Who Am I?

My professor proposed that it's impossible to know who we truly are.

We are not really individual selves, but instead, we are each an entity capable of being manipulated and influenced.

Influenced by the ideologies we were exposed to as youth, and through the education we received.

We have been conditioned to think and feel a certain way, and the only way for us to more closely resemble who we genuinely are is to pull away from what we are accustomed to.

Pull away from our conditioned ways of thinking, of acting, and of being.

How do we know if our concept of self is authentic, or a product of our upbringing?

Instead, we must be open and evaluate why it is we find certain things pleasurable and others damaging.

We must question every conviction we hold dear and ask ourselves, why?

Why do I accept certain beliefs as truth? Why do I dismiss anything that attempts to dissuade me from my principles?

Were they even my own principles to begin with?

We can learn from being burned. Maybe, the best way to learn about ourselves is to see what hurts us.

Since that lecture, I've felt lost. I've begun questioning everything I have ever believed about myself.

Who am I? Will I ever know?

I've decided to attempt to find the answer to the mystery of who I really am, even if it means I'll have to endure scorching flames to do so.

I've thrown myself into the fire. Time will only tell what I will discover by the time I emerge.