Who are you ? Part I

One of the oldest philosophical arguments is the one over the question: Are we born Tabula rassa (Blank slate) or are we pre-molded to some degree?

This question is a very important one if we want to fulfill our destiny in this world (Our Dharma as the ancient vedas call it -  assuming we have one of course). 

I have been studying this question for many years and my answer is: We are far from Tabula rassa... We come with many lives worth of experience and perspective and with a pre-formed notion of who and what we are. It is not that we lack free will to choose our profession and path in life. We are simply more ready for a certain path and so will more likely succeed in it better and with less effort.

How did I come to these conclusions? Well, it all started with my son when he was 5 minutes old 😊 . I chased after him from the cesarean to the ward where they let him rest for the first time. He was crying loudly till I reached him, then grabbed my two fingers strongly, looked me right in the eyes, stopped the crying and I could almost hear him say "What took you so long?'... The depth in his eyes in that moment did not seem to belong to a 5 minute old baby. It felt more like a 70 year old man looking at me right then.

A few years later, I realized another point that made my argument above stronger: Everyone knows what they are not. Ask anyone if they would like to be a profession they are not and in the majority of the cases you will get a very clear "no!". They never tried it out, have no experience with it very often and yet it is clear to them they are not this. Ask them what they are (And not right now - their optimal choice of profession) and they will more likely then not remain silent. Once in a blue moon I run across someone that is living his or her dream. Working in just the right profession and feeling realized and fully alive. Most people we all know work in the wrong profession and are either bored or they hate their job.

With this information in hand I have searched for the answer of "Who am I?" for many years. My own personal journey has helped me as well as several teachers. Each contributed a piece to the puzzle. 

The first challenge was to find a way to get to this hidden information. Asking the question directly did not seem effective so I chose to look for the symbolic counterpart. Within each of us are one or more archetypes by which our essence is defined and from which we can deduce our profession. Using archetypes instead of common professions removes the blocks from our psyche. They make it possible for us to face our true nature without the masks or social dictum or other blocks that may hinder it otherwise. Even with archetypes as a guide to the truth it takes some trickery to remove the final resistance from our mind. 

This I found can be achieved in several ways:

1. Going back to cavemen era. This era was populated by archetypal professions. You had a cook (Not a hundred derivatives of the cooks as in modern times), An artist, a healer etc. Those were simple times and this was reflected in the list of professions. Finding yourself in the era using guided imagery is much simpler then trying to deduce your profession from a long list of "google professions page".
2. In the same manner, any age past can be used. Each with unique professions at their best or correlated in our personal minds to a profession we own. As an example, thinking of the Artist most people today are concerned with not being able to make a living and so most deny this archetype. Send such a person to discover him or herself in the renaissance period and they will most likely be thrilled to be called artists.
3. Another way is to seek inspiration out side. In characters from books, moves, theater and life. Everyone has such images in his mind. Saved in there to inspire us. Those who inspire us by doing in the content of what they do (No in the "how" they do it) reflect archetypes within us.
4. The fourth and Last of my main tools (Though some endeavor to invent other tools of their own). Seeking moments in our past when we felt that a certain chore or challenge or action fit our bill. Reflected our essence. While we were engaged with this task we felt that it was an accurate place for us to be. Remembering those moments can help us glean archetypes that have thus shown their faces.