This Is Who I Am

By
David A. Berresford

We are all the same. We are all different. We are who we are because of those innate qualities that we inherit from our family tree – Nature. We are, more so, who we are as we become the sum of those innate qualities combined with everything we have ever learned through our senses; through what we hear, see, taste, touch, and smell. Since knowledge originates in experience, experience obtained through the senses, we must be selective as to what we take into our being. The old computer axiom, GIGO (garbage in garbage out), applies to the being of the human as well as the effectiveness of the computer. If a person, through their senses, fills their mind with poor or self-destructive information, the output from that individual will be reflective of that input. On the other hand, an individual who fills their mind with quality input will produce the quality they have internalized.

We should also note at this time that almost all knowledge is built upon previous knowledge. We become willfully ignorant when we fail to expose ourselves to valuable knowledge and thereby cheat ourselves out of the possibility of even greater knowledge.

See Illustration

When we combine our innate qualities with our experiences we create our frame of reference. This frame of reference is a set of ideas, conditions, or assumptions that determine how something will be approached, perceived, or understood. It is our philosophical foundation.

Since we are different due to our varied innate qualities and diverse experiences, we each have a different frame of reference. One is not superior to another. We are not better than another person because we think we are. We should also realize that some individuals are limited because of natural barriers, mental and/or physical. Again, these limitations do not make the limited individual an inferior person, only one who is restricted in some possibilities. Most limitations are self-imposed.

Furthermore, our frame of reference should not form the framework of a box from which we can’t escape. It should serve as the building blocks from which we build a greater frame of reference. This foundational, fundamental nature of our being greatly determines who we are and how we behave as a parent, child, employee, subordinate, supervisor, leader, follower, student, teacher, competitor, and etc. We will refer back to this concept throughout this series of articles.

In the next article we will examine the manner in which we define our world through language.