Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In Register
Examples: Monday, today, last week, Mar 26, 3/26/04
Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.

What defines somebodies individuality for you?

banned_crabbanned_crab Veteran
edited November 2013 in Buddhism Basics
I recently realized that my success and failures dont define who I am because they do not change who I am. Your the same person except you have that success to hang on to and everybody sees it. Other people may perceieve you differently based on your success and failures, but does that really change who you are?

What defines somebodies individuality?

Comments

  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    Well, that's one scenario. Others are defined by their success. Or their failure. So, sometimes those things do define a person.

    I don't think there's one factor. Most often it's a combination of factors.
    Invincible_summer
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    What defines someone's individuality?
    If they're different to me, they're an individual...
    in·di·vid·u·al·i·ty (nd-vj-l-t)
    n. pl. in·di·vid·u·al·i·ties
    1.
    a. The aggregate of qualities and characteristics that distinguish one person or thing from others; character: choices that were intended to express his individuality;
    b. An individual or distinguishing feature.

    2. The quality or state of being individual; singularity: "She was so absorbed by the movement that she lost all sense of individuality".
    3. A single, distinct entity.
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    Our ignorance.
    Invincible_summerlobsterriverflow
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    A mathematical line is made up of individual points. How do they connect if they have no dimensions? Similarly people connect and it is their minds that connect them.
    AllbuddhaBound
  • AllbuddhaBoundAllbuddhaBound Veteran
    The idea of individuality suggests self. To quote Thomas Bien in "The Buddha's Way of Happiness, ""The Buddha offered the insight of no self to free us, to help us realize the truth of deep connectedness and find a truer vision of the way things really are. Love is the natural and inevitable consequence of this insight. If you are interconnected to everything and everyone, what sense would it make to be anything other than kind? To hurt another is to hurt yourself.""
  • banned_crabbanned_crab Veteran
    AllbuddhaBound said:

    The idea of individuality suggests self. To quote Thomas Bien in "The Buddha's Way of Happiness, ""The Buddha offered the insight of no self to free us, to help us realize the truth of deep connectedness and find a truer vision of the way things really are. Love is the natural and inevitable consequence of this insight. If you are interconnected to everything and everyone, what sense would it make to be anything other than kind? To hurt another is to hurt yourself.""

    It would be difficult to maintain that mentality
  • Invincible_summerInvincible_summer Heavy Metal Dhamma We(s)t coast, Canada Veteran
    heyimacrab said:

    I recently realized that my success and failures dont define who I am because they do not change who I am. Your the same person except you have that success to hang on to and everybody sees it. Other people may perceieve you differently based on your success and failures, but does that really change who you are?

    @heyimacrab

    I guess it depends what one does with their perception of success or failure. I would argue that it can indeed change the course of one's life, and consequently, who they are. After all, our experiences are what form "us."
    vinlyn
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    heyimacrab said:

    AllbuddhaBound said:

    The idea of individuality suggests self. To quote Thomas Bien in "The Buddha's Way of Happiness, ""The Buddha offered the insight of no self to free us, to help us realize the truth of deep connectedness and find a truer vision of the way things really are. Love is the natural and inevitable consequence of this insight. If you are interconnected to everything and everyone, what sense would it make to be anything other than kind? To hurt another is to hurt yourself.""

    It would be difficult to maintain that mentality
    Not once it is seen. It is hard to unsee something like that.

    We all have individual talents that can benefit the rest.

    We are all unique aspects of the same thing.

  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    how said:

    Our ignorance.

    Exactly so. :clap:
    Our non existence self v our sense of self.
    My success, my persona, my [insert object of arising].

    As someone who projects a strong caricature of persona as a juggling wer-lobster, my real individuality is . . . wait for it . . . drum roll . . . empty (did you guess?)

    So each individual in essence, is the same core, just a different set of circumstantial arisings to cling to, acknowledge and ultimately let go of . . .

    Now you can read that, you can be told that and believe it or preferably not just believe - you can experience that. Which part is your individuality interested in? Say again?

    . . . and now back to the juggling . . .
    how
  • misecmisc1misecmisc1 I am a Hindu India Veteran
    before realizing our true nature, we are what we think we are. so in samsara, success and failure do affect us - our approach towards things change based on it.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    heyimacrab said:

    AllbuddhaBound said:

    The idea of individuality suggests self. To quote Thomas Bien in "The Buddha's Way of Happiness, ""The Buddha offered the insight of no self to free us, to help us realize the truth of deep connectedness and find a truer vision of the way things really are. Love is the natural and inevitable consequence of this insight. If you are interconnected to everything and everyone, what sense would it make to be anything other than kind? To hurt another is to hurt yourself.""

    It would be difficult to maintain that mentality
    "Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can't - You're right."

    (Henry Ford).

    If you consider something to be difficult for you, then it's always going to be difficult.
    If you accept the challenge of achieving this, then you will achieve it.

    It's all in your mind-set.
    mfranzdorfriverflow
  • NomaDBuddhaNomaDBuddha Scalpel wielder :) Bucharest Veteran
    heyimacrab said:

    I recently realized that my success and failures dont define who I am because they do not change who I am. Your the same person except you have that success to hang on to and everybody sees it. Other people may perceieve you differently based on your success and failures, but does that really change who you are?

    What defines somebodies individuality?

    The body, the mind, and the actions, and also the ego defines somebody's individuality ( IMO ).
Sign In or Register to comment.