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Monday 29 July 2013

CAN I DISCOVER MYSELF?



 This is a question which has always remained a question only. All answers are speculative including the explanations offered by science. Let me add a little to this jungle of thoughts and side with something, otherwise it will be a blatant negation of my existence. 

I will certainly not go with the theological explanations offered by my religion or the religions across the world have taught. These explanations take me through a blind alley, and the question becomes more and more complex, because I have lived more than half a century in the so called modern scientific world. 

The next contenders, to my knowledge, are the philosophers. Descartes under the influence of Newton's mechanistic theory propounded that human beings are like machines and the parts are integrated to explain the whole in their functionality. With remarkable departure from Descartes' thought, Emanuel Kant theorized that in a machine the parts exist for each other but in living organisms parts are also instrumental in producing each other and are self organizing. He stressed upon understanding life, and acceptance of Nature as purposeful. He definitely made a laudable theory to explain "who am I" and " what am I". His thoughts laid the foundation but could not hit the target in entirety. 

In our current thought domain, two ideas are predominant--- the "Evolutionary Biology" with a much wider acceptance and the " Intelligent Design"-- yet to receive any favor from the main stream scientists. But, I believe in a synthesis of both to explain-- "Who am I" and "What am I". The biggest discovery in biological science is DNA-- the instruction manual of all lives on Earth. On the basis of that I define myself as a minuscule point in an incredibly long chain and order; in me past, present and future are encapsulated. In a sense I am immortal, I come back in different forms and different variations from time to time. I resurrect and reincarnate time and again. I also go with the proponents of "Intelligent Design" who profess that without the intervention of an intelligent Creator how the cells and molecules (made from inanimate matters) have become conscious in living organisms, and achieve the goal of organizing a form--- like specialized engineers and skilled workers building a structure. They summarily reject the evolutionary ideas of random selection and mutation. 

Who is this intelligent designer? Though at the outset I have shown my reluctance to accept the theological interpretation of "Who am I"; but in the process I have returned to those theological allegories. 

Now, "What am I"? I am a combination of the genetic and extra-genetic elements. I am a part of the deep ecology--- I vibrate with every minutest sub-atomic particles and the infinite universe. In this miraculous fabric of the universe I am so inextricably interwoven that I am within you, you are within me. You cannot separate me from you nor can I distinguish you from me. I am lost in that vast ocean where the drops of water form the oceanic identity. 

Does it sound mystic? No, It is consciousness that not merely defines "Who and What I am" but "Who and What we are".I agree that the question remains unresolved and will be asked time and again.

                                                                                                               

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