“Why am I real”?
My youngest son asked me this when he was only 7 years old. Honestly, I didn’t have a great answer for him, because how do you explain the concepts of existential philosophy to a 7 year old when you really don’t have a good handle on it yourself.
I still remember how helpless I felt when faced with that question.
He’s 17 now, and while I don’t think I have a great answer, I do have some better questions to discuss with him. I would ask him to define his concept of real.
Does he mean real as in a physical body, or as in his consciousness? I would ask him if he wanted to explore a reason why he existed from a religious or spiritual perspective, and discuss with him the possibilities that the great minds have postulated for our shared experienced together.
But most of all, I would ask him why it matters.
Because in truth, we are here. There are differing explanations of how we got here; answers woven from science, faith, fear and hope.
The answer that you choose to accept can define your reality, but it can also shadow it, creating a lifetime of doubt or self recrimination. For every person who ‘knows’, there are others who don’t.
Today, I would like to invite you to consider a change from “I am” to “I can”.
Whether you have a faith, or a question, or a determination is less important to me than how you are living that which you believe. I have heard many people who assign labels to themselves, in a desperate search for an identity and a purpose for “being real”.
I have also seen people crushed when for some reason a label is lost, and their identity taken from them.
But if you live without labels, instead choosing to focus on your capabilities, then you stop determining who you are, and instead focus on how you can serve.
For me, I serve to heal others. In my profession I heal the physical, yet in my passion of writing and sharing, I try to lift up the hearts and souls of those whom I can reach.
As long as I can find some way to help others, even if only with a sincere smile and a concern for their well-being and happiness, I can connect with my purpose, and find an answer to the question of “Why am I real”.
I am real, to uplift, to care, to love, to serve, to heal, to bring peace.
And you are here also. As to why, well that’s really up to you. If you haven’t yet discovered why you are real, that’s ok. In truth, we are all trying to find out own way, and some have different paths and truths than others.
Please know that I am grateful for your reality. I am grateful that our paths have crossed in whichever way they have. I am grateful that I can serve you, in whatever capacity I can.
I am real, for you.
Why are you real?
— Dr. Alan Barnes
@maddrbmusings