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Some Thoughts, Not Necessarily Intelligent, On Identity Writing,Misc
  1. What effect does introspection have on personality?

  2. Just because the hat fits is no reason to wear it.

  3. Someone else is to blame. I blame the missing link.

  4. What is the identity of an amnesiac?

  5. What happens if a vegetarian is reincarnated as a cat?

  6. Do you believe in individual identity because society tells you to?

  7. Pick a tribe, any tribe.

  8. The identity of a group is different from the identity of its members.

  • The relationship between the individual and the group is like that between the aspects of a person and the person as a whole.

  • But the group may speak with many voices simultaneously.

  1. Identity is the name given to the differences between people.

  • We do not say of a man 'He is the breathing type'.

  • If you are the same as everyone around you, do you have an identity?

  • If there were only one person on Earth, what would their identity be?

  1. If you were me, you would do as I do.

  • If you were only in my position, you might act differently.

  • But if you were me, you would do as I do.

  1. To define yourself against something is to be defined by it.

  • Can 'us' make sense without a 'them'?

  • To be different for the sake of being different is also to be defined by convention.

  • Even hatred of oppression will distort your features.

  1. Whose opinion of you is right?

  • If everyone agrees, are they right?

  • Which is more valid: My image of you or your own?

  • If neither, who are you?

  1. Identity is defined by thoughts and actions.

  • It is only known by actions.

  • What does not speak, is not heard.

  • Suppose a character trait is never exposed. Is it real?

  • Do the things that only you know about yourself count?

  1. We exist only in the moment.

  • To live is to change, to change is to die.

  • The movie picture looks solid although it is constantly redrawn.

  • Cells die and are replaced. The physical matter of which you are made is gradually changing.

  • If all of it changes, are you a new person?

  • When your personality changes, does that mean the old you is dead?

  • If so, is voluntary change equivalent to suicide?

  • Do you owe anything to your future self?

  1. Identity is a false generalisation.

  • I think and behave differently in different circumstances. Therefore I am a different person in different circumstances.

  • We extract identity from the patterns.

  • Is what I do when I'm drunk the real me?

  • Each of us is many people. That is why our actions can be contradictory.

  • If I am consistently kind then I am a kind person.

  • If I am only kind to Alice, then I am not a kind person.

  • If there is only me and Alice, am I kind or not?

  1. The conscious mind only thinks it is in control.

  • We have all done things which afterwards we did not understand.

  • We also do things which at the time we do not understand.

  • We are only free to do as our natures dictate.

  • The conscious mind is like a boat on the ocean.

  • The currents and winds control the boat.

  1. You are not responsible for your nature, but you will be held responsible anyway; that is the law.



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© Daniel Winterstein 1998-2008


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