I recently posed the query: "Who are you?" ...& it has led others to inquire: "Is it the things that you do, or the person that you are, who make you, you?"
Many have provided insight into their own perspective... commenting that:
"The things you do stem from the person you are, and who you are can change based on what you do. It's an endless loop."
...or...
"It's the things that you do that make you the person that you are."
...&...
"The person you are generates the things you do, which makes you the person you are.... Make sense?
Which leads Me to ask...
...but what makes a person DO those things that which make them who they are?
& is THAT the key to the riddle?
For example: We all know Michael Jordan was a great basketball player, a tremendous athlete & a fierce competitor.
Yet many of Us (at least those fans who followed his career, read his biographies, & such) have heard that he's been a competitive individual since his youth, long before he was a great basketball player, & tremendous athlete.
By process of elimination, We may conclude that he was a fierce competitor before he DID what he did, to be known as the other two things: great basketball player, tremendous athlete.
So now We face the conundrum that requires elucidation.
What made him a fierce competitor? What innate quality or trait may We attest this competitiveness to?
What made him a competitor before he was known as a competitor?
What makes an artist decide to pick up a paint brush & decide to create an image to share? But doesn't a creative person already possess an innate inclination to be creative, since it's obvious there are many who don't?
What drives a philosopher to ponder profound thought?
What ignites the inquisitiveness of a physicist to seek out the equation, that tiny one-inch equation that will grant Us a glimpse into the Mind of God? (Akin to Einstein's famous equation - E=MC~squared - that explains the macrocosm of Our existence, & gravity).
Taking that a step further, let Us look at the Christ. Everyone knows I'm not a religious zealot. My idea of Holy Water is in a bottle of scotch! However, if We were to apply the question/answer to this historical figure: "Is it the things that U do or the person that U are, that make U, U?"
Was Jesus the Son of God prior to His "miracles" & crucifixion, or was he only a deity after doing the things that people have attributed to his status as a divine figure?
If these individuals are who they are: thinkers, artists, musicians, competitors, romantics, writers, mathematicians, etc., prior to being known as such, then they are who they long before they do what they do.
Which begs the question: "Who Are You?"
