact, most people have no articulated philosophy in their life that can be printed in an obituary. And that is the problem. That is the problem with our lives and with the world.
When answering the question about your identity, leave your biology, biography, and geography behind and bring your philosophy with you.
Achievements in those three areas don’t touch the essence of your being. All of them are accidental, superficial, and temporary. Having a philosophy of your life does not mean that you must take a course in academic philosophy at a prestigious university. Philosophy in this context means — an awareness of your real identity, the deeper meaning of your life, an ability to articulate the meaning of reality, and your place in the world — without referring to your resume.
It is about experiencing your identity as a unique, local, physical manifestation of the Divine, coming out of the womb of Mother Earth.
Such an understanding requires a philosophical view of life, which is very different from a description, focused on biology, biography, and geography.
(from Cosmic Kindergarten: Earthly Lessons for a Heavenly Life)
