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Who are you?

misterCopemisterCope PA, USA Veteran
in General Banter
If you ask people that, they usually say their name. But that isn't what the question is at all. So, if you weren't allowed to answer with your name, what would you say?

Comments

  • TheEccentricTheEccentric Hampshire, UK Veteran
    A dotty British 14 year old male.
    Invincible_summer
  • BhikkhuJayasaraBhikkhuJayasara Bhikkhu Veteran
    edited January 2014
    a student of the path... hence the name of my blog lol. Tis all i need be known as.
  • DandelionDandelion London Veteran
    I am star dust. Just like everyone, and everything else http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=52
    BhikkhuJayasaraDharmaMcBummisterCopeThailandTom
  • MaryAnneMaryAnne Veteran
    edited January 2014
    Not in any particular order::

    Mother, grandmother, wife, woman, critical thinker, healer, counselor, Buddhist, poker player, care-giver, flaming liberal, semi-socialist, retiree, arthritic, writer, talker, etc etc etc. I guess I am all things -- and no things at the same time.
  • CittaCitta Veteran
    Arnold.
  • DharmaMcBumDharmaMcBum Spacebus Wheelman York, UK Veteran
    Dandelion said:

    I am star dust. Just like everyone, and everything else http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=52

    Would I be wrong in saying Stardust collected by a random arrangement of conciousness?
  • howhow Veteran Veteran
    edited January 2014
    @misterCope

    misterCope said:

    If you ask people that, they usually say their name. But that isn't what the question is at all. So, if you weren't allowed to answer with your name, what would you say?

    The Question " Who are you? " means different things to different people and is usually only a preamble to getting to the underlying question,
    So
    either I address the underlying question if I think I know what it is or
    I answer in a way that leads them to more fully explain what they are seeking.
    anataman
  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
    Ask me later.
  • ZeroZero Veteran
    misterCope said:


    If you ask people that, they usually say their name.
    But that isn't what the question is at all.
    So, if you weren't allowed to answer with your name, what would you say?

    The question is in a way an enquiry of purpose - perhaps an attempt at establishing a reassurance of homogenous intention / effort.
    In this context, I think my response would be, "Who are you?"
  • MaryAnneMaryAnne Veteran
    :coffee:
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    Sort of reminds of something I did at the first faculty meeting of the new year one time. Each teacher was handed a 3X5 index card with the following printed on it: "I am a teacher of __________________." They were asked to fill out the card and hand it in.

    Out of 60 teachers, only 1 wrote what I was looking for: "I am a teacher of children."

    The rest wrote in their subject matter.

    Most of the staff didn't get the point -- that their job was to teach children, not to focus only on their subject.

    Ah well.
    misterCope
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    DharmaMcBum said:

    Dandelion said:

    I am star dust. Just like everyone, and everything else http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=52

    Would I be wrong in saying Stardust collected by a random arrangement of conciousness?
    Could also be consciousness collected by a random arrangement of stardust.
  • DavidDavid A human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First Nations Veteran
    misterCope said:

    If you ask people that, they usually say their name. But that isn't what the question is at all. So, if you weren't allowed to answer with your name, what would you say?

    I don't know.

    Reading further into the question, can it even make sense? Is there a "who we are" or "what we are" without the labels?

    Shouldn't the question be "What/how (depending on the nature of the disturbance) are you doing"?

    I have a sneaky feeling that without labels we would see we are all just the reflections of each other and who we are only amounts to where the focus lies.

    We all have a story to tell and we all seem to love stories...

    Who am I?

    It's a long story.

    lobsterJeffrey
  • DandelionDandelion London Veteran
    DharmaMcBum said:

    Dandelion said:

    I am star dust. Just like everyone, and everything else http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=52

    Would I be wrong in saying Stardust collected by a random arrangement of conciousness?
    I would say.... Stardust collected by a karmic arrangement of conciousness!
  • DandelionDandelion London Veteran
    ourself said:

    DharmaMcBum said:

    Dandelion said:

    I am star dust. Just like everyone, and everything else http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=52

    Would I be wrong in saying Stardust collected by a random arrangement of conciousness?
    Could also be consciousness collected by a random arrangement of stardust.
    yes... and that as well! All at the same time :)
  • DharmaMcBumDharmaMcBum Spacebus Wheelman York, UK Veteran
    Dandelion said:

    ourself said:

    DharmaMcBum said:

    Dandelion said:

    I am star dust. Just like everyone, and everything else http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=52

    Would I be wrong in saying Stardust collected by a random arrangement of conciousness?
    Could also be consciousness collected by a random arrangement of stardust.
    yes... and that as well! All at the same time :)
    Or Karmic stardust conciously collected karmicly by conciousness?
    Dandelioncvalue
  • NevermindNevermind Bitter & Hateful Veteran
    Just call me uh... oh, nevermind.
    howmisterCopeKundoBunks
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    The answer I would give is 'who do you need me to be?"
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    It's from Leonard Cohen hehe
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    Who are you?
    Thanks for asking. I could go on for several lifetimes about who I am but I really shouldn't indulge . . . but then again . . .
    I can perhaps mention that my full name is Crusty S Lobster and no one knows what the 'S' stands for, not even myself . . .

    Anyway enough about me. Who are you?
    :wave:
  • HamsakaHamsaka goosewhisperer Polishing the 'just so' Veteran
    misterCope said:

    If you ask people that, they usually say their name. But that isn't what the question is at all. So, if you weren't allowed to answer with your name, what would you say?

    I would say "That, friend, is a very good question."
    lobster
  • MadhuMadhu New
    A student, a bum. An occasionally pompous yet usually earnest person. A lover of things terrible. Someone self-indulgent enough to contribute to this thread. As a first post, too. Howdy.
  • yildunyildun Explorer
    A mixture of matter and ghost

    (quote by The patron Saint of envy and the grocer of despair)

    slainte
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    Madhu said:

    A lover of things terrible.

    :eek2:

    Hi,
    Do you like nice things too? Hope so.


  • misterCopemisterCope PA, USA Veteran
    Madhu said:

    A student, a bum. An occasionally pompous yet usually earnest person. A lover of things terrible. Someone self-indulgent enough to contribute to this thread. As a first post, too. Howdy.

    Howdy! Welcome!

  • anatamananataman Who needs a title? Where am I? Veteran
    misterCope said:

    If you ask people that, they usually say their name. But that isn't what the question is at all. So, if you weren't allowed to answer with your name, what would you say?

    I'm just someone in a story I'm telling myself, would you like to hear about the main character?
    HamsakaBunks
  • DaivaDaiva Veteran
    Everything and nothing. Not this, not that....
  • misterCopemisterCope PA, USA Veteran
    anataman said:


    I'm just someone in a story I'm telling myself, would you like to hear about the main character?

    Yes!
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    Madhu said:

    A student, a bum. An occasionally pompous yet usually earnest person. A lover of things terrible. Someone self-indulgent enough to contribute to this thread. As a first post, too. Howdy.

    Welcome to the forum.
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    misterCope
  • Yik_Yis_YiiYik_Yis_Yii Explorer
    I am Yik_Yis_Yii. i'm new here today. ~waves~
    HamsakaBunks
  • Steve_BSteve_B Veteran
    I am curious.
    I hope to stay curious as I age.
  • 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
    MaryAnne said:

    Not in any particular order::

    Mother, grandmother, wife, woman, critical thinker, healer, counselor, Buddhist, poker player, care-giver, flaming liberal, semi-socialist, retiree, arthritic, writer, talker, etc etc etc. I guess I am all things -- and no things at the same time.

    @MaryAnne, no.... those are WHAT you are... they are roles you fill.
    But - WHO - are you?
  • Steve_BSteve_B Veteran
    Isn't everyone's post a "what" or a "label" of some kind?
    Or a snark?
  • 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
    Yes, and there's where the conundrum lies... we all identify with specific roles, and we all have given names, but 'who we are' eludes even us....
  • DharmaMcBumDharmaMcBum Spacebus Wheelman York, UK Veteran
    federica said:

    Yes, and there's where the conundrum lies... we all identify with specific roles, and we all have given names, but 'who we are' eludes even us....

    Who we are? Could we be conciousnesses engaged in various acts of action and inaction that are defined by many definitions of our peers and ourselves?
  • 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
    bit wordy, but you're getting the point.... :D
    DharmaMcBum
  • DharmaMcBumDharmaMcBum Spacebus Wheelman York, UK Veteran
    I think I might or might not be, depending on what I and others think of it.
    I have a whole big bucket of wordys here if you like them.... AAAARGH! I've dropped it, now there's words everywhere... hold on till I get a big brush....
  • MadhuMadhu New
    lobster said:

    Madhu said:

    A lover of things terrible.

    :eek2:

    Hi,
    Do you like nice things too? Hope so.


    Sure. Just comes a little less naturally.

  • Wisdom23Wisdom23 Veteran
    I am pedantic and nerdy so I would answer I am empty space. This is usually followed by a why? so I answer well an atom is 9.9999999999999% empty space, are we not made up of atoms?

    We are many different things to many different people.
  • cvaluecvalue Veteran
    When we die, our family will decide who we are on the tombstone such as Joe Blown (19xx - 20xx) husband of ABC, father of DEF and GHI, grandfather of bla bla bla...
  • NirvanaNirvana aka BUBBA   `     `   South Carolina, USA Veteran
    Y R U U?
  • GuiGui Veteran
    First base!
  • TheswingisyellowTheswingisyellow Trying to be open to existence Samsara Veteran
    Who am I is really a pointless question to answer (for me, no disrespect intended); aside from my concepts, I am just an animal with a finite existence, but I know I have a finite existence and that is problem, it is my (our) source of suffering.
    So I know I end, that can't be all there is! "I" must have some meaning- so I ascribe meaning to this form, to these feelings to this consciousness of mine in an attempt to stave off what happens to everything.
    The fabric of this existence is impermanence, to create and hold a permanent idea of me in a world whose very nature is one of change, would seem to be the work of Sisyphus, and indeed it is. Bound to a rock that will never stay fixed or finished.
    Not bound to ideas or concepts of oneself, one is than entirely free to act,
    Knowing my acts, thoughts, intentions create both good and harm, the only question that remains; are my acts, thoughts and intentions skillful or harmful?
  • JainarayanJainarayan Veteran
    A line from one of my favorite movies, Thor, bests sums up who I am:

    "Complicated fellow, isn't he?"
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