Randall
J. Randall Murphy
From time to time most of us, especially The Who fans, have been faced with this Question: Who Are you? It seems straight forward enough, but when one tries to nail it down, it seems to become more elusive. Simple answers are, well, just too simple. We're not simply the name they put on our birth certificate. We're much more than that. So people add their career to it. "Hi I'm so and so and I'm with XYZ Corp."
If they don't have a job, they might say they're a student or are between jobs. People can add all the letters they want after their names, and tack them to whatever job they're doing, but in the end there are those who aren't satisfied with being defined by résumés or other labels. If your one of those people then that's what this thread is for. It's for discussing the question of how you would answer the question: Who Are You?
Because I started this thread I'll offer my most recent perspective first. Perhaps you may find it something useful in your own quest for and answer. I'll start out by saying that what prompted me to start this thread is that I was invited to attend something called the Landmark Forum, which promotes itself as a training and development company focusing on enhancing the quality of one's life. In other words, they're another motivational type package aimed at getting you into their system of doing things, which also just happens to cost a pretty penny if you decide to take the plunge.
I haven't attended yet. But I'm supposed to go tonight, so I'll report back on the experience after I've had a chance to check it out in-person. Needless to say I did some checking on the web first to see what it is I'm getting into, and there are some very mixed and generally polarized views. The following short video clip is one of the first I ran across. It's done in a comedy setting, but very critical. I doubt the Landmark people would find it funny:
That video sets the stage. Next I went to their website and downloaded the session Syllabus and checked out a few more videos in order to prepare for whatever it is they're going to be doing, which as I suspected will include trying to sell me on joining their ... "cough cough cult", which brings me back to the topic of the thread. Who Are You? It goes in this direction because the info suggests that the Landmark Forum is designed to exploit the weakness people have in answering this question.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing. One point of focus in their communication segment involves language and context, and how not to impart our own preconceptions onto what other people are saying. Great right? Just remember that truth can be used to illuminate and manipulate at the same time. By first getting everyone to question their own sense of identity and then filling in the gaps with their programming, by the end of the session the plan is to have attendees buy-in to more of it, literally.
Given the above, I felt my best defense against any possible exploitation would be to go in with a strong sense of self-identity and confidence and retain an open minded skepticism based on critical thinking, none of which I'm short on, and then I ran into that thin edge of the wedge. What do I say if they ask me to introduce myself? How do I avoid being framed into the "Who Are You" question?
At the present time, after some careful deliberation, I've decided to take an approach gleaned from the many pages I've been participating in over on the Consciousness & Paranormal thread, where we've been discussing consciousness in some finer detail. After all, who we are seems to be intimately tied to this question: What is Consciousness?
In a number of respects, they're pretty much the same question, so I'm taking the approach that the Philosophers Chalmers & Nagel take, which basically, is that consciousness is the experience of what it's like to be you. Therefore it can also be said that who you are, is someone who is experiencing what it's like to be you. So if asked, I intend on responding by saying, "I'm someone who is experiencing what it's like to be here as a guest this evening."
To some, my answer may seem rather obvious. Yet it is deceptively complex. It might be accepted at face value, but if one of the Landmark gurus decides to try to break that one down, let's just say that they'll be in for more than they bargained for
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If they don't have a job, they might say they're a student or are between jobs. People can add all the letters they want after their names, and tack them to whatever job they're doing, but in the end there are those who aren't satisfied with being defined by résumés or other labels. If your one of those people then that's what this thread is for. It's for discussing the question of how you would answer the question: Who Are You?
Because I started this thread I'll offer my most recent perspective first. Perhaps you may find it something useful in your own quest for and answer. I'll start out by saying that what prompted me to start this thread is that I was invited to attend something called the Landmark Forum, which promotes itself as a training and development company focusing on enhancing the quality of one's life. In other words, they're another motivational type package aimed at getting you into their system of doing things, which also just happens to cost a pretty penny if you decide to take the plunge.
I haven't attended yet. But I'm supposed to go tonight, so I'll report back on the experience after I've had a chance to check it out in-person. Needless to say I did some checking on the web first to see what it is I'm getting into, and there are some very mixed and generally polarized views. The following short video clip is one of the first I ran across. It's done in a comedy setting, but very critical. I doubt the Landmark people would find it funny:
Landmark Forum - Cult?
That video sets the stage. Next I went to their website and downloaded the session Syllabus and checked out a few more videos in order to prepare for whatever it is they're going to be doing, which as I suspected will include trying to sell me on joining their ... "cough cough cult", which brings me back to the topic of the thread. Who Are You? It goes in this direction because the info suggests that the Landmark Forum is designed to exploit the weakness people have in answering this question.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing. One point of focus in their communication segment involves language and context, and how not to impart our own preconceptions onto what other people are saying. Great right? Just remember that truth can be used to illuminate and manipulate at the same time. By first getting everyone to question their own sense of identity and then filling in the gaps with their programming, by the end of the session the plan is to have attendees buy-in to more of it, literally.
Given the above, I felt my best defense against any possible exploitation would be to go in with a strong sense of self-identity and confidence and retain an open minded skepticism based on critical thinking, none of which I'm short on, and then I ran into that thin edge of the wedge. What do I say if they ask me to introduce myself? How do I avoid being framed into the "Who Are You" question?
At the present time, after some careful deliberation, I've decided to take an approach gleaned from the many pages I've been participating in over on the Consciousness & Paranormal thread, where we've been discussing consciousness in some finer detail. After all, who we are seems to be intimately tied to this question: What is Consciousness?
In a number of respects, they're pretty much the same question, so I'm taking the approach that the Philosophers Chalmers & Nagel take, which basically, is that consciousness is the experience of what it's like to be you. Therefore it can also be said that who you are, is someone who is experiencing what it's like to be you. So if asked, I intend on responding by saying, "I'm someone who is experiencing what it's like to be here as a guest this evening."
To some, my answer may seem rather obvious. Yet it is deceptively complex. It might be accepted at face value, but if one of the Landmark gurus decides to try to break that one down, let's just say that they'll be in for more than they bargained for
.David Chalmers - Intro To Consciousness
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