On Personal Identity
When I wake up, spend a few minutes to adjust with the rising sun, and finally make my way to the bathroom, I see myself.
I would be insane to do this, every morning, and expect some facsimile of myself to magically appear, because although I am aging, and my physical body is changing, I am still me. And that is understanding my personal identity.
Personal identity, at its core, is the culmination of your emotional and metaphysical characteristics, as well as a small bit of your physicality. Because, as I’ve stated before, I will age. My hair will gray and shorten. I will lose muscle tone and gain more weight. And my eyes will become softer and less attentive to details that my youth would never let me miss. However, my mind will still hold the essence of my soul.
My personality, made up of so many different emotional facets, and intellectual motes, will never be subjugated to something as superficial as change, and time. Because my person will always be. This body might cease to be, but it is only the carapace of my soul. Your personal identity is not held to the standards of your body.
Your personality will only change if you allow the image of your body to take control. Your emotions will only endure dynamic shifts if your body becomes that shift.
So I will continue to wake up, and I will continue to view myself as the same person I was yesterday and the day before, and the day before that, because although my body will inevitably reticulate into dust and dissimilated atoms, my soul will always be.
- Bridging Communication: Conversations with Neurodivergent People - June 30, 2021
- Myself - April 18, 2021
5 Responses
Matthew! I am so happy to read your words here on Neuroclastic! Thank you for reaching out to us from the part of you that exists beyond form! I hope your day is filled with sparkles from the sun. I will be watching for where the sun lights up the edges of the leaf, as that’s my reminder of who we are.
You are extraordinary Matthew. This story on yourself is illuminating.
An empowering post! 🙂
Every morning waking up is an obsession in me.