“It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head.
Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are.
We build ourselves out of that story.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind-
If you look up the meaning of the word "identity" on Google, these are the first 2 definitions that listed.
1) the fact of being who or what a person or thing is, the characteristics determining who or what a person or a thing is,
synonym; name, self, ego, personality, character, originality, distinction, singularity, peculiarity...
2) a close similarity or affinity
synonym; sameness, oneness, indistiguishability, self sameness, identicalness...
to me, those two definitions sound completely opposite of each other. The word "identity" originates the Latin "Idem" which means same. Then, how come this word can be used for 2 completely opposite meaning?! In philosophy and according to wikipedia, "Law of Identity" is the first of 3 classical laws of thoughts, which states that "each thing is the same with itself and different from another". For example, an apple is an apple, or a car is a car. But every single apples are the same. Just like we are all human beings = SAME, and yet we all different human beings.
Let's not talk about any more logistics or the specifics about the word or the laws. That's not what I want to talk about. But I thought it was very interesting that the one word can have 2 completely opposite meaning. We talk about our personality and individuality. And we all struggle to define who we are as a person. What are we?! What am I suppose to do?! What's our purpose?! A personality could be effected and built by many elements. Your cultural background, your environmental background, your family situation, your religion, your educations, your experiences... anything could be the elements of how you are formulated. After some point, you start asking yourself "WHO AM I?" And you search and search. You try to be someone else. You dress like someone, you talk like someone, you act like someone... and you still don't feel like yourself... especially in a place like Japan where I grew up, the sense of belonging can mean great deal.
I recently read this book "もう声なんかいらないと思った”(I don't think I need such thing as a voice any more") by Hiroe Ohashi. She is a deaf actress/dancer/singer. Her strict mother taught and trained her to speak and communicate with other people orally. And she didn't teach her sign language. She struggled the world between hearing and non-hearing, speaking and non-speaking(sign language). Where would I belong?! Which side should I take?! What am I?! Her struggle continued. And she came to the conclusion. I don't have to belong to either world. I am who I am and that's it.
I am who I am. My struggle was being in between English world and Japanese world. It was two completely different world and at the same time, those two world were both part of who I am. And when I read that, it made me feel less complicated. I don't have to choose side. We all have choice. We are equipped with everything we need. We need to cultivate and work on ourselves. We have to make an active choice to make ourselves better and we should do that. In order for us to do that we have to realize and accept that we are who we are, you are who you are for a reason. Seriously. I've talked about this so many times. But I am really passionate about this. Most of the time we don't even know what that is. All these good saying about we just follow our passion, or we have to find it, or we have to do this and that... we all hear that. And how many people know exactly what we want to do?! not that many I believe. Even if they knew how many people are courageous enough to follow that voice and pursue that path?! Not that many. How many people have the vision, not dream or hope but a vision, that you have a certain path?! Not that many either. Yes, we are in a transition. A lot more people have become spiritually aware of what's going on. A lot more information is available to us on a daily basis. A lot more things are corrupting and falling a part. People killing each other and losing hope. People struggle to make ends meet. Many children are dying of hunger and poverty. Why?! You ask. There are too many things that beyond our comprehension. As a matter of fact, there are only few things that we are able to comprehend. A lot of people don't pay attention or stop paying attention to what's going on outside of your own life because they don't directly affect their daily life. Yes, I am guilty of that as well. It's so easy to lose sight of who you are, or not to even know to begin with. But if you are one of those who is struggling to find what world you belong to, please know that you are who you are. And that's what matters. That's what you need to know.
I might be very ignorant and optimistic. You might disagree with me. Some people might even hate me. But I wish there's someone who will get some glimpse of light in their life. You are amazing as who you are. You are beautiful just the way you are. You are good enough. God loves you. And you have to accept and embrace who you are. Just simply because you are who you are. And that's enough. I'm not saying be selfish or you can hurt others, that's completely different subject. Being who you are or accepting who you are don't mean you are worth more than the others. You simply accept the fact you are different from the others except that we're all human beings. Not a single person is exactly the same. Even the identical twins are different from each other. Love yourself and Live your Life, Love your life. And that's only a beginning. Your life starts then.
Love, Hope and Faith
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