All of us have probably asked us this question more than once in our life, “What am I?”. But philosophically, this question is not that interesting – since it is quite easily answered:
I am a possibility.
See, that’s how quickly we are done with that. But let’s elaborate a little before moving on to the real deal! As a human being, you have a free will and can decide for yourself what you want to do, so there is pretty much an infinite number of possible answers for this question. You could be an actor, a waitress, an engineer, a cab driver, a chiller, an audiophile, a dancer, … Yet ALL of it boils down to the fact that, what you are in space and time, is always a choice. But you do have a free will after all, so choice is not really the precise word, since, as you may know, you “always” can choose not to do something as well. So to come to the answer of the question, “What am I” – to answer it as universally as possible – we need to go down one logical level, from choice, to the possibility of choice. And this is exactly the point where not only all living beings meet, but also all things: the possibility of an action. For things, these “choices” are a lot more harder to define – and also, this would be an entirely different topic. But I hope that, at least on the level of living beings, we can agree that this is the smallest common denominator. Because literally, whatever you do, wherever you are:
You cannot be more than a choice, but, as long as you are not dead, you also cannot be less!
Only on top of this can you build up your life, your ego, your personality(which essentially is the same thing as the ego; Ego is Latin for I), and everything you are. In the end, it all comes from this possibility to act that is inherent within you.
So, What Is The I Now?
From a philosophical point of view, this is the way more interesting and harder to answer question. I think that on top there was not only easy, but also easy to understand, right? Right! The way harder question, that stems directly from “What is I?”, would be “What allows this I to be a possibility”? Many would now argue that, obviously, the human body is the source of this power. But let’s make a little mind experiment, shall we?
Experiment!
Just take in the moment you are in right now, phone in hand, or PC or laptop in front of you, in a room full of stuff, maybe there are other people as well, some music or a TV playing, whatever. And now, think of the same scenery – but without all material things other than you! Essentially, just a naked human body, you, floating around in nothingness – consequentially, there is also no air to breath.
And now, what would you say, how many possibilities would you have in this environment, not just to live, but to, on top of that, to be who you are now? Remember, no air, so, if you were born in this scenario…. well, you certainly wouldn’t see your first birthday, let’s say it like that. I guess you realize now that the answer to “what allows this possibility that I am to exist?” is not so simple.
We are ONE
I could now tell you infinite lists about how and why and in what way you, me, material things, other humans and all that other stuff are in some form of connection, especially over time. So, to make matters a little more easy for the both of us here, just, for now, believe me with this one, in the course of my articles I will show enough times the interconnections between all things:
For you to be able to be who you are right now, everything else that ever existed in the universe, up to this point, it was and/or is absolutely necessary so that you are who you are now!
And not only that, these things are also part of your reality right now, even if you cannot perceive them consciously. But they are still part of reality, and you are always aware that there are a lot of other people existing with you right now to some degree, as well as all the other stuff that is. It’s been over four billion years since the beginning of the universe. Who would possibly be able to tell how the universe would look like, if the matter that existed in the first, say, fifteen minutes of existence would have acted or reacted even the slightest bit differently than how it did? Would our Mother Earth even exist? Nobody could make any certain assumption about that, it is just straight up impossible to draw an absolutely certain line. And sure, if your neighbors car is there or not does not really matter to you personally or won’t have too much effect on your life. But, it was still part of your life in some way and had some effect in becoming who you are now. Even if you never sat in your neighbors car, just by seeing it, or having to go around it, it alters your life ever so slightly. And this is true for pretty much everything and every being you ever saw in your life, you ever touched, smelled, heard, felt, dreamed about. That is why it is absolutely impossible to draw the line to make a clear distinction of what really allows someone to be human and have and be an I. The only sophisticated statement one can make is that whatever is or was, it had to be the way it is and was to reach this point in time and space where we are now. If history has proven anything, than that even a rice sack falling over in china can change the world – if only by becoming a saying, for example.
I is…
For this very reason, the only real logical answer to what the I is and what creates the ability for you and me to act, it is not just our bodies, but rather every single material body and thing that is and ever was and ever will be. Since we humans create our future ourselves, even the things you just dream about will alter the course of reality; and not just yours. Especially if you never give up on your dream, then who knows, maybe you could even become a god in the eyes of others?
So essentially, what I am trying to say:
Even though you experience and feel out of a singular point of view, and can only perceive through what you call your own body, what gives you the ability to be you is not just that, and not just other humans and things, no. What allows you not just to be you, but to act, to breathe, to live, it’s the ENTIRE universe, and not only in the now, but over time as well. This, and only this, can be the real answer to what allows you to have a choice in life, the fact that everything else gives you one by purely existing in your presence somehow.