Why — 2

The train left the station here.

I’ve been trying to figure out what matters, why and how I ought to order my life around it — but hey, who is this “I” that I keep referring to? This is another of those statements that’s been taken for granted. When we raise questions like “Who am I?”, “What is my purpose?”, we presuppose the “I”. Heck, when Descartes did his 17th century mic-drop with “I think therefore I am”, he assumed something similar.

But doesn’t this train ride imply that any pronoun is ultimately just a random arrangement of atoms separated by time and space? I see images of Neo when he finally sees the agents for who they are — lines of code and not human beings (I’m not going to explain the reference). Then why the fuss? Isn’t it just a fluke (or a cosmic joke) that I am “me” instead of “you”, “him”, “Hitler” and the same goes for everyone else. In that case would “I” have even existed??

All struggles seem harder than they are when we fight illusions (or randomly organized atoms). I do not expect agreement, but I do look for a little consistency in logic.

So the next time someone asks you to introduce yourself, you can honestly respond by saying, “I am a randomly organized collection of atoms that has been named _____. Pleased to meet you, my brother from another random collection!”

See “you” in the next station!

Soundtrack: This entry in the series is accompanied by Queen’s “I’m going slightly mad”.