The ‘I’ Is Constant

Hello again,

I must say, this was a difficult question that I posed for all of you on Friday. The struggle for me is how to answer this without going to a heady place. If I did that, I would not find an authentic answer. So here we go.

As can be read in the title, I believe that each and every person has a ‘higher self’, a part of themselves that transcends the physical. That soul, that spirit, or that ‘I’ as I like to call it, is unchanging, it is constant. Ultimately, I believe the I is never truly affected by the material world. You change forms – your physical body will not and cannot last forever – but your essence, your true self, is always there.

Do our experiences make us who we are? (Photo credit: paurian)

So then there is the question of where experiences play their role, because life and everything that comes with it (the challenges, the comforts, the pains, the triumphs, etc.) does change you. It’s inevitable. It’s unavoidable.

I look at what exactly the ‘I’ is. What exactly is it that composes our essence? Can it even be defined?

I’ve often explored what the I is that I am. There are many definitions we can place on such a concept of life, and through our various experiences, we all most likely have different definitions. For myself, I see my soul, my I as being part of the greater energy that everything came from. It may seem like we live in a separated world full of isolations, and it may seem like we are two different people, you and I, that we share nothing in common. But we are all connected in ways we cannot yet comprehend. We are all from the same greater energy, and this is just the form we are taking right now.

I am. (Photo credit: Thomas Hawk)

I see God living within me, as I see myself living within God. If I stripped myself of all my ego, of all my materialistic values, of all the things I identify myself with that create my identity, there is something still there. It is the true I that is beyond experiences. It is energy at it’s purest form. It is God.

So where do experiences play their part? They have their value too.

I can say with full honesty, that my experiences have completely changed me. Whether they occurred because of my choices or not, I am a different person from last year, last month, last week.

But maybe ‘change’ and ‘different’ aren’t the right words. Maybe my experiences aren’t so much changing me, as they are shaping me in this level of existence or consciousness. And maybe I’m not changing and becoming a different person, but rather I am discovering more of myself, and my experiences are leading me closer and closer to I.

Dean K. Miller commented something that stood out for me: “My experiences are just that….my experiences. I am not them, nor are they me. But they make up the framework of who I choose to be, moment by moment, lifetime after lifetime. The experiences come and go, here for a reason, recognized or not.”

I connected with those words – experience absolutely makes up the framework of who I am as a human being. It does shape me here on Earth. But saying that I am the sum of my experiences is to look only at one’s identity.

And you are much more than just your identity. You are something much, much more beautiful.

–mrprose

Friday Question: Are You Your Experiences?

Hello, it’s Friday. Need I say more?

I’ll just say that I hope you have an open mind this fine day, because I’ve got a whopper of a question for you.

I’ll be the first to say that this is not a typical question you think about, but it’s one I think needs to be considered more, because it’s kind of a big deal. It’s a big deal in that it’s how you choose to view yourself. And come on, how are you not a big deal in your own eyes?

Okay, so here is: are you your experience? Is the truest form of yourself changed or altered or affected by your experiences, the events and adventures that you embark on?

Are you your experiences? Until tomorrow.

–mrprose

Related articles

• Friday Question: What’s ‘Right’ and What’s ‘Wrong?’ (deepthinkings.wordpress.com)
• Friday Question: Who Comes First? (deepthinkings.wordpress.com)

Experience Life

Live life. Experience it.

What does that mean exactly? Aren’t we all in a way? We’re all living, right?

I don’t know how much living many of us are actually doing. If doing the same thing everyday counts, then I suppose. If always staying in your comfort zone qualifies, then I guess so. But I don’t see things that way, and I’m starting to realize what actual living is.

Gustave Flaubert (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I think the number one thing I’ve learned while having this blog is rather simple, actually. I speak of all kinds of things, things I’m exploring. Life, existence, meaning, philosophy, I’m moving towards theology… the list goes on. As it was once put:

“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe”
–Gustave Flaubert

I agree with that. I do believe I am discovering what I believe. I feel like I have a more solid view on life, for sure. It’s fantastic, I’m rather happy with where I’m going (I know, it’s ego, but cut me some slack!). I feel as though I’m looking at life in more intelligent ways, in ways I didn’t previously. Here’s the thing, though – I’m not sure how much any of that really matters in the long run.

If I don’t live, truly live the things I’ve learned.

Books are great, and they can teach you a lot. But they don’t have a tenth of their impact if you don’t practice what you’re reading. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is a lesson that has taken me quite some time to truly understand, and even now I’m certain I have a lot left to learn. The example that comes to mind is that I started reading self-help books early on, and that may be the reason why I opened my eyes from such a young age. The difficulty I had with those books, the content, was not that I didn’t enjoy it, because I very much did – to the point of feeling drawn to the whole subject. I struggled I had was with translating the learning into my life, and that was a key element that was not addressed directly in the books. How am I supposed to get to that level of spirituality? Surely we all have our own way to go about it.

Thank goodness I learned how to do ridiculously difficult math. Now I may live a fulfilling life. (Photo credit: Kevin H.)

The more I think of it, the more I realize that it’s true for most things in life. As I wrote just a few days ago, you learn a lot in school, sure, but what do you do with the information? Nobody tells you, nor does anyone seem to know. Which is an immediate indicator that there is something off. What am I supposed to do with something I do not know how to use? I think the number one thing we should keep in mind is this: can I use this information/knowledge/learning/skill? If not, it better be of some sort of enjoyment to you (e.g. playing the guitar), because beyond that, it’s useless.

So it’s easy to hide behind that excuse to stay where everything feels safe. You or I can wait until someone will come around and tell us everything we need to know, but that’s not going to happen. Plus, you wouldn’t learn anything.

That’s why I say to experience life. Dive into things, head first. Make mistakes, mess up a little bit. Learn about whatever the hell it is that you’re doing, by doing it. I know I’m not the best person to make this example, but the same goes for parenting. There really isn’t an instruction manual, and I’ve seen my parents learn as they go (I have a younger brother, which helps a bit to see this process a little bit). They have certainly become better leaders as I’ve grown up, I’ve witnessed it first-hand.

I see the same thing with business owners, with authors, with actors. You’ve just gotta do it if you want to truly learn, to truly experience life. I started an unsuccessful blog some time last year, but I never got it going because I didn’t invest. Maybe I was afraid, maybe I wasn’t ready to learn just yet. Whatever it was, it changed when I tried again several months later, and now here I am. It wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t make a promise to myself to commit and be okay with a little failure, a little pain.

So the things that I write about and the blog itself really are teachers to me on how to live. A theme for the last few days has been selflessness (or rather selfish selflessness), and I physically had to do stuff for others without directly impacting myself to really get the beginning of understanding on the whole subject.

Who likes a hypocrite? Live what you preach, and preach what you live. I know some some pretty famous people in history that did just that….

Get off the couch from your TV, from your self-help book, and try something new. Put down your plan and go for it. Do something you haven’t done, something you’ve been talking about doing for a while. Experience something new.

Experience life.

–mrprose

Related articles

• Challenge yourself…Everyday! (optimismlives.wordpress.com)
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*Gasp* – It’s Been A Month

Hello,

I noticed with some surprise, that today is my 30th day of running this blog. It marks one entire month passing (or at least, that is if I see time as a linear thing). It’s a little scary how time can carry you through life so swiftly, but I think of all the things that have happened, that I have learned in this month of blogging, and I shake off the sadness.

It’s not always like that in the passing of life – I am genuinely heavy-hearted in the comings and goings of the things that I enjoy, but this is different for me. Without going through these experiences, I wouldn’t be where I am. Thus, I see this as a success.

I’m not going to lie, it’s been bumpy. Obstacles make us who we are, but they hurt, and it’s always easier to run. And over 16,000 words on philosophy aren’t written themselves!

Possibly the biggest obstacle of blogging, and in fact writing/art in general is ourselves. As I always say, this society supports many, many things that just aren’t working, or are somehow neglectful of nature/natural ways of living. A perfect example is that now we as humans can and often do mistake thirst for hunger, and just eat whenever we feel like doing so. People are even eating out of boredom. Boredom. Thirst and hunger are possible the two most fundamental necessities of life, and now we can’t tell which is which.

In the world of art, though, these obstacles that we create for ourselves are more along the lines of having the tendency to place expectations and pressure upon ourselves to succeed. For what? Approval and pride, both of which are not things to look for. The former because approval should never be sought after, as true approval comes from those that accept who you are no matter what you accomplish. And the former, because pride is an ego-driven feeling, which is commonly mistaken for confidence, when in fact they are very different things (confidence comes from a trust and appreciation of one’s own ability, whilst pride is a “good feeling” based off material successes like winning a trophy).

As I wrote in my post on failure, expectations can never realistically always be achieved, and the more open-minded the mind, the less one is dependent on creating and completing expectations. The problem is, though, that we often cannot gauge our true capabilities in different circumstances, and thus apply unneeded pressure upon ourselves. This is why it makes perfect sense that so many people create a blog and are simply unable to maintain it. The invisible enemy that is ourselves is at work expecting things we cannot/do not care to achieve. Later on, this can cause anxiety in not completing what was expected (even if it was you that was doing the expecting).

So live without having to always win, win, win. Despite how difficult it may be for me to accept it, sometimes there will be days that I won’t be able post on this blog. Those days may feel like blemishes or gaps in a very impressive daily blog. But what I and everyone else should understand is that those days are not those things. Breaks are things we need as people, and often we do not value enough. Those are moments that allow me to return to my best.

Anyway, thank you to everyone, and I really want to express all my gratitude to all the support that I’ve received. Let there be many great months in the future!

–mrprose