Interestingly, our self-awareness is what sets us apart from all other organisms and it is what allows us to have the ability to define ourselves independent of our physicality. Rene Descartes, a highly influential French philosopher from the sixteen hundreds said, “Cogito ergo sum” which translates to, “I think therefore I am.” Although he actually meant that self-awareness is proof that one exists, I have contemporarily extended and updated its meaning to suggest that, “Whatever I think I am I become” or “Cogito ergo fio.” Some have arguably attributed self-awareness as the catalyst for one of humanity’s greatest creation, the notion of God. Man is the only organism that if fully aware that he will die someday and some have understandably contemplated that in order to cope with mortality, man redefined his identity as the ultimate creation of a Deity and therefore worthy of eternal life.

Are we merely the sum total of our physicality as defined by our arbitrary genetic make-up or physical circumstances? Each of us is a corporeal miracle and a wonder unto ourselves but that in itself is not an accomplishment nor should it be a limiting factor because it was not by choice. The bigger miracle is that we have been endowed with the free will to consciously define who we are and who we want to be and that allows us to be both anything and everything beyond and inspite of what we are.

I can picture you, boob out and about, how you use shirts to cover fabric blemishes and this whole train of thought. As I am sure, we’ve all contemplated the connection of the brain (thought) to the body.

I was reading of late something about how we are our bodies, how words, ideas, and impressions come from our bodies, the effect of the environment grants us an inner commentary about it.

I think that yes too as the saying goes even if we went to Venice or anywhere else as if to run away, our bodies would still be there and we could not run from ourselves.

We are these beings. And so I still think that should our bodies stop working, so does our mind. We are highly influenced by the surprises of the body. Just the other day, while working like crazy in the restaurant my lower back became numb and then my legs became very tired and I had to support myself, and then I almost passed out. I was at the mercy of my body. The stress, the fatigue, the moment felt like my legs could not keep up and that my brain had forgotten to tell them to move, sort of like when we stop to think about going down stairs and how we then stumble. I thought my legs would work on their own. In this instance, they froze after my back became numb. The nerves apparently were cut off. It was at this moment that I had the philosophical thought that our bodies control us and vice versa with regard to the brain. And so I am no longer sure about reincarnation or life after death because without a functioning body or a brain there are no thoughts. When I am asleep, I am non-existent, except when I am made aware of my consciousness. I am not sure I believe in a god therefore. There’s just this reality and for a time, I will be here, aware, and then I will not be aware and that perhaps we have created god to give us comfort, to try to explain or give purpose to our lives.