A Facebook friend of mine Kovács Jocó shares some very good posts. In fact the wisdom and fun he is generous with makes me always want to look out for him in my news feed. Today he shared this picture:
Now I am sure most of us would like to say we either aspired to the same dream when we were young, or at least reflect on that innocent yearn the older we got. Is this really possible?
When we are babies, we are totally dependent on our parents. Genetically, our journeys have some determination. Even as growing children we are conditioned by the environment of our family – parents values, psychological outlook, social circumstances, economic dictates, cultural perspectives, school ethos and subjects taught by various teachers, political climate, literature, arts, life’s experiences, witnessing other peoples lives, the natural world, media influences. How do we know who we are? Who is it that is differentiating between the me and that which observes the me?
It seems to me that the quest in life for most of us as individual human beings is to discover who we really are ourselves, for ourselves. Perhaps the journey is one of dis-covery, that is, removing the ‘veils of deception’ to really get to know ourselves. Even as adults we struggle to say: “I know who I am” without the paradigm of whatever our mental conditioning is. Mystics and sages fill the world with glimmers for seekers on this path.
No matter where we are on our journey, perhaps a first step is to reflect on where we are now. With The ROQUE Model, it is suggested that three categories of who we are may be relevant.
- Your SELF as Human Being
- Your RELATIONAL Self – for even as we are an individual, we are connected by family, friend or other relationships.
- Your PROFESSIONAL Self – that is whatever we do to sustain our participation in that relational world.
Perhaps we can ask this question another way. Now that we are grown up, who are we?