Are we who we think we are?

This may be a rhetorical question for some, but I have always found this topic fascinating...

Are we who we think we are? In other words, are we born one person and remain that person forever?

Or--are we born one person, and based on our choices do we change into (or become) new?

Then it gets really confusing.. if we make one choice, does our "other self" who makes a different choice, continue on a different plane?? How many "selves" may be wondering around on multiple "planes" of exsitence?

Of course we grow, based on the choices we make, but do we become different people? When you have drastically changed your beliefs and actions, are you the same person you once were, or are you a "new" person?

Something to ponder...

It would be interesting to see how similar in personality a clone of ourselves would be. Some mention how some twins are alike or have some psychic connection.

In the movie It's a Wonderful life he was able to see how his absence changed reality. Another movie was Butterfly Effect. Our life experiences seems to change or affect our character. If you were raised on another world, I would imagine you might be different and so would your clone.

Maybe you have a clone in another existence? I haven't really thought much about other planes or alternate worlds and existence, but, I would imagine they could be created.

An alien or higher species might then also transfer our consiousness there at times, such as in our dreams.

Some people seem to think that their children should be like themselves or wish they weren't. I was diagnosed as having DID or having alternate personalities which was supposedly caused by childhood traumas.

I would have liked to have seen how different I would have been if I had been raised in another or less traumatic environment.

But to me, other planes are like alternate realities. I don't know if that's the same thing though.

I hope I am not misinterpreting your post.. but the alternate personalities really intrigue me on this subject.

The outcomes to this are limitless, if you can think outside the box. Purely hypothetical of course.

One version of yourself exists as having a non-traumatic life.

But then how many twists and turns has your life taken, and how many major changes has life taken you through where maybe YOU became a "new" person, and yet another version of you continued on a different path in a different plane?

I know it is a very philosophical question. This idea was presented to me by someone else, and I have been intrigued by it ever since.

For instance when we think of "ghosts" are they merely existing on another plane, along side us, and occasionally those planes overlap?

Who am I to say? But it's an interesting topic, none the less..

Baby is new god born with new universe into world of existing universes.

Parents can effect the new born universe before and after the birth.

One path follows with many junctions.....choices.

Death ends personal universe but can be continued in part through a new child and teachings.

No past, no future, just "now".

It is our ability to understand, accept and imagine a past or future that doesn't exist that helps us decide which way to follow that path.

Of course our personal concept of "truth" is that makes the path clear or not.

So in answer to the OPs original question....Yes, we are who we think we are....but probably not what anyone else thinks we are.

The trick is to accept anothers perception of truth as "their" universe and not your own.

"Once your mind has been stretched to a new idea, it never returns to original dimension."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

We're multi-faceted beings. Who we think we are, and how we're preceived is strictly a matter of perspective. Some will see a sinner, some a saint.

As far as variant lives, and parallel universes go... Well, I just can't seem to get my mind around that. There are certain circles who consider one of me as a little hard to chew, much less the possibility of infinite variant me's!

I personally think we are who we are. We may undergo transformations, but in the end it's still us.

Well, I think that we certainly change who we are over time based off of experiences. I think that ultimately though, we remain the same person at our core for life. Certain experiences will harden us to the world or certain choices may put us on a darker or lighter path, but if we really look at our core, we are who we are.

I have often thought about this. Maybe I am the only one. When I look back on who I was as a child, I really am the same person. I mean as far back as I can remember, I have always been the same. I look in the mirror and see an old face on the same child. My thoughts remain the same, just with new themes and extra material from my experiences that I have gathered through life.

It makes me wonder if perhaps I just never developed like I should have, meaning that I am one of a few that feels this way. Or if everyone is like this. I like to think that with the right amount of introspection, that many people would feel like this. It is weird to look at someone in their 90's and think that they are still the same child that they were at 5 or 6 just in an old body. I wonder if they feel it like I do.....

Then again... I am most likely crazy.

It is not a matter if you are, it is a matter if you think that you are.

If you think you have changed, then you have.

If you think that you haven't changed, then you have not.

If you want to change, then start believing that you have.

reply to post by Karlhungis


I certainly can relate to your post. We all do change over time, based on experiences.

Am I the same person I was now as when I was 5? No.. and yes.

No, I am older and wiser (I hope), but yes I still have the some of the same core beliefs. Not all of them though. At 5, I would have insisted that Santa was real, etc.

Am I the same person I was a year ago? Sort of, but not really. I think I have grown, based on experiences and I would not go back to who I once was.

Are we ever exactly the same? Probably not. Our feelings and beliefs change over time based on our experiences.

Does this mean we are continually evolving? I don't know. Can one ever "evolve" to a point where they stop "evolving"? Are the most highly "enlightened" people, still evolving, or have they achieved a spot where they no longer change?