Personal Identity and the Self Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal Identity and the Self - Essay Example Who am I? What am I? Have you ever wondered and kept on thinking about this mysterious question. You would have come across many answers like you are alive because of your brain or you are surviving because of physical existence of your body But does one really think he is just his body, or just alive due to the grey matter situated in the crown of his head. No this seems so absurd, at least for me. I am really convinced that I am only the soul. Soul is that minute particle of energy which is much lighter and smaller than atom and which gives me the immortal life that no death can conquer. I cannot be the brain for the very reason that when my brain stop working my breathe goes on. Same way, when my body is paralyzed I still keep on living. When seeing from both the angle of body and brain, the thing which keep me alive and blissful is my soul, my eternal soul. This concept of soul can be alien to many, but it is one truth which is eternal and divine. It is not right to say that we a re body, or we are alive because of brain as these are just instruments which give our soul chance to perform its duty on this earthly plane. Soul is the part of the God, but still separate from God, and has a motive of merging with God at end of its life cycle. We were created from God and have to merge with God after taking birth in different forms and times. Body and brain is nothing but some physical instrument which gives us reasoning and decision making powers. It may be surprising to many, if I tell you that we had to take many forms like plants, animals and human to complete our life cycle and ultimately merge with the divine. Yes, we survived through many years and strayed in many forms and eventually we get enlightened and get salvation. According to (Jerrry,1978,pg .3) â€Å"Survival means surviving no more no less. I have no doubts that I shall merge with beings, plants will take root in my remains, and the chemical that I am will continue to make their contribution to life†. This cycle goes on, until the soul in our self gets brightened and purified to join with the divine power. It is our aim, to find God in our self and understand it and nurture it and then surrender it to Divine power. We cannot be the body, how can I be the body? If then if my leg gets amputed then I should cease to exist. Does it happen? No, it won’t. If my whole body gets paralyzed until my neck, I keep on speaking .So what is keeping me alive, yes it is the soul undoubtedly. It is hidden in our body, and can be reached only by long lasting meditation and submerging in ultimate self. It very well cannot be the body, which keeps on changing according to the age and time. One may think what happens to this soul, once the body gets destroyed. Yes! This is a very valuable question and the answer is also valuable indeed. The soul never dies, never get destroyed and it remained as an immortal energy .The body is just a covering, a temple for the soul to reside, it re mains there witnessing all the actions of the body and mind. It lies in the body behind the subconscious mind and witnesses all the deeds good and bad. People don’t realize the soul because we are in the illusionary world, and this veil of ignorance keeps us away from the reality. The reality is only experienced when listen to the self and look inwards rather than outwards. If the self was just the body, then there would have been no purpose to this life. It is like we are here just to eat sleep and mating. We just need to give pleasures to the bodily organs and do not even have to look further for happiness and bliss. â€Å"A person’s â€Å"having a soul† is not, for example, a special form of possession or ownership .What we need to understand is that person’s â€Å"having a soul† is not a form of possession or ownership at all†(Rosenberg,1998,pg.58).Soul is the beholder of the body and the mind, and everything we think and do is witnessed by soul and affect the soul. Good deed and bad deed does make the soul pure or