Is Identity Shaped by Choices or Perceptions?

[TR345]

What defines "who you are"?

Some say it is what you do that defines who you are. What do you think?

 

[runner]

i think a person is many things. when you go home, for example, you drop the job persona (the role you play in the office) and become a husband, a parent, etc. but, generally speaking, people do have an interest in what others do for a living. maybe in order to compare themselves with others.

 

[Kenny_L]

Some say it is what you do that defines who you are. What do you think?

I think they're wrong. You also got to look at what you've done, what you've experienced, what is available to you, physical ability/physiology, mental ability/capacity, and base nature.

 

[Moridin]

I'm leaning towards the response of electrochemical patterns in the brain to outside influence.

 

[Abstraction]

There is more than one dimension to the "Who you are" question. What you do will impact the kind of person you are in relationship to who you were when you entered the stage of doing what you do, however what you do is not who you are.

Confusing?

 

[Mokae]

I may not know who I am but I know I need to say what I want to say,
My parents was never happy with the appearance of the third person
And I know at the end of his life, he still comes back to my mother...just to die!

 

[Rekniht]

Some say it is what you do that defines who you are. What do you think?

Interesting idea.

Our own idea of who we are and how we appear to those who perceive us can also be a measure of definition. --imo

Others perception is also defined by our own idea of who we are to our-own-self.

Basically, our idea of who we are is a resulting concerted effort (ce) of our observation of reality (r). Concerted by visual (v), auditory (au), aromatic (ar), gustatory (g), tactile (t) and mental (m) observations or perceptions ... of which mental observation can also be said to be concerted {v+au+ad+g+t}. (r=ce; ce=a+au+ad+g+t+m |or| ce=m ... r=m)

Based on this 'ce' we act according to what motivates the intention to act. Choices. Which result in action. Rendered to influence feelings, not obstructed by unpleasant results.

I guess I could say, "So it really boils down to 'choices'. Quite succienctly, we are the choices we make. And these choices influence the observation of others, who also act as a result of their choices regarding this observation." But ultimately it is our perception of self that defines who we are. Action being a result of choice, choice a result of intention, intention a result of observation or perception.