One day, my boss gave me a book to read. The book is titled Success is who you are by Rev. Sam Adeyemi. The book brought about a major upheaval in my thought process. I think what they call a paradigm shift occurred in me. I pondered a lot as my eyes were opened to some revelations. I saw! I remembered preaching the message in Church soon after and the reception was awe inspiring.
What makes a person a person? How do you define yourself? When people ask the question, who are you? What does it mean? What is your name is simple, you just say your name or write it down whichever may be the case but who are you or like I love to put it in Pidgin English, Who you be? Requires more explanation right? Do you notice that when you meet someone for the first time, the line of questioning is from who you are to what do you do? Do you also notice that sometimes in cases of heated arguments you hear some people shout at the top of their voice, do you know who I am? Or in some cases you hear the statement, I will show you who I am… who are you? Who you be? Is it what you do that determines who you are or is it who you are that determines what you do?
The issue of identity has always been a source of confusion for many. I have had the privilege of seeing movies that portray the effect of temporary amnesia and how the affected person seeks to find out who s/he is. Now, it doesn’t matter what the person does, what matters is who the person is. Part of the quest to restore memory loss includes of course finding out what the person did in the past and all but the main question still remains, who am I?
What you do, is a function of who you are and that is why even in cases where crime takes place the first point of call is not the action but the motive behind the action. Motive is an internal thing not an external thing so you see that even the law courts need to ascertain the suspect in-depth. Does it not surprise you that we are called Human (BE)INGs and not Human Doings or Human Does. We are, as in we be. We are before we do.
Where is all this leading to? I believe that resolving the question of who we are, is very vital to everything else in life be it choice of career, relationships, productivity etc. Who we are determines the choices we make, it determines our taste. If one is not able to conclusively determine who one is, a lot of effort will be wasted, time, resources in short, everything will be skewed until one discovers self. Like Rev. Sam will say, that I failed does not make me a failure also I add that it looks like it does not mean it is. Every effort should be spent on self discovery and I tell you it will not be wasted. Once you are able to discover who you are, then you are on the path to making a success out of life. If you don’t know what a thing is, abuse is inevitable therefore if you don’t know who you are, abuse is very certain. It is first a chair before it is that thing you sit on, because you can sit on a table and your action does not make the table, a chair. You might as well sit on a pot of hot burning coal. Who we are is our uniqueness. We don’t share that with any other person. We may do the same things, often times the same way but that is where the similarities end because our motives may be different and that is a function of who we are.
I know the question that will be at your lips now is how do I find out who I am? How do I proceed on this journey of self discovery? I will add my own set of questions; how did a Ford Explorer know that it is a Ford Explorer? Or how did the iphone know that it is an iphone? Someone designed the device that you are reading this article on; in fact a whole lot of people designed and created the multiple components of whatever device you are using now. Have you ever wondered how you came to be? Where you came from? How you became? There is a whole book that can provide the answer to the questions listed above. It is called the Bible. In there, you can find out who you are by first discovering how you came to be and how to have a relationship with the Supreme Being. Summary of this paragraph, ask God.
Sometimes what you discover may not be palatable, don’t be discouraged, we are all works in progress. That is why we are human BE-INGs! We are continuous. We do not stop. So brighten up, you can be a better you but that is as long as you take the first step in self discovery. You cannot explain what you don’t know and you cannot build on what you don’t know. Start the venture to self discovery and enjoy truly BE-ING! Seek to know THINESELF!!! For those who may not know, THINESELF means YOU…
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