Who 'You' Are
By Ashiqur Rahman Adit
Do you know who ‘you’ are? Are you what we call by your name or the body that represents ‘you'? Why not test yourself about how much you know about yourself! When you started reading, you saw some words which in turn gave ‘you’ a sense or understanding. So, what is this ‘you’? Think about it for a moment. Is it your eyes, or the unit that perceives this, the brain? When you’re cut or bruised, you feel aches and pains everywhere in the body. Does his mean that you body is the ‘you’ we call. Again, when your feelings are hurt (get dumped or depressed), you feel this intense pain inside the middle of your chest, your heart. Are ‘you’ inside your heart? Does this turn out that ‘you’ are a particle of our body? Then where are ‘you'? Who are you?
As you are thinking, your brain handles various nerve impulses through synapses between dendrons and neurons, which simulates feelings and thoughts. So, it turns out that your brain is the one actually working for ‘you’. So, are ‘you’ inside your brain? If not, where are ‘you’ and what do ‘you’ do? If your brain handles your life, what impact do you have over it?
We have all felt pain in some part of our life, it may be of a huge misunderstanding or when you were wrongly accused and you didn’t have anything to say about it. We then suddenly feel a strange pain in the middle of our chest, like that of a needle bursting the balloon of life within. We feel our heartbeat and a deep sorrow making us lifeless. This goes to show that our heart is the core of all emotions. But these emotions are felt by us directly, so does it mean we are this lump of muscle inside our chests? If our emotions are inside our heart, does this mean we are there too?
Sometimes ‘we’ mutter to ‘ourselves’ usually speaking ill of others or making comments or simply thinking about solutions that we can’t express publicly. We talk to a person inside us but don’t seem to get a reply. So where are ‘we’ talking from and who are we talking to? Is this ‘yourself’ a creation of our imagination? Who holds this imagination?
Scientists research on what is out of this world, but does he understand what ‘he’ is? He knows what regelation (etc.) is, but does he know what his identity is? Does he know why he works day and night just to satisfy worldly pleasures or wants? This is confusing, but is the truth. Why is it that we build million dollar houses from corruption? Why is it that we cheat others and satisfy what ‘our’ worldly body requires when all we get is zero? We live in this world where we don’t understand what we are?
This is going nowhere and all these questions were literally asked just to keep you thinking about yourself and who you are. When our body feels pain, failure, or success separate stimuli (emotions/ reactions) are carried to the brain which then interprets necessary reactions e.g. slowing of heartbeat in failure, evacuation or defense in pain, increase in heartbeat in success/tension. So scientifically, the brain would be the resting place of ‘us’.
But science can not solve this problem without the involvement of ethics. There is a third body perceiving our body, and as a 15-year old Muslim, I believe in the existence of souls. See, when you’re thinking, your brain helped you out but the actual receiver of this information is you, your soul. This is an ethical explanation, but all solutions don’t come form science. To be a Muslim, one must believe in the recreation of life and transportation of soul to the life hereafter as it is one of the seven basic beliefs. So I believe this ‘I’ is my soul and I am my soul, not the body of me. The soul that shall leave the body at the time of death and enter the after life empty handed, without no wealth, pride, or identity.
In spite of all this when I look at myself, I find myself a stranger, yet we take pride and glamour of our bodies. We call ourselves the best while playing with dolls gifted by the almighty Allah. Infact I haven’t really understood who I really am, do you?
Do you know who ‘you’ are? Are you what we call by your name or the body that represents ‘you'? Why not test yourself about how much you know about yourself! When you started reading, you saw some words which in turn gave ‘you’ a sense or understanding. So, what is this ‘you’? Think about it for a moment. Is it your eyes, or the unit that perceives this, the brain? When you’re cut or bruised, you feel aches and pains everywhere in the body. Does his mean that you body is the ‘you’ we call. Again, when your feelings are hurt (get dumped or depressed), you feel this intense pain inside the middle of your chest, your heart. Are ‘you’ inside your heart? Does this turn out that ‘you’ are a particle of our body? Then where are ‘you'? Who are you?
As you are thinking, your brain handles various nerve impulses through synapses between dendrons and neurons, which simulates feelings and thoughts. So, it turns out that your brain is the one actually working for ‘you’. So, are ‘you’ inside your brain? If not, where are ‘you’ and what do ‘you’ do? If your brain handles your life, what impact do you have over it?
We have all felt pain in some part of our life, it may be of a huge misunderstanding or when you were wrongly accused and you didn’t have anything to say about it. We then suddenly feel a strange pain in the middle of our chest, like that of a needle bursting the balloon of life within. We feel our heartbeat and a deep sorrow making us lifeless. This goes to show that our heart is the core of all emotions. But these emotions are felt by us directly, so does it mean we are this lump of muscle inside our chests? If our emotions are inside our heart, does this mean we are there too?
Sometimes ‘we’ mutter to ‘ourselves’ usually speaking ill of others or making comments or simply thinking about solutions that we can’t express publicly. We talk to a person inside us but don’t seem to get a reply. So where are ‘we’ talking from and who are we talking to? Is this ‘yourself’ a creation of our imagination? Who holds this imagination?
Scientists research on what is out of this world, but does he understand what ‘he’ is? He knows what regelation (etc.) is, but does he know what his identity is? Does he know why he works day and night just to satisfy worldly pleasures or wants? This is confusing, but is the truth. Why is it that we build million dollar houses from corruption? Why is it that we cheat others and satisfy what ‘our’ worldly body requires when all we get is zero? We live in this world where we don’t understand what we are?
This is going nowhere and all these questions were literally asked just to keep you thinking about yourself and who you are. When our body feels pain, failure, or success separate stimuli (emotions/ reactions) are carried to the brain which then interprets necessary reactions e.g. slowing of heartbeat in failure, evacuation or defense in pain, increase in heartbeat in success/tension. So scientifically, the brain would be the resting place of ‘us’.
But science can not solve this problem without the involvement of ethics. There is a third body perceiving our body, and as a 15-year old Muslim, I believe in the existence of souls. See, when you’re thinking, your brain helped you out but the actual receiver of this information is you, your soul. This is an ethical explanation, but all solutions don’t come form science. To be a Muslim, one must believe in the recreation of life and transportation of soul to the life hereafter as it is one of the seven basic beliefs. So I believe this ‘I’ is my soul and I am my soul, not the body of me. The soul that shall leave the body at the time of death and enter the after life empty handed, without no wealth, pride, or identity.
In spite of all this when I look at myself, I find myself a stranger, yet we take pride and glamour of our bodies. We call ourselves the best while playing with dolls gifted by the almighty Allah. Infact I haven’t really understood who I really am, do you?