"To the Core"

If you were to strip away all of the layers of your existence, who would you be at the very core? I’ve found this to be an intriguing question of late as I’ve been considering what is really important in life.

I could start by bringing up the theory of tabula rasa - the idea that we are born into the world as blank slates and our personality and knowledge is completely dependent on the people and surroundings that influence us. I could write about this. . .but I think most parents would unwaveringly say that we are born into the world with our own little endearing personalities intact. I would agree and personally think that although our surroundings play a huge role in how we develop, we are born into the world with an unadulterated identity. However, by the time we are adults we have been so saturated by the world at large that we base our identity on the things that surround us instead of who we really are at the core. Maybe many of us don’t really know who we are at the core anymore. The world teaches us to define ourselves by our name, our occupation, by what we’re good at or by what we enjoy doing. We think of our identities as dependent on our spouse and children, maybe even by our family name and heritage. Some people would count the type of clothes they wear or the kind of music they listen to, the television shows they watch, the items they like to collect. We define ourselves by our gender, our skin colour, by the country we come from.

But what if you stripped all of that away? Who would you be then? In the past I might have said that I work on an ambulance, I read, write, take photographs, play piano, have a dog, hike, travel, go to church. When it comes down to it though, these are all things that I do or things that I enjoy. They are all dependent upon something - an employer, books, cameras, an instrument, another living thing, a congregation, not to mention finances. I think who we are at the core should not be dependent upon anything or anyone else.

When you think of it like that, you actually have to really think about who you are. Don’t you? We have more layers to us than a giant onion. It’s so tempting to consider yourself a product of the events, both good and bad that have happened to you in your life. It’s tempting to define yourself by the things you are passionate about or by what you’ve dedicated your life to doing. Still, I would argue that who you are goes much deeper than that. What you do or enjoy doing, what you’re passionate about are more like reflections of who you are. They’re a mirror that can reflect your core being.

It takes some serious consideration to get back to your core being. I’m still thinking about it. I know that I was born with a lot of compassion - especially when it comes to animals and even insects (I prefer to relocate spiders rather than squish them :). I know that I’ve always innately known of God’s presence and at my core I think I have a propensity for loyalty and sincerity (both which can have either positive or negative reflections in life).

I’ve found thinking about this to be very liberating. It puts things in perspective. To be frank, when you die, all of the earthly things you ranked high on your list of importance (status, finances, career) will be as valuable as an American penny in a Canadian dollar store. I think who we are at the core is what we entered the world with and is what we will exit the world with and personally I’d like to get reacquainted with who I am as a soul before that day graces my presence.

Too deep? Don’t worry, I’ll do another “AWESOME” post soon.