July 11, 2026
In contemplation
Who am I?
This is one of the great existential questions. Mystics and philosophers have struggled with it for centuries. Let us contemplate some of their teachings.
Day 19
Consider this:
What is the me of the body? Who are you as a carbon-based form that is dependent on the universe and its laws?
You are a collection of atoms limited by the body and mind. You are mortal and aware of your mortality. You learn, grow, evolve, and re-arrange your environment to suit your desires. You suffer pleasure and pain, happiness and sorrow. You look to the future as a way out of predicaments. You are aware of the self that you perceive as you.
You see yourself as separate from others and the things around you. You promote yourself as unique in a variety of social, work, and family settings. In the end you are none of these. Your carbon-based form scatters back into the dust of the universe from which it came. Your personality is lost in the memories of others. You as a mass of self-regulating cells are gone forever.
Your existence began with the union of cells and their divisions. It ends as cells stop replicating and microorganisms consume your body. Your death as an organism is inevitable.
