Why do some of us today feel like we do not know who we are?

Question

What philosophy teaches us this? Why is it important for us to get an answer?

Answer 1

Everyone has a void in our lives, like a feeling of incompleteness, which is often tied in with religion. Most of us want to find the one thing that makes us happy and content (thus, the void), and philosophy is supposed to answer that for every individual.

It is important for the human psyche to find satisfaction, because that is the only way to move forward in terms with our lives. One who is unsatisfied might go to extremes of depression, and even death. Without the satisfaction of life, we grow to ignore all the good things that could come our way, and this could affect those whoa re close to us.  

Answer 2

Philosophy tries to answer questions that have no answer, just different avenues of thought. Feelings come from within. If you feel you do not know who you are, then that is what will drive you to your path of finding out.  Explore your soul. It is your source of who and what you are.  How do you do that?  Only 1 way. Through the creator of the soul - God. "Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find."  

Knock on the door of your mind,

leave your worldly thoughts behind,

open the possibility of what you might find

and next thing you know....there is God

Answer 3

I think that feeling has become more of an issue due to having many more choices then we did in the past. There are so many options a person can feel scattered or pulled in different directions. Careers that are common place now were unheard of 100 years ago. Animal massage therapist, video game designer, anything w/ computers, all new options.

Kids today are under more stress to fit in, look and act a certain way, hang out w/ the popular crowd, pick a lucrative career. I didn't "fit" & life was h**l until about my junior year when I began to understand that although I was lonely at times, i was my own person, not a sheep following the herd. By not having many friends I learned to be self-reliant & independent.

Now, at 34 I'm still a bit of a loner, but I have a deep bond w/ my family & close friends. I know who I am.

Answer 4

Amen, brother.... preach it.... I think my answer might surprize some though...

1) Men today...certainly apply to the intent behind this question...what is a 21st century man???

2) If we look to the fairer s*x, they tend to conciously and/or sub-conciously demand that we be both strong and senstive...responsible and spontaneous....understanding and protective...and the list goes on for days...

3) Women's identities have flourished over the developments of the last few decades from Women's sufferage(liberation).. to what the sky has only recently become the limit...heck not even that my female-elementry teacher just got back from a recent trip from the International Space Station..

4) The pendulum has swung and continues to swing for the empowerment of the Ladies... it's about time Men had their Liberation movement...and start defining who we can be by self-definition or any other Criteria...

5) Anyone saying such, has to do so with tongue-in-cheek, and I do with a bit of humor... but truly siliently enduring the identity crisis men, let alone what Teenage Boys are having to face in early adulthood....these kids I'm afraid are more accepted by taking and playing the g*y or alternative lifestyle card..then us there predecessors who refuse to give up on the Heterosexual one... it's crazy, it's painful, it's funny, it's all these and more...

6) And I'm not sure what the antidote to the male-psyche is when it comes to identity....personally I can only blame myself for not being aware of all these contradictory dichotomies us males are supposedly suppose to juggle and exhibit both or any at any-one given time... but I'd like to blame the Religion I was raised in for preaching more about 'Turn the other Cheek' then righteous Anger...this is my biggest beef with Christianity today... those that put their eggs all in one basket(as I did) of religion(Christianity)... learn to be passive, hard to respect Males... in a society that is dog-eat-dog... and the only moral fortitude they are trained with in Church is to take it(turn-the-other-cheek)...

7) Financial planners for decades now have been telling us to diversify our investments... too bad their aren't spiritual planners that tell us Men to do the same...

8) I have only myself to blame... for not trying to enlighten myself sooner.... but if I would point the finger at anyone else it would be Christian-Clergy who refuse or conveniently choose to skip over Righteous-Anger and how to channel it in effective, productive ways.... this could change our nation overnight if more and more sermon's would address such an issue...but I'm afraid their too worried about empowering their flock to ever and bigger things..

9) Sorry for the rant, but not really...peace all!

Answer 5

Because, not that people like to admit it, there is a void in everyones lives that we all crave to fill. People can been constantly finding new ways to see if they can fill it, weather it be drugs, relationships, booze, games, sports, any and everything has been used in an attempt to fill that void.

That is the answer to why we feel we don't know who we are, because we aren't who we know we can be.

The void is a void only God can fill, a relationship with Him, your Creator, that is what fills the void in everyone's heart. We have to know Jesus and believe that he died on a cross and rose from the grave. When we are connected to our maker, it lets us live what we have always dreamed of, doing what we were made to do.

What is that? Thats between you and God.

Answer 6

I often feel that I don't know who I am to anyone else. I know the way I would like to be viewed and I try to live my life the way I think represents how I see myself. I can try to come up with definitions of who or what I consider myself to be but having a title doesn't always make me comfortable in my own skin. I am not sure exactly how others view me and whether I am as important to them as they are to me. But I also  like the fact that sometimes I can have anonymity, I can be a blank slate. I feel that's what I am now. I could be anyone, including another Answers user :) and you don't know for sure.

Answer 7

Because we are not connecting with the right, positive sources.  It is just like when we are first born.  We have an umbilical cord.  Upon arrival into this world; the cord is clipped.  We also have an invisible umbilical cord to a higher source that also gave us life.  If this one is clipped, by our own free will, we will find that, we will lose our way and our identity.

Answer 8

Because everything on T.V. is brain washing us saying we need some thing to fill a void that is not even there. The truth is we are born whole we have no hole. It is a marketing ploy it's all about marketing. T.V. visually bambards us with all sorts of images and do you think after a while that those images are not imprinted o our minds. Why do you think people drink, do drugs, have unfulfilled lives of indescriminate s*x with people that they care nothing for. Because T.V. sells it all they sell lifestyles and parents aren't home to give their children common sense so they end up adopting lifestyles of what they see on T.V. because they are brain washed into it.

   How do you debrainwash a soceity that has lost it's common sense. Well for one thing turn off the fricken T.V. You don't need drugs to make you feel better. Some people think they can't stop smokeing because they are taught that they are too weak. What happened to good old fashoined cold turkey and God forbid will power. We don't need gas guzzleing viehicals, pyschyatric drugs to make us happy, fancy jeans to make us feel special get real. But it is what is forced in front of our eyes daily that makes us into something needy, clingy, and unfullfilled. That's why it's so important to have a good moral base to work from because without it you end up just as lost as everyone else in the world.  

Answer 9

When the mind of man becomes clouded by illusion, which is the world, man forgets that: "God is within man, and man is within God."

When one becomes as a child, one will again "Remember".

While one is in the classroom of the world, we should be 'in it' not 'of it'. This allows a human being to "Remember".

May we all "Remember".

"Peace be always with you."