Who You Am

“I am what I am and that’s all that I am.” –Popeye the Sailor Man

This quote has been running around in my head the past few weeks. It is incredibly simple but also profound. It has parallels from the Old Testament when God tells Moses that his name is “I AM” (and on more than one occasion I have heard people put forth the argument that Popeye is God because of that, but I digress).

What does it mean though – I am? It is an existential question that has plagued thinkers for centuries. Descartes most famously tackled this question with his answer “I think therefore I am”.

The “I am” is a beginning, waiting for what comes next. Waiting for its participle. Waiting for a description. “I am running.” “I am at tall.” “I am kind.” On our trips and our journal, we offer people the chance to consider who they “am”. It is a journey inward to discover who they are at their core.

At its most literal, “I am” is a statement of being, but that gets tricky too. What is “being”? From a language perspective “being” is occurring in the present tense. It is now! But it is more than just this moment. It is an ongoing state. For a human, to just “be” means to exist in the moment and focus on the now. In today’s world, this is something difficult to achieve because we are very focused on “doing” – actions, results, products. We get so focused on the “doing” we forget that we are “human beings”. In fact, many people when given the chance to describe themselves will talk about what they do – “I am a mechanic,” “I am a teacher,” “I am a tinkerer,” and so forth.

We at Summit Ascent try to help you go deeper than what you do. To get you in touch with this state, Eastern philosophies will talk about meditation while Western philosophies discuss intentionality. We recommend solitude, time spent alone with yourself to allow yourself the space to listen and think.

At the end of the day, do you know who you am?

#Intentionality #Found #TheJourney #Solitude