So the question is, when did you come into being? When the Big Bang occured? When matter condensed into stars and galaxies? When the Milky Way formed? When the Sun first ignited into light and heat? When the Earth came into existence? When life first emerged on Earth's surface? When men descended down from the trees? When your father had that dirty gleam in his eye? When cells began dividing within your mother's womb? When you were born and first opened your eyes? When you became an individual of thought and reflection? I haven't an answer, but thought I would throw out the question. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I suppose I should give credit where credit is due--Alan Watts
Not read any of his works but I would contend When the Big Bang occured? Proto me - up to Conception (you missed this one) - early me Still early me Early independent me Independent and thoughtful me Died - dead me - no longer considered me by society After that a slow scattering of me until the end of the Universe Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Judgment call - was it when my parents combined their egg & sperm or was it when I was born? Either way, I don't remember much of anything until the early 1960s. There are only a handful of fragmented dreamlike memories for the first 4 to 5 years or so.
There's no one point; it's a continuum. The person I consider "me" has been around for about 15 years. Before that it was still mostly me but pretty different. I can be sure of that back to about age 2, which is the earliest I can remember (and that was just one memory.)
Somewhere in there. We are stardust. We are golden. And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden. -- Joni Mitchell I am still in the process of becoming me.
I actually divided my life up into phases. Child Dave: clay, waiting to be molded Proto Dave: On the opening day of Star Wars, I became Nerd Dave The Lost Years: Had just a job - no identity, no direction Adult Dave: Found my career in software Sailor Dave: Sailing came into my life. While surely still have an adventurous life ahead, I'm not sure I'll fundamentally change.
A human being is not about the raw materials, but about the assembled pattern. The raw materials are cheap; the hard part is putting them together in just the right way. Also, very few of the atoms making up your body now were there when you were born, or when you were 8 years old, say. Some things about the pattern of you persist through time, but mostly the raw materials are continually in a state of flux as you live your life. The cells that were "you" in your mother's womb mostly aren't in "you" any more. In a lot of ways, too, you are an illusion created by your brain. That feeling you have that there's somebody behind your eyes looking out at the world doesn't really stand close examination, as people who are familiar with meditation will often tell you. If there really is no "you", then you never came into being. Perhaps it's more meaningful to talk about when you started to think there was a "you".
As far as meditation goes, there is a consensus there is a false ego (identity that pertains to things that will cease to exist. Eg. the body, the mind, etc), but whether this spells the final last word in selfhood is a subject of debate. If "you" is an illusion, how would that be meaningful?
YOU has never been an illusion . YOU , is your individuality , manifested in your physical form and thinking .
