Possession in “selfhood”
(One)
How can we say someone possess “selfhood”? Personally, I think there are two dependable symbols.
First is to see whether one has his real interest, that is, his career by which he could settle down and get on with his pursuit; one can devotes all his efforts to this career and find internal happiness and enrichment from it. If so, it shows that one is in the process of self produced consequences. Here “self” means one’s personality---the value of individual life for each one.
The second is to see whether one has his real faith, or to say his own principle of dealing with life. Faith is a spiritual coordinate axes which can prevent him from drifting with the current. If he has, it indicates that he is in the possession in “selfhood”. Here, “self” means his spirit---a firm core spirit.
Both of the two senses of “selfhood” are not original owned since we were born; it was a result of continuous choice and creations during our life. Therefore, every one of us should be responsible for our final personalities and characters.
(Two)
How to become yourself? There isn’t an omnipotent or standard answer for this question. The most important thing is that every one should seriously realize the value of “selfhood”. With this consciousness, one can try to find his own answer. With only one chance to live, each one is unique and unrepeatable in the world. Reputation, wealth and knowledge are all external things besides the body, so they are the common things that any one can own, but no one can experience the life for you. If one can seriously realize this, he will understand that the most important thing is to create own feature and savor for his life. Whether your life is significant or not, your unique apperception and insistence to the meaning of your life should be the standard, rather than the exterior success.
(Three)
For lots of people, you can say whatever he is, such as a kind of occupation, a status or even a role, except himself. If one always lives according to others opinions but without his individual thinking; always busy with exterior affairs rather than his inner heart, then we can say he is not himself without doing him any injustice, since from his brain to this heart, you can not find anything that really belong to himself, and he’s only a shadow or tool for others instead of a real person.
(Four)
Jesus said: “What’s the good if one earned the whole world but lose himself” This is what he said after he reveals his status, and it is really freighted with meaning. The real savior is just within ourselves, that is the halcyon, clear and bright selves. This is the divinity on ourselves, if we can hold it, we can almost say that God is present with us; however, if we can’t, and just sink into the world, we will become drifting and muddling and just goes with the flow.