What you call "you"

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What you call "you" is not a definable thing. You cannot localize it or positively say what it is. You can say what it is not, but even then you are on shaky ground. And yet everything “you” know of the world is contained in your “youness,” whatever that may be. It seems a crazy answer to what should be a simple question, but if you try, you'll always get back to just “What I am is me,” which is no more than a hopeless tautology. "I am what I am!" That's not saying much. So you’re stuck, not being able to meaningfully say what you are. Maybe in terms of a more fruitful answer,you might be say that you are what is here now in and around you—what you sense yourself perceiving. So, then, what you are may be no more than some kind of sense of "hereness" and a "nowness." But drawing this idea further out, this “youness” becomes even more tendentious as an concept, and you can't really go any further than just stating that. So "you" is really just the here/now that you are aware of either as sense impressions or internal reflections. That's all you can really say about you. Sounds crazy, but that’s actually a great and liberating thought. You are "here/now" and only that and forever that. Any other abstraction about you in space or time doesn’t have any meaning as something you can anchor your sense of self to. You are just your here/now. So, congratulations on being always here and now! That's what you are.


— Gabriel Fenteany, June 3, 2016


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