Defining Our 'Self'

Our ‘Self’ can have many definitions; we cannot say which one is right and which one is wrong, interestingly all the definitions of this will be right. We can define our ‘Self’ in many terms and conditions; we can define it based on our profession, our religious belief, our social relations, our social standing, etc. So, when we try to define our ‘Self,’ it will depend on the situation and our thought process running at that time. So, our definition at two different times may be different. So, we can define our ‘Self’ as “Our thought process what we perceive about us and our existence in a particular condition and a particular situation.” So, in front of my patients, I am a surgeon, in my family, I am a son, husband, and father; in the company of my friends I am Mahesh; during a training session, I am a student. But all these definitions are mostly created by others for me; they are not necessarily my definitions of my ‘Self.’ They are the description of my social relations or social representations. But at the same time, they are not wrong as well, all of them are right and correct.

The frontal lobe of our brain and other higher centers show a fantastic capacity to rewire and continuously creating newer routes of communications on a regular basis, this is known as ‘Neuroplasticity.’ It enables us to learn and remember new things and help us in adjusting to new learnings, experiences, and situations. Neuroplasticity is reflected more in our brain during our childhood, though it persists throughout the life. This phenomenon also plays an active role in the condition of damage to a part of the brain due to injury. Cerebral cortex, especially in frontal lobes, is the sight for intelligent thinking and superior thought process, since the thought process about our ‘Self’ is a human thought process, so this thought process is considered highly developed and makes the basis for our spirituality and spiritual thinking.

It was the process of defining our ‘Self’ which created all the human thought processes of humanity, human values, science, religions, art, culture, and faiths. Though we can have straightforward answers to define our ‘Self,’ it is also equally true that we always find our all definitions short to define our ‘Self.’ It is a complex question which goes deep into our existence beyond our physical body. All the religions, faiths and science are also not comfortable to define this complex question of our existence. It touches the origin of our universe, matter, energy, life, a cell, a complex living system, human body and its brain with its thought processes. The simple question what we identify with our profession, social role and relationships have many complex ramifications where all the human intelligence, scientific, religious and cultural thinking get convergence and create many thoughts about our ‘Self.’

So, in general, we can say that we have three sets of defining our ‘Self.’ First is our biological ‘Self’; second is our social ‘Self,’ and third is our spiritual ‘Self.’ Our biological self is about our biology like we are human beings, our body, our genes, our appearance, etc. all are components of our biological ‘Self.’ Our social ‘Self’ is constructed by our relationships, our job, profession, education, economy, etc. Our spiritual ‘Self’ has two components one is the combination of all of above and second is about our existence. The second component ‘our existence’ is the major component of our thought process about our spiritual ‘Self.’ It connects all of us as human beings; it becomes our common goal, it helps in connecting all of our different definitions of our biological and social ‘Self’ to our universal ‘Self’ or cosmic ‘Self.’

Our thought processes about our existence are the basis for our quest to now our ‘Self.’ It is the questions about our existence which motivate us to improve the collective understanding and collective intelligence of the human beings to explore and experiment. It has been the most significant force behind the development of our human thought processes in all possible directions. All the great religions of the world, all the philosophies, and all the scientific inventions are the result of this amazing thought process which is about our existence in the universe in the past, present, and future.

Mahesh Bhatt.
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