Topic awaiting preservation: Who have you decided to be? (Page 1 of 1)

I very firmly believe that we define ourselves, essentially creating ourselves by doing so.

So my question to you, fellow Asylumites, is- Who have you decided to be?

Me.

Justice 4 Pat Richard

From the :FAQ: ~~Asylum Quotes~~

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"It is my goal to be as Christ-like during my time here on earth as I can. " - Bugimus

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He is the best example of who I want to be that I have found. I think he came here to provide us an example of how we should then live our lives. If he is really who he claimed to be, then that means he had ultimate power at his disposal, yet he taught the following:

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A Mother's Request

Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
"What is it you want?" he asked.
She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom."
"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?"
"We can," they answered.
Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father."
When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
-- Matthew 20:20-28

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Pat Richard : . .

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Who have you decided to be?

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Norm, I think that question, at last for me, is fundamentally flawed, the key word being "decided".

Who says I have to make any kind of definitive decision as to who I am. Why not simply let things fall the other way around and in turn the question answers itself, in an odd kind of way.

We are the outcome of our choices.

Which you suggested in the opening sentance, but the question kinda works in oposition to this. At least in my terms of understanding the concepts behind that statment.

This really suggests that you can never definitively "define" anyone, not at least until they are dead.

That aside, we must still pass judgment based on our unique perception and ultimately define who others are to us by our own decisions. If we reflect upon this as or understanding by which we are precived by others and thus "defined" in this sence, we create a recursive evaluation of self and self awareness. Something I'd wager we all deal with in various different ways in order to try and define ourselves.

[This message has been edited by Cameron (edited 03-14-2004).]

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We are the outcome of our choices.

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Exactly. And the sum of those choices comprise that "decision" you have made about who you are.

=)

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Who have you decided to be?

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We are the outcome of our choices.

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due to circumstances beyond my control, i find both quotes to be equally silly

Food for thought from all, so far.....

I had originally pictured this self-definition as a variable, not static but able to change as the need arises. Perhaps even an array of loosely typed sub-definitions.

However, it does seem to have something very recursive going on. Once again, it would appear that I have been a victim of procedural thinking..... 'me.define()' is the way to go here. I can't quite wrap my head around being 'the outcome of our choices', because I don't think there is an final outcome, just an infinite loop.

After dragging my heels for a while, I have figured out who I have decided to be-

I have decided to be the appreciation of the moment and the world around (and including) me. Just exactly as it is, not as it was, or as it might have been. I have decided to be the person who enjoys both the warmth of the sunlight and the cool rain on my upturned face.

norm,

Living in the present is a *very* key part of truth. But *how* you act at any given moment is what I was hoping to hear from your description of your decision. I too appreciate those nice things in life that you mention, but how do you decide to act in the present during times of great hardship? I'm asking if there is any guideline to your actions as opposed to being a passive observer of your environment. I guess another way of putting it is whether there is any difference between your decisions and that of a mollusk? ( and I don't mean that as an insult at all; but completely literal )


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Bugimus:

Allow me to explain- I have not decided to physically do anything that I'm not already doing or even to undertake any specific mental task like (learning quantum physics or something) What I have decided to do is become the kind of person who takes the time to find and appreciate the beauty and wonder in this world. This is kind of an emotional state of being and I think that achieving it is a worthy goal for both mollusks and mammals. Maybe there is something to being 'happy as a clam'.

Who I am is just as much determined by what I feel as what I do, and each is influenced by the other.

Our interaction with the world is colored by our perceptions, our understandings, and our interpretations. Ever see two people doing the same task, under the same conditions, but one of these people is enjoying themselves and the other is not? Well, I have decided which of those two people I want to be....

[This message has been edited by norm (edited 03-15-2004).]

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I had originally pictured this self-definition as a variable, not static but able to change as the need arises. Perhaps even an array of loosely typed sub-definitions.

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Anyone ever found it strange how we seem to define our sense of being by our current level of technology? Go back to the 60's and you'll find people comparing themselves to mechanical machines, and the process and practices we developed to understand those were also used to try and understand ourselves albeit in a rather abstract manner. There is a philosopher who's written about this oddity (at least, I find it a little odd, or perhaps just a little uncomfortable) but I can't remember his name right now.


Bugs, what does the *present* have to do with anything? Aren't our choices dominated by our experiences past?

I've always found the concept of the *present* or *now* to be kinda flawed. It serves a purpose in our language, but I've always found that we have too few words to describe such a complex thing as time. Perhaps flawed is too heavy a word. It might be better to say that I find *present* too liberal.

What is happening right *now* is but a sliver of something heavily dictated by our understanding of the past and out concept of what is to come next (the future). The problem I have here is that to understand anything, it must have already happened (even our predictions and concepts about the future happen in the past), making *now* almost irrelevant.

Saying that *present* is key to truth got me thinking though. Even thought I find the notion of "present" somewhat irrelevant, I can't disagree with that statement because it supports itself so well. Perhaps I could say that the *present* is the only single truth. Everything outside of this is distorted and relative, making truth irrelevant. No not irrelevant, creating multiple truths... perhaps. I'll have to ponder that some more.

Although, I think outcydr has a very valid point.

We can try and control who we are perceived to be by the choices we make, but that gives us no assurances of actually being anyone. Our actions and choices are interpreted by others who only see the outcome, not our process. That's not to say our process isn't relevant, indeed it is fundamental but it is simply not observable by others, at least not fully. Others might be able to evaluate our process from viewing our actions, but they will be evaluating that against their own past and their own beliefs, not ours, which is what creates multiple truths.


Do we have control over who we are to everyone else?

I honestly can't answer that question. We may have, or we may not. It depends on how broad the term "everyone else" is employed as. If it's your church group then I'd probably say yes, a reasonable amount of control, but only because their evaluation of your actions is likely to be similar to your own.
If it were a group of foreign exchange students I'd say no, or at least very little. I think this all depends on how parallel our perceptions and experiences of the past and religious/moral beliefs are to whom we consider the "other" person.


Do we have control over who we are to ourselves?

I'd say that's an implicit fact that we can't escape, as we have no other measure to go by when it comes to evaluating ourselves than our own perceptions and beliefs.


Who have I decided to be?

I think all of the above is my answer to this question. I've decided not to decide. As that decision have no outcome, let alone a valid process. I will try to live up to my beliefs and moral views, and make the best judgments I can, because I know no other way to live my life. If that makes me *someone*, and it probably will regardless of what I do, than so be it.

hey, i don't mind writing about it

it's just that there really isn't any point to it

so... i won't

cheers

I plan on just being the best me that I can be. I don't think anyone else has any right to tell me who and what I can be. So, I'll be me, and maybe others will learn from my example.

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I've decided not to decide. As that decision have no outcome, let alone a valid process.

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I think you're missing the point still. Whether or not Norm meant it the way I see it, the question of who you have decided to be is very valid.

Who you've decided to be has nothing to do with you sitting down, scratching your chin and saying "ok, who am I going to be" and then defining yourself by that label.

As you've said yourself, you are the outcome of your choices. Well what is a choice? A decision...
So everything you've done, and everywhere it's lead you, is exactly who you've decided to be.

There's no such thing as not deciding - you decide every moment of your life.

And even choosing not to decide is still a choice, and therefore, you have already decided. It's one of those lovely little paradoxical statements. "I have decided not to decide". It's like agreeing to disagree.

Justice 4 Pat Richard

The point of life is to eventually come to the realization that you are who you are, not who you dream you are. Which basically means that though we define ourselves, we may be defining ourselves incorrectly based on perceptions created by ourselves which are in fact not based on reality. It reminds of how a child dreams of being a basketball star, and they feel that this will happen when they get older, despite all the odds. Yet once they grow up, they realize that they will never be a basketball star.

But to the point, I have decided to try and become as spiritually advanced a person as I can, without ever adopting any major religious views, but learning about them all objectively and always realizing that, as Gandhi puts it... "The various religions are like different roads converging on the same point. What difference does it make if we follow different routes, provided we arrive at the same destination." So therefore, I am trying to follow my own path, set forth by my thoughts on what I believe to be true based on the diffferent things I read and learn through experience.


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Ozone Quotes

GN Wrote:
What difference does it make if we follow different routes, provided we arrive at the same destination." So therefore, I am trying to follow my own path, set forth by my thoughts on what I believe to be true based on the diffferent things I read and learn through experience.

GN

But what if your taking the wrong path? Who is going to tell you to take the right one? And how do you know we all end up at the same destination?

But who's to say that a given path is wrong?

Who's to say that there *is* a right path?

Who's to say there is even a destination?

If we spend our lives worrying about whether the path we're on is "the right path", then we'll never get anywhere.

Bingo, DL-44... That was excellent.

I'd have to go with a line from Second Hand Lions... I strive to believe in the things that help me be a better, happier person... whether they are true or not. To borrow from GN... follow my own path as it suits me.

GrythusDraconis:

I think that anything that help us be a better, happier person must be 'true'.....

But the same problem applies there. What *is* better? For some, being happier comes at the expense of others? But it certainly meets the criteria of becoming happier.


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Who have I decided to be?

Much of what we are is not under our control. Much of it, is.
For the part that's under my control, I decided not to care about what others expect from me and follow my own path, doing my own judgement and interestingly, the more I followed it, the more admiration I got from the others (that care about me). After finding the woman I love and having the children I love, much of what I am is now under the influence of what I want to these persons. But I have too much to improve and part of what I want to be is yet to be worked out.
Enigmatic, huh?

We are the people our parents warned us about.

Actually, I've decided to be Skaarjj also. I'm disappointed that he stole my idea.

Cell 1250 :: alanmacdougall.com :: Illustrator tips

I've decided to be the best damned person I can be. The hell with self-destructiveness; time will do that for free. I'm currently writing two novels and a short story, and life's never been this good.

Incidentally, how fast would a spaceship need to go in order to cross three quarters of the universe in 40.1 seconds?