Are We the Same Person From Moment to Moment?

Are we the same person from moment to moment? Consider the following two examples:

You are what you eat. Today it will be steak. Tomorrow it will be salmon. And your brain is not materially the same moment to moment either, I understand, for this reason. One author I read said the human mind is like the dent the wind makes thru a field of ripe wheat. Weird, no?

Somehow you go back in time. And you meet yourself! Now, how can you say you are the same person? Clearly this example proves there are at least more than one of you: one in the present, and one in the past. Think about it.

I could have put this one in Mind Fuck. But I want it treated as a philosophical matter. (BTW, for the sake of argument, I am assuming humans have no spirit-like immortal souls. Sorry, but as I said, just "for the sake of argument".)

:love:

 

From moment to moment we are the same person. If you view it from a larger perspective, let's say from decade to decade for example, there probably are bigger differences.

 

obviously depends on how you define your personhood. physically of course we are not. there is a constant process of cellular replacement going on.

but the true self is something i see as very much seperate and appart from this process.

we take in and process new data all the time. that much is true. but does every stray wind alter who we really are? i don't think so.

we must act in different ways to remain the same in a constantly shifiting outer context, but i don't see doing so as altering our true selves at all.

sometimes our actions even have an error of inconsistency with our true selves.

we define our true selves by our preferences, and while we frequently have more option then we realize of changing them, whatever our behavior in response to our ever shifting environment, our preferences are only changed by our choosing to change them.

 

No, we are always just a memory of our previous selves.

 

It depends on how we define ourselves. We are constantly being bombarded with sensory input from what we conventionally label the outside world. At the same time we are bombarded by a stream of thoughts that change constantly from moment to moment. I think of "ourselves" as the river that you can never step into twice. The river is a different river, changing constantly as are we. On a deeper level, I don't believe there is an "us" that is separate from anything else, so my answer is stated in terms of a conventional "self".

 

you're absolutely a different person every moment.

 

I think you're always the same, you just find yourself in situations, like a cat stuck up in a tree.

 

I have never been somebody else as far as I know.

 

that's the thing. no matter where you are, no matter what you are, you're still the same you. everything ELSE can change, and you're still the same person, the same true self, always.

you can evolve as your true self. you can redefine you true self, by choosing different priorities, living some different way, things like that, but you're still only ever going to be the same self that you are.

if you die, and a million years later, or a billion or whatever, an infant is born on another world, and that infant is you, you're still the same you, no matter how much different that person will look then anything you know today as human, even if you're born a different gender too.

all those things are external, and have nothing to do with the you that you are.

 

I think we are both the same person and a different person.

Our base genetic make up is the same- our history is the same. Yet, our thoughts, our memories, our bacteria and even our skin cells are constantly changing.

Must it be one or the other?

 

To me it seems only you reside in that body and wether it changes all it's bacteria and skin cells completely on a regular basis or not does not change that fact. That our memories are changing is due to time and the lack of a photographic memory and that we have different thoughts than earlier does merely indicate that our brain is working

 

Can you remember being yourself when You were a child ? You were a child, now You are an adult. But it is still You, and You can learn Spanish or Meditation or move to Dallas and it will still be You.

 

i call them memories.but i'm meeting my same self,who has just been here for longer than back then.i think memories are something our brains have photo copies off.but whether i'm in the me of the past or the present i'm still the same me.but i do believe i have a soul,because biological matter has no consciousness.the me is my consciousness,even when i'm sleeping.i know that because of dreams.my body is just the vecheicle that houses my consciousness.but consciousness is always the same me.

 

It is not meaningful to say there is more than one of you if your body is the evidence of you-ness you rely on. But our sense of identity has been shattered by that same evidence. Because of the physical impression of separation our minds become compartmentalized. We view ourselves as having multiple lives in terms of responsibilities at one time or another. A person at work may imagine to himself, I can't wait to get back to my personal or in some instances, real life.

The public demeanor in this instance is not the same as the one at home.
The one at home does things that the one at work does not and those two are not allowed to share turf in a sense. The various states of the shattered sense of identity do not know or recognize one another and never meet. The angry mind does not recognize it's peaceful aspect and it's peaceful aspect knows no anger. It is this shattered sense of self that accounts for our sense of jeopardy in life, not the fact that we die. All of these separate senses of self have a life that is theirs and feels need of defense as each sense of self competes for ascendancy. In such a state there is no permanent I or sense of self and such can be identified as a fragile or vain ego that takes offense in any phenomena at all at any time. It is unpredictable as far as reliability and makes promises it cannot keep which is a significant punchline to all claims if you recognize their instability. The reason the instability exists is because we brutalize our children in our ignorance. A child in one instant is absolutely beloved but at some shocking point it is presented with the claim of guilty or unacceptable behavior and this is fundamentally unsettling and hence the neurotic scramble for balance.

A permanent or enduring self can be developed or cultivated through effort toward a desire aim or a concentrated singular attention. It is in appreciation of this dynamic that we get the symbolic language seek first the kingdom of god and all things will be added unto you. Another way to put it is you build a muscular physique by exercising.

 

when does We = the same person ? I think it's just for an evening
and when the weather is pleasant . it wouldn't seem pretentious ,
thus , surprising . it can happen to a whole town . you notice beauty
and peace .

are You the same person within that We as you were before and
are again later ? I don't know . maybe you are generally frantic .
We are fine . how are you ?

 

We is an obvious rejoinder. An enduring sense of self recognizes itself in everything. Self denial limits familiarity.

 

And there we/I have erected the walling off of our mind. We are violent and full of storms as well all the same it being for the cause of peace while not recognizing that peace is in us to call upon because again, these thoroughly involved senses of self do not recognize each other as being one in the same person. The unevenly heated, self sacrificing, ego or sense of self does not recognize itself in it's various moods. It confuses resentment with love and pain with joy.

 

So the question boils down to: does the internet have a soul, OR was it, after all, the person who had It? Identity would conceive that I am not a soul by myself though I have a soul in the ideal handling of subjects for the substance they portray. Soul should free the person to change. However, if the internet is judged flatly, it does not have a soul, then I am not Free and the Freedom of subjects of the broad Nation of concern on this contraption do not allow my Person to change.

 

There is one will. Our inheritance is not for us to choose but it can be understood and used creatively to great advantage. You may become virtuous in mastering your own nervous system.

That one will is changeless but we have been told that it can be deceitful and that accusation casts a spell of sinister mystery and self doubt. The claim of ill will is an absorptive interpretation without reflective consideration and creates the polarized perception of criminality and victimization. Criminality and victimization are myths about the nature of free will. Our protections fall like soft rain upon those we call our own.
Our defenses leave us no where to rest our head. Self denial, defensiveness, is the improper use of denial.

 

I read Kafka instead.