| The question "Who are you?" is one of those | | | | which you can remove layer after layer. There is |
| fundamental questions that is intimidating and almost | | | | nothing like a core. There are only layers of cognition |
| unanswerable. It can mean so many different things, | | | | or those values of identity which were called false |
| depending upon the desire of the person asking. Thus | | | | identity by the Gurus in the first section (supra). |
| the questioner might be asking: | | | | Perhaps it is this continuous search for meaning |
| Please place yourself in the structured schema that I | | | | behind meaning that the Eastern Guru calls illusion. |
| use to describe society and the world around me. In | | | | Another theory, one that is popular among cognitive |
| other words, give me a series of tags that I can use | | | | psychologists and artificial intelligence theorists, is that |
| to categorize you. | | | | the mind is a collection of mental faculties. These |
| The answer to such a demand needs must depend | | | | faculties are bound together. By this theory a self is |
| upon the categories and tags that the questioner | | | | nothing but a collection of faculties. It propounds that |
| recognizes. Fortunately there are a large series of | | | | our self is really a community of selves of different |
| such tags that are commonly and conventionally | | | | types. Our perception of self is an illusion created by |
| recognized. Thus the categories of nationality, ethnic | | | | collaborating selves. |
| origin, gender, occupation, income, place of residence, | | | | IV |
| marital status, hobbies and interests, religion, and | | | | The fictional theologian, "Bull" Morris, claimed that we |
| political affiliation. | | | | wear masks and that the masks become part of our |
| An answer in terms of these tags often suffices to | | | | selves. He appears to be saying that our selves are |
| satisfy the questioner because we all of us carry | | | | composite rather than elemental. According to Morris, |
| with mental schemas, lists of default assumptions | | | | the illusion of self is the result of such composite |
| about persons bearing said tags. This is a practical | | | | selves. These composite selves appear to be our |
| necessity - we cannot know everyone in intimate | | | | composition rather than the composition of the |
| detail. These assumptions are only defaults; each | | | | masks. |
| individual holds its individuality. He is unique. | | | | This theory does not solve the problem rather it |
| This form of the question is more of a "What are | | | | creates a paradox regarding the self itself. |
| you?" than a "Who are you?" - that is, it reduces the | | | | Thus consider a ship that has had every part of it |
| person to a list of attributes. | | | | replaced. It so changed that there is no original |
| I | | | | component left. Is it the same ship? If you say yes |
| There is another meaning that the question might | | | | because it still has the same shape and configuration |
| take. It may be asked | | | | then consider this situation further: |
| ... "Who are you?" | | | | Over time the owners of the ship have reworked it |
| You are likely to utter, "I am Ramesh from London." | | | | and redesigned it. ( ...As it is done in case of Russian |
| "And if you weren't not of London, would you still be | | | | air craft carrier Gorshkov to be handed over to the |
| Ramesh?" may be the next question. | | | | Indian Navy.) Everything including nails and rivets has |
| "Of course... I ..." Ramesh might have replied. | | | | been changed. Is it still the same ship? If you say yes |
| "And if you were not Ramesh?" the question is likely | | | | because it has the same purpose (it is a ship) and |
| to be continued "Would you still be you? If you were | | | | continuity of existence then consider this further: |
| crippled, or old - if you became a leper, or lost your | | | | The owners, after its retirement from service, beach |
| manhood - who would you be then?" | | | | the ship and convert it into a museum.(as it was |
| "I don't know -" | | | | done in case of Indian air craft carrier Vikrant). They |
| "You know." | | | | cut a door in the side; add seats in a common area. |
| An irony in this passage is that Ramesh, at that point, | | | | Is it still the same ship? If you say yes because it is |
| is traveling under a false identity. | | | | still recognizably a ship then consider this: |
| The questionnaire presumes one of the great | | | | The owners do well with this museum. Over time |
| answers to the question of identity, which is that we | | | | they add additions and remove the cumbersome bits |
| have an inner essence which defines our self, the | | | | of ship until eventually nothing whatsoever is left of |
| various attributes being trappings like the clothes we | | | | the original lumber and parts, and indeed nothing of |
| wear. | | | | the original configuration. In short every mark of the |
| II | | | | ship is gone save its name and then even that is |
| There is an old story that purports to explain the | | | | changed? Is the ship now gone? |
| difference between Eastern and Western | | | | Some would say no, it is not, in that it is part of the |
| philosophical approaches. in Europe there was a | | | | tradition of the museum. Similarly our past selves are |
| mountain. a famous Guru dwelt on the mountain. One | | | | neither truly gone nor truly present. Reality's memory |
| day a would-be disciple made his way to the Guru's | | | | always holds traces of the past, but those traces are |
| hermitage and asked: | | | | not complete - memory fades and the past fades |
| Oh, Guru, What is the Answer? | | | | with it. Identity is not preserved over time, only the |
| To which the Guru would have replied: | | | | semblance of identity. It is a river of identities and |
| What is the Question? | | | | the correct question is which identity? At what time? |
| In India also there was a mountain. It too was home | | | | "Who were you?" and "Who are you?" now have |
| to a famous Guru. One day a would-be disciple made | | | | become two different questions with different |
| his way to the Guru's hermitage and asked: | | | | answers. Indeed, some would say that a true answer |
| Oh, Guru, What is the Answer? | | | | to "Who are you?" is impossible because by the time |
| To which the Guru would have replied: | | | | you answer the question you are no longer quite the |
| Who is asking? | | | | person who was asked the question. (Remember |
| Each Guru, perhaps, is addressing the dictum, Know | | | | here that for Sthavar Buddhists the time does not |
| thyself. The Western Guru was teaching that one | | | | last more than a moment). |
| has to cut through the confusions and discern what | | | | V |
| one is really about, what one's needs really are, what | | | | Even our physical identity is not beyond doubt. Our |
| question one is really asking. The Western Guru does | | | | bodies are constantly changed. Every cell in our |
| not question the existence of the self; rather he | | | | bodies is replaced by a new cell over a period of time |
| demanded of the disciple that the disciple correct his | | | | in succession. In case of nails and hair this is |
| ignorance of his self. This approach is more of | | | | manifestly visible. The same is true for other organs |
| utilitarian origin. Making use to the maximum utility is | | | | inside the body. |
| the aim of any knowledge. | | | | If the physical identity continuously changes then |
| The Eastern Guru's teaching was somewhat different. | | | | who is he who is changing? If you define a shirt of |
| Not only his teaching was different, rather his | | | | yours as the one which fits you over your body then |
| approach was different. He taught that the self that | | | | why do you call a 15 years old shirt as yours because |
| the disciple was conscious of was an illusion | | | | it fits nowhere on your body. May be, that at some |
| compounded of identification of self with attributes | | | | point of time it fitted you but it were you fifteen |
| and desires. He demanded of the disciple that he cut | | | | years back. The question whether you are the same |
| through the illusion of self, that he discovers who he | | | | who you were 15 years back has already been dealt |
| was. | | | | with. |
| The Western Guru seems to be definitive on the | | | | At the end of the discussion it can be seen that |
| side of an essential self, commonly called a soul. He | | | | there is no definitive answer to the question as to |
| has no doubt regarding the identity of selves - one | | | | who are you. One assumes any one of the answers |
| possessed by him and the other believed by him that | | | | which suits his way of thinking. All the questions can |
| he possessed. The Eastern Guru's position is more | | | | be corroborated by the same number of arguments |
| mystic. First of all he stresses on the self realization. | | | | as these can be given in favours of the others. |
| III | | | | So at last, |
| Another answer is that there is no existence of any | | | | The predicament remains where it began. |
| essential self and that people are like onions from | | | | Who are you? |