Who are you?

Questions like this have been asked by humanity since birth and questions like this seem more vital than ever.

How you describe yourself, how you dress, how you act, everything can represent what you feel is ‘self’.

Everything merely a description, connected through consciousness. To think of something as ‘self’ is yourself.

But what if all of that is taken away?

What if all you identify as ‘self’ is stripped away and replaced by another?

Is it still ‘self’?

This can be a testament to ‘grandfathers axe’.

If you were to wear out the head of an axe and then replace it with another. But then the handle of the axe is broken and replaced. Is it still the same axe?

If it were the exact same material as the old head of the axe or the old handle of the axe than this is quantitatively the same axe. Yet qualitatively it is not, since it was not the same one used by your grandfather.

This can be argued over again, and it has been by Greek philosophers. Discussing the metaphysics of the Theseus Paradox.

This paradox can be placed upon the argument of identity and how we define it. If you were to scarp every fiber of your being and have it replaced with another body, is that still you?

Are you really you anymore?

Is there some ethereal being or soul still inside?

You want to improve yourself, yet you are scared to let go of how you identify yourself.

That’s why knowing yourself will always be complex and difficult, but nonetheless important.