behind the name

superficially, we think of ourselves as a person with an identity, a past and a potential future.

if we investigate deeper than the surface conviction that all we are is a personality with a name, we'll find the knowledge that this limited conception of what we are is a pretty unstable thing.

this is evidenced by the fact that we're very careful about the things we associate with: the people and ideas we allow into our lives. we know that these things will end up becoming a part of our mental construction of “us,” hence our selectiveness towards them.

our true nature, on the other hand, is always fixed and present in our lives, and requires no effort to maintain. it's what recognizes the superficial personality as not fixed, stable, or ultimately real, what observes the many changes and revisions of the “I” construct.