I want you to
imagine
you have
direct
access
to the entire collection of records of everything you've said. By that
I mean I want you to
imagine
you have hands-on admittance to the
complete
registry of every single
word
you've ever uttered in every single
conversation
you've ever had - in other
words,
the
complete
collection of records in minutely accurate
detail
of every single expression that's ever come out of your
mouth.
These records include the exact
time
and date of when you said what you said,
photographs
and a
photographicallyperfect
description of the exact location you were in when you said it, full
photographic
proof of who else was
present
with you when you said what you said (naturally there's also a
concordance showing their names and your
relationships
with each of them), and of course the exact verbatim
word
for
word
transcript of everything you said, a transcript which is
unambiguously
clear
and meticulously constructed ie methodically laid out. Oh! and in
addition, this transcript also has a crystal
clear
audio
soundtrack,
as well as high-resolution
video
captures to support it.
We're not done yet (what I've
got
in
mind
is something even more comprehensive than that): when I say records of
"everything you've said"
(past
tense), I'm also including everything you say
(present
tense) and everything you will say in the
future.
Interimly I'm also including everything others have said to you,
everything others say to you, and everything others will say to you,
and I'm also including everything you've said, say, and
will say to yourself. Ultimately I'm including everything others
have said to others, everything others say to others, and everything
others will say to others. So when I refer to records of "everything
you've said" I'm really implying the entire spectrum of
allconversations
throughout all of
human
history -
past,
present,
and
future.
Now
watch:
appreciated or not,
intended
or not, understood or not, regretted or not, avoidable or
not, realized at the
time
or not, I assert the interim collection of everything you've said,
everything you say, everything you will say, and everything others have
said to you, everything others say to you, and everything others
will say to you, is
who you really are,
or at least it's who others take you to be, and that the
ultimate collection of (effectively) everything everyone has said to
everyone, everything everyone says to everyone, and everything everyone
will say to everyone, is
who we really
are
as
humanity,
or at least it's who we take ourselves to be.
You have no control over having thoughts - and if you deny it or
dismiss this claim as preposterous, then right now, stop having
thoughts (you can't, can you?). You have no control over
having feelings and emotions. They come and they go like the
weather.
If you don't like what you're feeling right now, wait a while: it'll
pass. You have no control over your bodily functions. And
the truth
about our circumstances is we have almost no control over them either -
and if you deny it or dismiss this claim as preposterous, then there
are some
families
with
children
in Syria I'd like you to meet. About the only thing you have any
control over at all, is what comes out of your
mouth
- which is everything you say ie your
language
ie your
word.
Who we are
and
who you are
is literally everything you say, have said, and will say.
There's another
related
assertion:
"Who you are
is the space in which the events of your life occur" ie that
who you are
is the
context
in which the events of your life occur.
How
does this one jive with
"Who you are
is everything you say"? It's both:
who you are
is the
context
in which the events of your life occur, andwho you are
is also everything you say
(who you are
is the
contextin which
who you are
as everything you say, occurs).
You can't control
who you are
as the
context
in which the events of your life occur. You do have control over what
comes out of your
mouth
ie over everything you say ie over your
language
ie over your
word.
There's
power
in distinguishing
who you are
as everything you say, differentiating it from
who you are
as the
context
in which the events of your life (and everything you say) occur.