Who are you? The following piece is a dialogue exploring the essence of man. Basically, essence is considered to be the part of man that remains unchanged despite continuous bodily changes. If a particular characteristic of something could be taken away and the object would still be considered the same object, then its essence has been left untouched. Other characteristics that could be taken away and leave same object are known as accidental qualities; they just sort of accidentally appear after the essence has. Typically, many in history have defined human essence as the soul. However, modern man, in dealing with the death of God, lacks this convenience answer... "You are not your bank account. You are not the clothes you wear. You are not the contents of your wallet. You are not your bowle cancer. You are not your grande latte. You are not the car you drive.You are not your fucking kakhis." Fight Club Mockery: I have only one question for you tonite. Subject: Anything you wish. M: Who are you? S: Well, my name is Becky, I'm tall, brunette, brown eyes, athletic, and I enjoy watching movies and hanging out. M: You seem to have misunderstood the question. If I wanted to know your name, I would have asked, what is your name? Your name is something externally forced onto you as an infant. Saying that you are your name would imply that you would not be, were it not for you name. Woud you cease to exist if you had a different, or even no name? S: No... M: So you are not your name. Your name is similar to an article of clothing you wear, maintaining complete independence from you. However, you also chose to describe yourself by listing your physical characteristics. Saying that you are tall, brunette, brown eyed, and athletic. Do you think that this is an accurate answer to the question, who are you? S: I'd say so, I mean, I am tall, I am brunette, I am brown eyed, and I am athletic. M: Convincing, but also, you are skinny, you are tan. Are we too assume that by describing each of your bodily characteristics we will determine who you are? S: I would like to think that I am more than my body. M: Exactly, it is a highly degrading belief, to believe that you can be summed up with physical description, like a rock being classified by a geologist. You stated that you liked watching movies and "hanging out." How does this help us define you? S: Well, by describing my hobbies, I would be differntiated from many others, and maybe we would be closer to the real me. M: So, if we meticulously added together your physical characteristics with your personal hobbies, we would come up with a highly unique person? S: Right. M: What if by chance, one of our billions of fellow humans matched you exactly? Or better yet, you have a twin who looks and acts exactly like you? Who, then, are you? S: I think even twins have differences, like they usually have atleast slightly different personalities, and usually have different jobs. M: So, in order to define you, we must describe each of your physical qualities, all of you hobbies, jobs, and even personality? S: I guess you could say that I am everything. M: Let me ask you a question. S: Go for it. M: Say there is a car accident with two victims. One receives a whiplash so severe that his brain is damaged beyond repair. The second is crushed inside his compact car, tearing apart bones, internal organs, nothing is salvageable. Pretend we're in the future and the following is possible. We transplant the brain of the man with the crushed body into the body of the man with the brain damage. The opperation is a success, he retains all memories and mental as well as physical function, who's family do you return him to? S: Definitely the family who the brain remembers, the body is nothing without the brain. M: Exactly, the body has no determination over the identity of this cursed lad. Similarly, say one day you decided you no longed liked to watch movies, or wanted a new job, or fell into depression and were no longer cheerful, would you not be the same person? S: Ofcourse I'd be the same, it seems like we aren't getting anywhere! M: May I tell you what I think the problem is? S: Please. M: By merely listing characteristics, physical, mental, emotional, we may get a better feel of who you are, but we will never be able to get a real grasp. Each description we choose is merely arbitrary, so how can hope to attain an accurate defintion? Also, there is the problem that each of these characteristics is from the past. It would be accurate to say that you were brown haired, you were cheerful, you were a student. All are subject to change, while we realize that there is something intrinsically consistent in you. Have you ever considered the possibility that maybe you are constantly remaking yourself? That the consistencey in you is your free will? The only thing that never changes in you is your ability to choose you? S: So who are you? M: I am nothing.