Name: Athanasios Ziakas
Instructor’s name: Marlen Harrison
Class information: English 110 (English for non-native speakers)
Date: 25/09/2013
First Draft
There is no correct answer to the question ”What is I”. I think that almost every person can have a slightly or completely different interpretation of what the word means to them. Their opinion could depend on their spiritual beliefs, the way they were brought up or even what they do for a living. It won’t be easy to just agree and define what makes us human and therefore it won’t be easy to reach to a common conclusion for ”What is I”.
I believe that Hayao Kawai’s story shows that ”I” is a mix of both our physical and immaterial part. That it’s neither only the body nor only the soul; it’s a combination of both. Of course, that seems like a pretty logical explanation as it forms some kind of balance between the two conflicting sides. Like most philosophers do, i think that Kawai didn’t really want to put out a certain meaning, but rather make you think about something that you’ve never even considered before and push you to form your own ideas;
Another problem that comes up when we try to figure out the nature of the word ”I” is that we cannot really prove or disprove the existence of souls. There is a dispute over whether that immaterial part of humans actually exists or not. To add up, scientists continuously bring up new discoveries that have to do with our nervous system and brain, as well as the toxins our body releases and how they affect our mentality.
All our feelings, our thoughts and memories and basically every single piece of information that we have is either stored or triggered by our brain. Doesn’t that mean that this ”I” could be something purely physical? Probably that’s the case, but how can we admit that emotions such as love, hatred or fear may just be products of chemical reactions?
In fact, researchers have managed to measure brain signals accurately enough to read emotions in individuals. That means that they’ve proven that our ”I” is truly capable of being only physical. Still they cannot disprove the existence of the immaterial part of humans. But since it’s been proven that our physical form is capable of solely containing our ”I”, shouldn’t we just be able to accept that there is no such thing as a soul?
Well, what is ”I”? I simply believe that it is your essence; who you really are. How you speak and how you dress. What you stand for. What you look like, all the experiences that you’ve had that changed you in any way. In the end i don’t even think it matters whether it’s physical, mental or both. ”I” is my reality, it’s everything I perceive, whether it’s with my eyes or my mind. I am ”I” because no one else can be me. My world ends with me, and so does ”I”.
Revision
There is no correct answer to the question ”What is I”. I think that almost every person can have a slightly or completely different interpretation of what the word means to them. Their opinion could depend on their spiritual beliefs, the way they were brought up or even what they do for a living. It won’t be easy to just agree and define what makes us human and therefore it won’t be easy to reach to a common conclusion for ”What is I”.
Kawai starts off by explaining how people misuse and don’t really know the true meaning of the word ”I”. He adds that ”I” indicates yourself as a whole, all the elements that are contained inside of you. He points out that everyone has forgotten the true meaning of the word and people nowadays just use it without thinking about it.
He then goes on with a story, telling us about the traveler who was surprised by the a troll holding a dead body and soon after a second one came after it. After choosing which goblin would get the corpse, the other goblin loses its temper and starts eating the traveler, while the other goblin is replacing his missing limbs with the corpse’s. That keeps on going until the traveler’s body is completely replaced by the corpse’s. The frustrated traveler visits a monk to ask if he is still himself. The monk tells the man that he is ignorant, and that his suffering will only disappear when he learns the true meaning of ”I”.
I believe that Hayao Kawai’s story shows that ”I” is a mix of both our physical and immaterial part. That it’s neither only the body nor only the soul; it’s a combination of both. Of course, that seems like a pretty logical explanation as it forms some kind of balance between the two conflicting sides. Like most philosophers do, i think that Kawai didn’t really want to put out a certain meaning, but rather make you think about something that you’ve never even considered before and push you to form your own ideas;
Another problem that comes up when we try to figure out the nature of the word ”I” is that we cannot really prove or disprove the existence of souls. There is a dispute over whether that immaterial part of humans actually exists or not. To add up, scientists continuously bring up new discoveries that have to do with our nervous system and brain, as well as the toxins our body releases and how they affect our mentality.
All our feelings, our thoughts and memories and basically every single piece of information that we have is either stored or triggered by our brain. Doesn’t that mean that this ”I” could be something purely physical? Probably that’s the case, but how can we admit that emotions such as love, hatred or fear may just be products of chemical reactions?
In fact, researchers have managed to measure brain signals accurately enough to read emotions in individuals. That means that they’ve proven that our ”I” is truly capable of being only physical. Still they cannot disprove the existence of the immaterial part of humans. But since it’s been proven that our physical form is capable of solely containing our ”I”, shouldn’t we just be able to accept that there is no such thing as a soul?
A certain strand of existential psychology, existence precedes essence, mentions that the most important thing to an individual is his or her own individuality. The person should always keep their own essence and individuality; they should not let anyone define them. Thus, humans should always determine their own meaning of life, goals and values. I believe that existence precedes essence gets as close as possible to describing what is ”I”.
Well, what is ”I”? We could make countless theories about that. I simply believe that it is your essence; who you really are. How you speak and how you dress. What you stand for. What you look like, all the experiences that you’ve had that changed you in any way. In the end i don’t even think it matters whether it’s physical, mental or both. ”I” is my reality, it’s everything I perceive, whether it’s with my eyes or my mind. I am ”I” because no one else can be me. My world ends with me, and so does ”I”.
Work cited:
1)
Kawai, Hayao. Buddhism and the Art of Psychotherapy ( No. 5 , Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology ). College Station , TX : Texas A & M Press , 1996 . Pp. xv + 161
2) http://atheism.about.com/od/existentialistthemes/a/existence.htm
Things i need to improve:
1) Citation.
2) I need to make my ideas more clear and easy to understand.
3) I need to improve my grammar and limit the number errors in my writing.
4) Improve my punctuation.
5) Use more quotes and paraphrases.
Furthermore, I had a very big problem in completing this assignment, as I accidentally deleted my first draft when i was trying to upload it. Basically, on the top of the page you see a short and a long version of my essay. Even though I don’t have my first draft to show, I can tell you which areas I improved on my final draft.
1) Vocabulary. Well, that wasn’t very hard, we have autocorrect.
2) Grammar. I read my essay over and over again, trying to correct as many grammatical errors as I could. If you see more, don’t hesitate to leave a comment.
3) Length. I added a lot more in depth information. Can’t say that was too hard either, as the topic really fascinated me.
4) I noticed that instead of using English expressions all the time, I would sometimes just translate Greek expressions. I think that’s something us internationals do frequently and therefore i tried to pay a lot of attention when i was writing, making sure that I won’t do it.
5) When I was done, I made a couple of friends of mine read it and tell me what they think. Then I asked them to read it to me out loud. You will be surprised by how many little things go ninja when you just re-read the essay by yourself.
That’s pretty much it. I hope you enjoyed reading my essay and… à tout à l’heure!
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