Who ARE you?

Who are you?

No. Really. Who ARE you? Do you know? Do you REALLY know?

How have you lived your life?

Day-to-day? Go to work, come home, sleep, go to work again? Zombie mode?

Or have you thought about “stuff”? Why are you here in this world? What are you really meant to be doing? Is this all there is?

Have you tried looking inwardly? Have you tried getting to know yourself the way you try getting to know your best friend, your spouse, or your child? Do you just figure you already know yourself? Or have you tried to peel away the layers that have accumulated over the years like grime; each layer representing whom someone else wanted or expected you to be and so you complied?

Have you ever thought, “If I was born alone on a secluded island that just happened to have a huge library with all the information in the world – the Godly books and the ungodly, the political and the anarchic, the romantic and the violent – who would I have been?

Have you ever thought, “If I was born in my same country and the same city but to very different parents, who would I have been?”

Have you ever thought, “If I was born in the United States rather than Egypt, or in Vietnam rather than France, or in India rather than Australia, or in Switzerland rather than Qatar, would I have been the same person, with the same beliefs, and the same personality?”

Who ARE you? If you looked deep inside you, past what parents and society made you to be, past the poisonous chemicals you have ingested and absorbed over a lifetime, past the climate you have grown up in and the living circumstances you have found yourself in, past your education, past the people you have met, past the books you have read, past the things you have been told by preachers and teachers…

Who ARE you? Who are you REALLY? Do you know?

Are you all right knowing that you are an accumulation of other people’s inputs into your self; into your SOUL?

Are you all right knowing that your personality, your traits, and your beliefs have been molded by innumerable things around you since the day you were born?

If you were to build you from scratch, who would you be?

Who ARE you? What do you believe? What foods do you like? What places make you happy? Which people upset you? What stories affect you? What does your heart say when it speaks to you?

Have you listened?

Have you opened your mind to things you don’t already know? Have you tasted foods you haven’t already eaten? Have you tried activities you haven’t already experienced? Have you met people you normally wouldn’t?

Do you know who you REALLY are?

When was the last time you stopped and asked:

Who AM I?